"It could be anybody under that mask" Was kind of the point. In the old pulp serials it explicitly states that as The Shadow he alters his face to look less like himself, up to and including wearing a fake nose.
Then again in the Pulps was suggested he might not even have a face at all. It was so horribly mangled or just figured that he had to use makeup and various apparatus has to reconstruct a face.
"Although anyone not born between 1979 and 1989, probably hasn't heard of it." I was born in 1968, and I saw it in it's initial theatrical release, and I LOVED it!
He was made up to look like the Shadow as he was depicted on the covers of the pulp magazines. As far as 'supernatural tricks', the original Shadow of the pulps had no mystic powers; he used dark clothing and stage magician's tricks and psych outs to remain unseen or give the impression of invisibility. It was the radio shows that introduced the concept of his having learned mystic arts in Tibet. The creator of The Shadow was actually an accomplished stage magician, himself.
@@varanid9 just that the character evolved into that and that's the most popular version, which there are several. superman wasn't the same originally as know him now, either. sometimes the 'purist' form isn't the best, eh?
@@ryanbarker5217 hell the original Superman had zero weaknesses, the radio drama invented kryptonite to allow the original actor to go on vacation Imagine how boring it would be with NO weaknesses, he's OP enough
@Studio Autio There's a card game called Munchkin where you play an RPG hero, collect weapons/armor, and battle monsters. One of the monsters is "The Shadow Nose."
I love the atmosphere, the aesthetics of this movie. Especially how city looks. As a kid I dreamt about walking the streets of city like that. Something about this from early age made me very nostalgic about times I never experienced...
One of my favorite movies as a kid and some of the dark content really stuck with me. Gave me a phobia of knives for several years. Had to convince myself said knives weren’t suddenly going to come to life and attack me. I also collected all the action figures that were released to coincide with the movie and would often play out my favorite scenes, sometimes adding little bits here and there.
That knife gave me a phobia of knives for several years after seeing it in theaters. I remember we went out to eat afterward, and I couldn’t stop staring at the steak knife on my dads plate wondering if it was going to spring to life and try to attack me and would I be ready lol
As a kid my family had Radio Rerun cassettes. I was 21 when The Shadow was released in Theaters and was very excited to see my childhood listening come to life. This flick holds up for sure. I think this property would make a great reboot.
I'm not sure if "making it dark" is up to the director & writers or the actor himself.. maybe it's up to the actor to NOT play a goofy Adam West-esque Batman, might have been hard at the time, I think superheroes weren't taken seriously as today (MCU-era supers)
@@kabardino1337 Alec had more of an edge at the time than Michael Keaton so yeah he would've played it darker. Also him opposite Kim Basinger before they actually originally met
Dude, I grew up watching this on Showtime freeview weekend In 1996!! Alec Baldwin playing this character is the closest we're going to get to him playing Batman. This film is part Doctor Strange, part Batman, part Indiana Jones.
I loved "The Shadow"! It was great, and I loved the makeup for him as the Shadow as well, it made him look just like the pulp fiction covers from back in the day!
What the fuck was wrong with people in the 80’s and 90’s not liking a nice fat ass? It makes no fucking sense. How is an ass like a 10 year old boy a good thing. That would be a horrible thing for a girl to have. I don’t know what the hell was wrong with people.
@@dannymiller7187 ikr having a butt similar to a child sounds like shes malnourished, crazy how the trends used to be really skinny women now the big thing is thick curvy women
I saw this in theaters and loved it....I may be wrong,but I've always assumed that because Tim Burton's *Batman* ,which was a hit,was done in a sort-of retro style,that that was the reason in the following years we got highly stylized movies about heroes set in the past.... *Dick Tracy* , *The Rocketeer* , this movie,then *The Phantom* . I forgot about those three major films coming out the same time this did....no wonder this didn't do as well as it should've.
i think the awesome themes are over kids' heads, but the kiddie-ness and unexplored themes left adults feeling as if they're missing out on something better. it's definitely a four-quad movie, on the basic side and predictable, and no doubt selling merchandise was very much on their minds, but perhaps they weren't sure who their audience really was. i think it's entertaining, just a disappointment given what it could have been. certainly it stands as an example of storytelling from a particular era and mindset. it's a collection of great scenes that just misses the narrative mark.
ryan barker --- The show definitely gives off a subtle, maybe even passive-aggressive vibe that they're fishing for a Batman '89-type merchandising score. ""Collection of scenes" is a good assessment. If you made a checklist of things you'd want to see in a Shadow movie, most of it ended up on screen. The problem is a weak main narrative but the cool collection of scenes does a great job misdirecting from the story faults, which definitely include holding back the adult content from the kiddies to the point they didn't commit to a single audience. Good call!
@@kidzoki i'd love to have a crack at a new script! like you said, most of what we think of as the shadow ended up onscreen. i'm 50, so i'm older and grew up with some different thoughts and mediums, and my mum would sometimes get me the old radio programs of this. this is pretty much how i envisioned the character at the time (yes, i saw this movie in the theatre, lol). there's quite a bit of history for the character, too. it predates *everyone*. well, except for zorro, who's just over a 100 years old now. funny, 11 years later and 'the mask of zorro' was a hit, and that was hardly a masterpiece, but it knew it wanted to be fun and accomplished that. i think that's a lot of the movie's problem is the tone doesn't fit what i think the character is. part 1980 'flash gordon,' part tim burton's 'batman' -- therein lies the problem, imo, that the more i think about it the more i don't think they had their *own* vision. this was one of david koepp's first movie where he wasn't a co-writer, so maybe he relied too much on formula? then we have russell mulcahy, known best for music videos, who seems to be best at having directed films that got a cult following. the movie isn't poorly directed, but perhaps that's why i have a slightly nagging disconnect with the movie, as if these fun, cool scenes are like a bunch of music video ideas strung together without strong connective tissue. none of it has any depth or subtlety. at least it's leagues better than the simply awful 'dick tracy,' lol. but, in an era where tim burton was an influence (thank the cinematic gawds that's done with), you put tim curry in a movie as a bad guy and you know he's going to ham it up as if he was trying to channel jack nicholson's joker. maybe that was the point? i mean, you make that one single casting decision and you're locked into a certain amount of cheesy lunacy. our ingredients were a writer who just came off of 'jurassic park' and 'carlito's way,' an auteur director of music videos, a guy best known for playing an over-the-top alien transvestite and killer clown, a lead who thought all this was beneath him, and an era where style was overwhelming substance. you know, we're lucky to have gotten what we did!
Almost all the "best movie you never saw" was movies I loved as a kid. Thanks for your work, I really enjoy these and definitely can use a few minutes of escape these days.
Thank you so much for this. I have a lot of friends who had roles in this film and it has one of my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores. Of all the movies made about forgotten pulp/comic characters this is one of the best... up there with "The Rocketeer" which was more of a reinterpreted classic character.
This is a brilliantly underappreciated movie, with scenography that is just perfect. It should've made way more money. Imo, it was years before its' time. Same goes for the Phantom. • Edit: holy shit, Baldwin would've been an awesome Batman.
I've known about this flick since I was 11. I was born in mid-90s. My friends from school also knew about it. This movie is what got me into Shadow pulp stories and comics. It's kind of wrong to say that only people born before 1990s appreciate this film. Any real fan of the CBM niche will go back and appreciate underrated superhero flicks like this one or Darkman.
This was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was a Kid. I was a humungus Batman fan at the time, and The Shadow was like a “old school” Batman to me. I even liked the whole semi historic characters as well.
Thank you for doing this. Growing up The Shadow was a seminal film for me and I have always adored it. I recently revisited the film days before you posted this video and the movie holds up extremely well. Lavish production design, a superb cast and a great pulp adventure story!!!
I saw this movie many times as a child - it was quite beloved & was shown in post Soviet countries often on tv. Need to rewatch. Thanks for reminding about this masterpiece
I'll be watching this again tonight. This movie was amazing. I just don't understand the hate. I saw it as a kid, loved it. Saw it again 2 years ago and I still loved it. The score was also nice.
My father used to listen to the Shadow program and no doubt he saw the pulps as well. We watched this movie together when it turned up on cable and enjoyed it! It really should have done better at the box office (as well as the other film we liked, The Phantom) as it was entertaining. Perhaps the audiences weren't ready for it, or maybe it would have been better served to have gone the Daredevil route and do a series on Netflix or similar streaming platform.
I saw this movie when I was a lot younger. I'm 33 now and I loved this movie and I actually hope they remake it or continue to make more the same way as Batman. I want to see more of this character
Oh hell yea. I’d even love if they spent half the movie just setting up his origin story in Asia. Although personally I’d probably show the very beginning, then flash forward to present day (1930’s in this case) and go back and forth between the present and his training in the past in a way that each arc was parallel to one another. But that’s just me. Who are we getting to play him this time around???
@@Memnoch_the_Devil yeah I like that idea but maybe Don't have to many cut backs between his training and the modern day it's set in it might confuse people but I do like the Batman begins concept of training in Asia. It's a tough choice who to pick. I'm thinking having slightly younger and go with Joseph Gordon Levitt. He's done some action roles, Scott Adkins is a fantastic martial artist and sometimes underused
Joseph Gavin I’d be ok with trying out JGL. He should screen test for sure lol plus he’s already worn facial prosthetics for a whole movie so he shouldn’t have any problem doing the same thing again!!
@@Memnoch_the_Devil it's harder than you think , coming up with the right guy for the part. You don't want to go with someone who is too psyically dominating like a Tom Hard type. He needs to be convincing as Bruce Wayne character but doesn't have to be a billionaire
I thought the Shadow was a great film! Alec Baldwin was fantastic as Lamont Cranston /The Shadow! Baldwin’s performance combined with the dark Pulp atmosphere, really captured the essence of what the Shadow was. I think it failed due to it being released at the same time as True Lies and Forest Gump. It’s a shame, The Shadow was a very well made film and the acting was good considering what type of movie it was. Personally I don’t think Alex Baldwin camped it up at all. He looked and sounded like The Shadow and I really liked how they went the extra mile to give him that classic big nose look he had from the covers of the old Shadow Pulp Magazines. Maybe because I grew up watching The Shadow and I saw it in theaters when it was originally released, I’m looking at it in a nostalgic biased way. Regardless I think the Shadow deserved more limelight than it received. With that being said I don’t know if you guys have covered the Phantom with Billy Zane but that was also a very well movie that had top notch sets, costuming, fantastic filming locations, and beautiful cinematography! Granted, the Phantom was much more campy in that old fashioned Pulp Serial way but I feel that it was done on purpose for trying to stay true to the Phantom’s Pulp/Comic origin.
I love the Shadow and even the movie for what it is, but grew up with the radio dramas and pulp magazines. One thing that bothered me with this video essay, is he got the name of the Shadow's creator and writer wrong. Walter B. Gibson was the creator and would write the pulp magazines under the alias Maxwell Grant. lol
Loved this flick and saw it three times in its theatrical run. I think a streaming Shadow series would be incredible. With the budgets that the big streaming services have these days, I have no doubt we could get a very dark and film noir-esqe Shadow that more resembles the violent and gritty character from the pulps.
This remains to be one of my favorite superhero movies of all time. The Shadow left such a huge impression on me that when the game City of Heroes came out I made my best version of Shadow as I could in game.
He wasn't a character created by Lester Dent. Lester Dent created doc savage. The shadow creator was Walter Gibson, who wrote under the name Maxwell Grant .
I remember seeing this as a kid. Me, my brother and cousin, just flipping through afternoon tv on regular broadcast with our own tv in the room. fun times, good movie
I always viewed the facial transformations as his dark inner power remaking him him physically, as if he was something of a different man when he let his freak flag fly.
I had the Shadow action figure growing up - he had a tuxedo on and you would put this armor/cape on over it to turn him into the shadow - but I never saw the movie so I didn't understand the toy! Thanks for making this!
There was a replica of the Purba Dagger at our local gun shop- because the owner was a close friend of our family, he let me hold it... not that anyone needs to know that, lol.
i loved this movie, never understood why eas never succesfull, you are right, it was released at the wrong time, this is part of what i call the newo noir super hero filmes The Shadow The phantom Brenda Starr Dick tracy capt sky and the world of tomorrow The Rocketeer The Mask batman (& batman returns )
Walter B Gibson was the main author behind the Shadow, though Dent wrote some excellent stories as well, both under the pen name of Maxwell Grant. I highly recommend the Nostalgia Ventures reprints of the original stories. Classic mystery pulp fiction. You can still also find some paperbacks and original magazines.
I don't know why this movie popped into my head, but I searched it out, and I'm glad to see it's getting some new love. I loved it when it first came out, and always wished they had continued to make more. 😔
I'm 61 born in 61 & I know of & love this film. Having read everything Shadow before this came out I so enjoyed its faithfulness to the canon writ before. Still like it, can still watch it.
Saw it in the theater and really enjoyed it. It was goofy and the cast was amazing. And I also listened to the radio show. I liked radio shows as a teen. I also think I had a cassette of the soundtrack, but I was a budding musician with a love of film score and Goldsmith was one of my favorites. I may have to go back and revisit this now.
I was 19 when I saw this film it made such an impression that I started collecting the toys. This movie was very fresh and exciting at the that I could only wonder how people could've missed this cinematic gem
I was way younger when I saw it but I also collected all the action figures. Collected a lot of figures from a lot of movies but the ones from The Shadow were some of my all time favorites. Especially the one that made him look invisible. Remember that one???
I didn't see the lion king or forest gump till the late 90s. The Shadow was one of my favorite movies when it came out. I was disappointed when they never made a sequel for it.
8:48 is hillarious when he says that the make up job for Alec as the Shadow makes him look like Daniel Baldwin as a picture of Billy Baldwin is placed on screen. Right name, wrong face.
Love the shadow. Grew up listening to the radio shows that my dad had cassettes of. Still a big fan. Love this movie, saw it in theaters with my friend and we were the only two people there. Its a classic. Oh and i completely agree about Penelope ann miller, wowza. Huge crush on her because of the film.
"Your mind is an open book to me" "Then learn how to read!" I've loved The Shadow since I saw it as a kid. Best "B" movie ever. I go as The Shadow for Halloween every few years and no one knows who I am.
I definitely saw this film, but it was so spectacularly unmemorable that when it came on tv about 6 years ago, I didn't recognize it. It took about 20 minutes before I realized I saw it before.
I remember loving this movie as a kid and after my older brother showed me some of the early radio recordings loving it even more specifically because of the way Baldwin (and to some extent everyone else) really leans into the camp. They sound like they're doing a radio play, I think its great but obviously that didn't translate widely.
Wasn't the original Shadow described as being 'hawk-nosed" so it makes sense why he looks the way he does. I have hoped that they would give this character another go on the big screen or a couple of seasons on a streaming service.
I always loved Alec’s more laidback approach. It reminded me of Kevin Conroy’s relaxed side of Bruce Wayne - and I think Alec, ironically, was a good counterpoint to Michael Keaton’s very dark and introverted Bruce from Burton’s films which were still the big Comic Book film successes of the time. I see it more as him offering something different from the other dark crusader on the big screen.
One of my favorite aspects to this movie is how the antagonist and protagonist act towards each other. Except for the fight scene at the end, when being taunted to distract concentration, the two are very civil towards each other. They have banter, but it's respectful.
Absolutely love this movie. Really captures the spirit of comic superheroes (even though The Shadow was not originally a comic). Also at 8:48 that's Billy Baldwin (not Daniel).
Few things: 1) I had all the figurines at some point in my life, and still have the old mail-in "Electronic Bulletproof Shadow" figurine. 2) _31 Days of the Shadow_ is my annual Halloween tradition. One episode for every day of October. 3) More trivia, but here goes: _Shadow_ is one of a few movies Ian McKellen did to finance the feature-film version of _Richard III,_ which I cannot, *cannot* recommend enough, and in fact got me through the last research paper I ever wrote at Chicago State.
I thought the whole point of him becoming "The Shadow" was that when he put on the mask, his physical face changed with it. I was about 12, but I'm pretty sure I remember picking up on that even back then. Movie theater was right around the corner, that was a great summer.
I was 32 at the time, and this old Korean War vet friend of mine told me about the movie. Went to see it with my dad at the theater and we both loved it.
I feel as though The Rocketeer, The Shadow and The Phantom make up a trinity of underrated superhero movies. I love these movies.
GoodBadFlicks actually calls it an unofficial trilogy
@theone Andonly Sorry, no "Netflix & Chill" right now. Got to be responsible and keep up that social distancing.
Damn right bro
Add Dick Tracy for a good pulpy time.
@@theboxcaradventurer1874 And "Darkman."
"It could be anybody under that mask" Was kind of the point. In the old pulp serials it explicitly states that as The Shadow he alters his face to look less like himself, up to and including wearing a fake nose.
I know, right?? Were they even paying attention?? It even says so in the movie - "You've seen your very face change." Geez.
Then again in the Pulps was suggested he might not even have a face at all. It was so horribly mangled or just figured that he had to use makeup and various apparatus has to reconstruct a face.
@@ghostwarrior3878
Ya, I got that out of it.
Yea for real, I was like “but they don’t WANT him looking like Alex Baldwin or his identity would be in jeopardy
Ghost Warrior 38 wow really?? That’s awesome!!!
I've always felt that this movie was underrated.
I agree but it could have been SOOooo much better.
Indeed it was.
OverShadowed?
Yep, between the cast, the CG, it was spectacular
Me too saw it on TV with my mom back in the 90s and loved it
"Although anyone not born between 1979 and 1989, probably hasn't heard of it." I was born in 1968, and I saw it in it's initial theatrical release, and I LOVED it!
The make-up is deliberate: he looks like the Shadow from the comics.
I think it's a mind trick to make Cranston Lamont is unrecognisable,
yeah, i don't see how this can be a criticism, really.
He was made up to look like the Shadow as he was depicted on the covers of the pulp magazines. As far as 'supernatural tricks', the original Shadow of the pulps had no mystic powers; he used dark clothing and stage magician's tricks and psych outs to remain unseen or give the impression of invisibility. It was the radio shows that introduced the concept of his having learned mystic arts in Tibet. The creator of The Shadow was actually an accomplished stage magician, himself.
@@varanid9 just that the character evolved into that and that's the most popular version, which there are several. superman wasn't the same originally as know him now, either.
sometimes the 'purist' form isn't the best, eh?
@@varanid9 This movie mixed elements from both the Radio Show and the Pulps .
@@ryanbarker5217 hell the original Superman had zero weaknesses, the radio drama invented kryptonite to allow the original actor to go on vacation
Imagine how boring it would be with NO weaknesses, he's OP enough
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows."
He also knows who created him WALTER B. GIBSON not Lester Dent!!!
_In reality, Lamont Cranston, wealthy young man about town…_
"The weed of Crime bears BITTER FRUIT."
@Studio Autio There's a card game called Munchkin where you play an RPG hero, collect weapons/armor, and battle monsters. One of the monsters is "The Shadow Nose."
The sun is shining
My dad took me to see this movie when I was a kid, I had a lot of fun watching it with him. RIP dad gone but not forgotten
RIP
@@daddystabz thanks dude 🙏
I love the atmosphere, the aesthetics of this movie. Especially how city looks. As a kid I dreamt about walking the streets of city like that. Something about this from early age made me very nostalgic about times I never experienced...
It creeped me out as a kid. The MARGOT LANEEEEEE scene scared me. The water tower scene was super cool
The Art Deco look is timeless.
@@darbyheavey406 ......the costumes were excellent too....very GIORGIO ARMANI....
One of my favorite movies as a kid and some of the dark content really stuck with me. Gave me a phobia of knives for several years. Had to convince myself said knives weren’t suddenly going to come to life and attack me. I also collected all the action figures that were released to coincide with the movie and would often play out my favorite scenes, sometimes adding little bits here and there.
There were action figures?
@@themaninblack7503 hell yeah, there were! Invisible shadow was always one of the coolest looking action figures I’ve ever seen
One of my favorite films as a kid. I loved the flying knife
FilipposGR There is a vendor who sells weapons at our Rennaisance Festivals here who has them. Movie copys.
It's the same Phurba knife as was used in the Golden Child starring Eddie Murphy.
That knife gave me a phobia of knives for several years after seeing it in theaters. I remember we went out to eat afterward, and I couldn’t stop staring at the steak knife on my dads plate wondering if it was going to spring to life and try to attack me and would I be ready lol
Oh that knife.
As a kid my family had Radio Rerun cassettes. I was 21 when The Shadow was released in Theaters and was very excited to see my childhood listening come to life. This flick holds up for sure. I think this property would make a great reboot.
Alec Baldwin would have made a brilliant Batman/Bruce Wayne. He would have no problem bringing the dark side to the Batman movie franchise
I'm not sure if "making it dark" is up to the director & writers or the actor himself.. maybe it's up to the actor to NOT play a goofy Adam West-esque Batman, might have been hard at the time, I think superheroes weren't taken seriously as today (MCU-era supers)
@@kabardino1337 Alec had more of an edge at the time than Michael Keaton so yeah he would've played it darker. Also him opposite Kim Basinger before they actually originally met
What's crazy was Alec Baldwin dated and was in a relationship with Kim Basinger after Batman 1989.
Michael still the best Batman so it worked out to everyone advantage.
It would be really interesting to view an alternate timeline where Alec Baldwin played Batman. He has a great voice for it.
Dude, I grew up watching this on Showtime freeview weekend In 1996!! Alec Baldwin playing this character is the closest we're going to get to him playing Batman. This film is part Doctor Strange, part Batman, part Indiana Jones.
I loved "The Shadow"! It was great, and I loved the makeup for him as the Shadow as well, it made him look just like the pulp fiction covers from back in the day!
“The Shadow knows”
Classic
"Oh, *that* knife" is probably one of my favorite deadpan line deliveries in a film ever.
"ass like a 10 year old boy"
still the nastiest but funniest line i ever heard, r.i.p. bill paxton
"Game over, man, game over!"
And who could forget "IM GONNA LIVE!" *Gets blown up by death ray*
"What's a pederast, Walter?"
What the fuck was wrong with people in the 80’s and 90’s not liking a nice fat ass? It makes no fucking sense. How is an ass like a 10 year old boy a good thing. That would be a horrible thing for a girl to have. I don’t know what the hell was wrong with people.
@@dannymiller7187 ikr having a butt similar to a child sounds like shes malnourished, crazy how the trends used to be really skinny women now the big thing is thick curvy women
I saw this in theaters and loved it....I may be wrong,but I've always assumed that because Tim Burton's *Batman* ,which was a hit,was done in a sort-of retro style,that that was the reason in the following years we got highly stylized movies about heroes set in the past.... *Dick Tracy* , *The Rocketeer* , this movie,then *The Phantom* .
I forgot about those three major films coming out the same time this did....no wonder this didn't do as well as it should've.
I can't say it's a great movie, but it looks amazing. I doubt we'll ever see another genre movie with that many great sets and practical effects.
I’m born in 91 Nd I remember it I even had the toys
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
The Shadow knows! Hahahahahahaha
The Shadow nose.
Say... that's catchy...!
Still can't figure out why this movie didn't quite work.But it's definitely a favorite.
i think the awesome themes are over kids' heads, but the kiddie-ness and unexplored themes left adults feeling as if they're missing out on something better. it's definitely a four-quad movie, on the basic side and predictable, and no doubt selling merchandise was very much on their minds, but perhaps they weren't sure who their audience really was.
i think it's entertaining, just a disappointment given what it could have been. certainly it stands as an example of storytelling from a particular era and mindset. it's a collection of great scenes that just misses the narrative mark.
ryan barker --- The show definitely gives off a subtle, maybe even passive-aggressive vibe that they're fishing for a Batman '89-type merchandising score. ""Collection of scenes" is a good assessment. If you made a checklist of things you'd want to see in a Shadow movie, most of it ended up on screen. The problem is a weak main narrative but the cool collection of scenes does a great job misdirecting from the story faults, which definitely include holding back the adult content from the kiddies to the point they didn't commit to a single audience. Good call!
@@kidzoki i'd love to have a crack at a new script! like you said, most of what we think of as the shadow ended up onscreen. i'm 50, so i'm older and grew up with some different thoughts and mediums, and my mum would sometimes get me the old radio programs of this. this is pretty much how i envisioned the character at the time (yes, i saw this movie in the theatre, lol).
there's quite a bit of history for the character, too. it predates *everyone*. well, except for zorro, who's just over a 100 years old now. funny, 11 years later and 'the mask of zorro' was a hit, and that was hardly a masterpiece, but it knew it wanted to be fun and accomplished that.
i think that's a lot of the movie's problem is the tone doesn't fit what i think the character is. part 1980 'flash gordon,' part tim burton's 'batman' -- therein lies the problem, imo, that the more i think about it the more i don't think they had their *own* vision.
this was one of david koepp's first movie where he wasn't a co-writer, so maybe he relied too much on formula?
then we have russell mulcahy, known best for music videos, who seems to be best at having directed films that got a cult following. the movie isn't poorly directed, but perhaps that's why i have a slightly nagging disconnect with the movie, as if these fun, cool scenes are like a bunch of music video ideas strung together without strong connective tissue.
none of it has any depth or subtlety. at least it's leagues better than the simply awful 'dick tracy,' lol. but, in an era where tim burton was an influence (thank the cinematic gawds that's done with), you put tim curry in a movie as a bad guy and you know he's going to ham it up as if he was trying to channel jack nicholson's joker. maybe that was the point? i mean, you make that one single casting decision and you're locked into a certain amount of cheesy lunacy.
our ingredients were a writer who just came off of 'jurassic park' and 'carlito's way,' an auteur director of music videos, a guy best known for playing an over-the-top alien transvestite and killer clown, a lead who thought all this was beneath him, and an era where style was overwhelming substance. you know, we're lucky to have gotten what we did!
I for one never even heard of it, I doubt it was even shown in Finland.
Almost all the "best movie you never saw" was movies I loved as a kid. Thanks for your work, I really enjoy these and definitely can use a few minutes of escape these days.
I freaking love this movie. The shadow knows.
I also loved the shadow radio shows. Its fun to listen to in the car!
This movie is absolutely one of my favorites growing up. I still make my wife suffer by watching it at least 3 times a month
i like the movie but once a year would be too much.
Thank you so much for this. I have a lot of friends who had roles in this film and it has one of my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores. Of all the movies made about forgotten pulp/comic characters this is one of the best... up there with "The Rocketeer" which was more of a reinterpreted classic character.
This is a brilliantly underappreciated movie, with scenography that is just perfect. It should've made way more money. Imo, it was years before its' time. Same goes for the Phantom.
•
Edit: holy shit, Baldwin would've been an awesome Batman.
I know right?? Way better than Val Kilmer or George Clooney and I usually really like those guys
I've known about this flick since I was 11. I was born in mid-90s. My friends from school also knew about it. This movie is what got me into Shadow pulp stories and comics. It's kind of wrong to say that only people born before 1990s appreciate this film. Any real fan of the CBM niche will go back and appreciate underrated superhero flicks like this one or Darkman.
I absolutely love this movie.....it is one of my favorites of all time.
William Holloway I’ve never seen it before it looks good I want to check it out.
Enjoyed this film when I was younger and I still enjoy it to this day.
I loved the Shadow back in 94. I was waiting for sequels which sadly never came.
This was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was a Kid. I was a humungus Batman fan at the time, and The Shadow was like a “old school” Batman to me. I even liked the whole semi historic characters as well.
Thank you for doing this. Growing up The Shadow was a seminal film for me and I have always adored it. I recently revisited the film days before you posted this video and the movie holds up extremely well. Lavish production design, a superb cast and a great pulp adventure story!!!
I saw this movie many times as a child - it was quite beloved & was shown in post Soviet countries often on tv. Need to rewatch. Thanks for reminding about this masterpiece
I'll be watching this again tonight. This movie was amazing. I just don't understand the hate. I saw it as a kid, loved it. Saw it again 2 years ago and I still loved it. The score was also nice.
My father used to listen to the Shadow program and no doubt he saw the pulps as well. We watched this movie together when it turned up on cable and enjoyed it! It really should have done better at the box office (as well as the other film we liked, The Phantom) as it was entertaining. Perhaps the audiences weren't ready for it, or maybe it would have been better served to have gone the Daredevil route and do a series on Netflix or similar streaming platform.
I saw this movie and I wish it was a hit.
It is in your ❤️
The shadow was one of my early childhood films that I saw in theaters with my dad.
this is one of my favorite movies. I used to drive my brother nuts with the amount of times i would watch it. this and The Phantom are awesome.
I saw this movie when I was a lot younger. I'm 33 now and I loved this movie and I actually hope they remake it or continue to make more the same way as Batman. I want to see more of this character
Oh hell yea. I’d even love if they spent half the movie just setting up his origin story in Asia. Although personally I’d probably show the very beginning, then flash forward to present day (1930’s in this case) and go back and forth between the present and his training in the past in a way that each arc was parallel to one another. But that’s just me. Who are we getting to play him this time around???
@@Memnoch_the_Devil yeah I like that idea but maybe Don't have to many cut backs between his training and the modern day it's set in it might confuse people but I do like the Batman begins concept of training in Asia. It's a tough choice who to pick. I'm thinking having slightly younger and go with Joseph Gordon Levitt. He's done some action roles, Scott Adkins is a fantastic martial artist and sometimes underused
Joseph Gavin I’d be ok with trying out JGL. He should screen test for sure lol plus he’s already worn facial prosthetics for a whole movie so he shouldn’t have any problem doing the same thing again!!
@@Memnoch_the_Devil it's harder than you think , coming up with the right guy for the part. You don't want to go with someone who is too psyically dominating like a Tom Hard type. He needs to be convincing as Bruce Wayne character but doesn't have to be a billionaire
when those two Mongolian warriors fire arrows at his shadow and he ... re-materializes. FANTASTIC
When I saw it for the first time, I was 8 years old and loved it. Rewatched it now when I'm 34 and I still think it's a good movie.
The Shadow would make an excellent cartoon drawn in the style of Batman the animated series.
Actually, Did you know The Shadow was made before Batman & inspired him?
@@funlover4207 No I did not know that. thamks for the info.
@Frank, You are VERY right. It's a shame that Batman is still super popular & The Shadow franchise is dying.
it was really often broadcasted on Russia's TV back in 90s and was one of my fav childhood super hero movies
I thought the Shadow was a great film! Alec Baldwin was fantastic as Lamont Cranston /The Shadow! Baldwin’s performance combined with the dark Pulp atmosphere, really captured the essence of what the Shadow was. I think it failed due to it being released at the same time as True Lies and Forest Gump. It’s a shame, The Shadow was a very well made film and the acting was good considering what type of movie it was. Personally I don’t think Alex Baldwin camped it up at all. He looked and sounded like The Shadow and I really liked how they went the extra mile to give him that classic big nose look he had from the covers of the old Shadow Pulp Magazines. Maybe because I grew up watching The Shadow and I saw it in theaters when it was originally released, I’m looking at it in a nostalgic biased way. Regardless I think the Shadow deserved more limelight than it received. With that being said I don’t know if you guys have covered the Phantom with Billy Zane but that was also a very well movie that had top notch sets, costuming, fantastic filming locations, and beautiful cinematography! Granted, the Phantom was much more campy in that old fashioned Pulp Serial way but I feel that it was done on purpose for trying to stay true to the Phantom’s Pulp/Comic origin.
We watched this many times as young kids. Was one of our regular Sunday movies. Thanks for making this video!
Too bad half the info is wrong, Lester Dent? The dumb mo**er Fu**ers WALTER B.GIBSON created The Shadow
{Also wonder if you'll delete this comment}
@@McCaffery He apparently got the character mixed up with "Doc Savage" -- for whom Lester Dent was the principal writer.
And it has a terrific closing credits song, "Looking for an original sin" by Taylor Dayne, one of my all time favorite songs.
Love the Shadow. Have it on DVD
I love the Shadow and even the movie for what it is, but grew up with the radio dramas and pulp magazines. One thing that bothered me with this video essay, is he got the name of the Shadow's creator and writer wrong. Walter B. Gibson was the creator and would write the pulp magazines under the alias Maxwell Grant. lol
Loved this flick and saw it three times in its theatrical run. I think a streaming Shadow series would be incredible. With the budgets that the big streaming services have these days, I have no doubt we could get a very dark and film noir-esqe Shadow that more resembles the violent and gritty character from the pulps.
This is a movie I’ve seen more times than I care to admit. The shadow knows.
What a cast! Been years, I think I’ll watch this again now that my schedule has some openings...
“The sun is shining?”
"But the ice is still slippery..."
@@chrisgreenia8589 The Shadows knows....
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
This remains to be one of my favorite superhero movies of all time. The Shadow left such a huge impression on me that when the game City of Heroes came out I made my best version of Shadow as I could in game.
I remember seeing The Shadow at the cinema and loving, especially the Jim Steinman song over the end credits
"Nice tie! Is that Brooks Brothers?" "You're a barbarian."
My dad bought the VHS of this at a Costco when it was released. Great memories of pizza and Friday movie nights
The Shadow's make-up is actually pretty good, it is spot on identical to the vintage pulp covers
You people keep saying "you never saw", but i saw them all.
He wasn't a character created by Lester Dent. Lester Dent created doc savage. The shadow creator was Walter Gibson, who wrote under the name Maxwell Grant .
Baldwin would've been a cool Bruce Wayne/ Batman
I remember seeing this as a kid. Me, my brother and cousin, just flipping through afternoon tv on regular broadcast with our own tv in the room. fun times, good movie
I always viewed the facial transformations as his dark inner power remaking him him physically, as if he was something of a different man when he let his freak flag fly.
I had the Shadow action figure growing up - he had a tuxedo on and you would put this armor/cape on over it to turn him into the shadow - but I never saw the movie so I didn't understand the toy! Thanks for making this!
6:05, Jerry Goldsmith should have been hired to score X-MEN and its sequels.
There was a replica of the Purba Dagger at our local gun shop- because the owner was a close friend of our family, he let me hold it... not that anyone needs to know that, lol.
i saw it... in theaters, as a kid. i liked the camp. good lines: "next time you get to be on top", "an atomic bomb!"--"heyyy, that's catchy..."
"That is an attractive tie. May I inquire where you purchased it?" "Brooks Brothers."
Saw this in Theater twice. I went by myself the first time and went with some friends the second time.
Love the Cast .
i loved this movie, never understood why eas never succesfull, you are right, it was released at the wrong time, this is part of what i call the newo noir super hero filmes
The Shadow
The phantom
Brenda Starr
Dick tracy
capt sky and the world of tomorrow
The Rocketeer
The Mask
batman (& batman returns
)
Walter B Gibson was the main author behind the Shadow, though Dent wrote some excellent stories as well, both under the pen name of Maxwell Grant. I highly recommend the Nostalgia Ventures reprints of the original stories. Classic mystery pulp fiction. You can still also find some paperbacks and original magazines.
7:37, 6 years later, he would play Magneto in X-MEN.
This has been my favorite movie for decades!!! Thank you!!!
"The Best Movie You Never Saw"
But I have seen it ;)
I don't know why this movie popped into my head, but I searched it out, and I'm glad to see it's getting some new love. I loved it when it first came out, and always wished they had continued to make more. 😔
Such a fun flick
Alec Baldwin as Bruce Wayne would have worked and would have been GREAT
I'm 61 born in 61 & I know of & love this film. Having read everything Shadow before this came out I so enjoyed its faithfulness to the canon writ before. Still like it, can still watch it.
‘Ass like a ten year old boy’ is funny but so wrong. Especially nowadays.
Back from a time when a small ass was what was considered attractive
That's Hollywood for ya!
"Walter, what's a pederast?"
😅
No, but I find it amusing that a man with "cunny" misspelled in his username is remarking upon underage butts.
Imagine a cinematic universe of these old radio characters
JoeBlo: "The best movie you never saw."
All the commenters: "I saw this!"
Saw it in the theater and really enjoyed it. It was goofy and the cast was amazing. And I also listened to the radio show. I liked radio shows as a teen. I also think I had a cassette of the soundtrack, but I was a budding musician with a love of film score and Goldsmith was one of my favorites. I may have to go back and revisit this now.
I was 19 when I saw this film it made such an impression that I started collecting the toys. This movie was very fresh and exciting at the that I could only wonder how people could've missed this cinematic gem
I was way younger when I saw it but I also collected all the action figures. Collected a lot of figures from a lot of movies but the ones from The Shadow were some of my all time favorites. Especially the one that made him look invisible. Remember that one???
Damn i had a couple action figures too
@@Memnoch_the_Devil dude was just thinkin i remember that one...He was like clear colored lol
I didn't see the lion king or forest gump till the late 90s. The Shadow was one of my favorite movies when it came out. I was disappointed when they never made a sequel for it.
8:48 is hillarious when he says that the make up job for Alec as the Shadow makes him look like Daniel Baldwin as a picture of Billy Baldwin is placed on screen. Right name, wrong face.
Love the shadow. Grew up listening to the radio shows that my dad had cassettes of. Still a big fan. Love this movie, saw it in theaters with my friend and we were the only two people there. Its a classic. Oh and i completely agree about Penelope ann miller, wowza. Huge crush on her because of the film.
the character himself was created by walter b Gibson, just for the record.
I always LOVED The Shadow. I had it in VHS and watched it over and over. Loved everything about it.
There was a Doc Savage movie in the late 70s early 80s.
Holy crap... I've been looking for this film for a long LONG time. Thank you, sincerely.
"Your mind is an open book to me"
"Then learn how to read!"
I've loved The Shadow since I saw it as a kid. Best "B" movie ever. I go as The Shadow for Halloween every few years and no one knows who I am.
I definitely saw this film, but it was so spectacularly unmemorable that when it came on tv about 6 years ago, I didn't recognize it. It took about 20 minutes before I realized I saw it before.
I remember loving this movie as a kid and after my older brother showed me some of the early radio recordings loving it even more specifically because of the way Baldwin (and to some extent everyone else) really leans into the camp. They sound like they're doing a radio play, I think its great but obviously that didn't translate widely.
Wasn't the original Shadow described as being 'hawk-nosed" so it makes sense why he looks the way he does. I have hoped that they would give this character another go on the big screen or a couple of seasons on a streaming service.
Watched this as a kid. Loved it. Forgotten overtime though.
I always loved Alec’s more laidback approach. It reminded me of Kevin Conroy’s relaxed side of Bruce Wayne - and I think Alec, ironically, was a good counterpoint to Michael Keaton’s very dark and introverted Bruce from Burton’s films which were still the big Comic Book film successes of the time. I see it more as him offering something different from the other dark crusader on the big screen.
One of my favorite aspects to this movie is how the antagonist and protagonist act towards each other. Except for the fight scene at the end, when being taunted to distract concentration, the two are very civil towards each other. They have banter, but it's respectful.
I love the Shadow, when I was a kid and me and my friends got together we'ed always rent the Shadow.
Absolutely love this movie. Really captures the spirit of comic superheroes (even though The Shadow was not originally a comic). Also at 8:48 that's Billy Baldwin (not Daniel).
Few things: 1) I had all the figurines at some point in my life, and still have the old mail-in "Electronic Bulletproof Shadow" figurine. 2) _31 Days of the Shadow_ is my annual Halloween tradition. One episode for every day of October.
3) More trivia, but here goes: _Shadow_ is one of a few movies Ian McKellen did to finance the feature-film version of _Richard III,_ which I cannot, *cannot* recommend enough, and in fact got me through the last research paper I ever wrote at Chicago State.
I thought the whole point of him becoming "The Shadow" was that when he put on the mask, his physical face changed with it. I was about 12, but I'm pretty sure I remember picking up on that even back then.
Movie theater was right around the corner, that was a great summer.
I was 32 at the time, and this old Korean War vet friend of mine told me about the movie. Went to see it with my dad at the theater and we both loved it.