Starring Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Tim Curry, and Ian McKellen. This is one of my all-time favorite Superhero movies, which is set in the 1930's. The story's adequate, but it moves like gangbusters. The reason why I love it so much, though, is because of the production values - they're astonishing! The sets are all lavishly appointed, using authentic reproductions from the era. The entire picture is High Class quality, for being an Action Film. It has a wonderful sophistocation about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkZdvUFSPtw
I really enjoyed it too, I still do in fact. I would also own it but when I was looking into buying it the only option for me was the R1 DVD which was fullscreen only. I might pick it up when it shows up on BD, since it will have to be widescreen.
Penelope Ann Miller is absolutely exquisite, in THE SHADOW ... igniting the screen with Alec Baldwin. I highly recommend it!
I haven't seen in a long time but I've always had a warm memory for it. Alec Baldwin made a great super hero and I remember the storyline and villain being pretty cool. And I always love those 1930s adventure serial type movies.
While the film did justice to creating a 1930s atmosphere, as an Asian it was pretty awful recreating the Yellow Peril stereotypes with John Lone's character Shiwan Khan. Not on my top ten list. What's next Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YellowPeril Another dangerous Asian taking over Western Civilization. How pathetic. At least they didn't use yellowface this time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrayal_of_East_Asians_in_Hollywood
I've always liked the movie and one of the Encore channels plays it alot so I normally will stop and watch it. But it's a shame that Universal only has it out on a bare bones DVD.
i love the character but i always thought the film was kind of a mess. what with the flying dagger and lines like 'psychically i'm well endowed.'
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCbGBDy6Tbo[/yt] Is there any particular date when Asians in Hollywood are allowed to speak naturally and not be stereotypes? If this doesn't make you cringe, then I wonder if an African-American was asked to speak in a similar manner from a different time like the 1930s, would people accept that or feel it was horribly racist?
Thanks! I need to save up some money as I've purchased way to much this past week. But it's definitely on my amazon wishlist now.
I love The Shadow, warts and all. One of only a few good Russell Mulcahy films. Undoubtably due to Bob Kane lifting several elements from The Shadow (and a big slice from Zorro) when creating Batman.
The Shadow, as well as Billy Zane's Phantom were two very under-appreciated films. And Jonathan Winters is always a pleasure to see in anything.
I read somewhere that another Shadow film is (was?) in development. I hope it goes forward, along with Doc Savage. The two heroes should meet on the big screen.
No, I was referring more to the whole "training with a secret society" bit. Which wasn't generally part of Batman's origin until BB. Batman's origins have generally included him training with various martial artists and other specialists over the years, but never have I seen a version where he was part of something like that. Even the whole "hidden monastery" bit was very similar between the two movies.
Ras al Ghul was Middle Eastern not Tibetan, not Japanese (as is the actor pretending to play Ras al Ghul), not Asian period. It's Arabic for Demon's Head. It follows that same old hackneyed idea of a Westerner training for a brief period with Asians and in a few months or years absorbing what took them decades to learn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%27s_al_Ghul More crazy stereotypes derived in part from James Bond films like You Only Live Twice (1967)