In 1930s New York City, the Shadow (Alec Baldwin) battles his nemesis, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), who is building an atomic bomb out of unstable bronzium and beryllium spheres.
This film gets a bum wrap. While the picture is a great film, it is a decent adaptation of the old radio dramas and serial films (such as "Behind the Mask"). While audiences of the 1990s may not have been familiar, many of the story elements were taken directly from the radio dramas and pulp novels. Even before Batman, there was the Shadow (with even an inside man on the New York Police Department).
As mentioned, the scenarios in this film come from the old novels and writer David Koepp created more than decent adaptations and his work was done with good intent and absolute reverence. Koepp, a Wisconsin native, is no slouch -- he is the fifth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of domestic box office receipts, with such films as "Jurassic Park", "Mission Impossible", and "Spider-Man".
Alec Baldwin is surprisingly good in the role of Lamont Cranston -- who could have pictured him a hero? Not long before, he was a scrawny nerd in "Beetlejuice". The impressive cast could be singled out one by one -- Jonathan Winters, Tim Curry, Penelope Ann Miller and more... this was quite the ensemble.
Some things did not make a lot of sense, but I think perhaps that was intentional. Or, as Ebert says, "If the movie is finally just a little less than the sum of its parts, maybe that's appropriate." Unfortunately, the least coherent part is the beginning (which includes the origin story), and this might lose some viewers before they have decided to even give the movie a chance. And then the rest of the film sort of glosses over the moral conundrum that this millionaire playboy can afford to be a hero because he made his money addicting Tibetans to heroin and opium...
Thanks to Shout Factory, we now have a slick new Blu-Ray disc looking better than ever. Sadly, the features are a bit weak for a special edition. Although they were able to track down the writer, director, cinematographer and two of the three lead actors to create a 23-minute featurette (worth watching), apparently none of these folks was willing to provide a couple hours for commentary.
This is the sort of film that was overlooked in its day (losing revenue to "The Mask") and really deserves a sequel, though of course at this point the only option is a remake. If the rumors of Sam Raimi wanting to tackle the project turn out to be true, maybe some day we will see it...
This film gets a bum wrap. While the picture is a great film, it is a decent adaptation of the old radio dramas and serial films (such as "Behind the Mask"). While audiences of the 1990s may not have been familiar, many of the story elements were taken directly from the radio dramas and pulp novels. Even before Batman, there was the Shadow (with even an inside man on the New York Police Department).
As mentioned, the scenarios in this film come from the old novels and writer David Koepp created more than decent adaptations and his work was done with good intent and absolute reverence. Koepp, a Wisconsin native, is no slouch -- he is the fifth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of domestic box office receipts, with such films as "Jurassic Park", "Mission Impossible", and "Spider-Man".
Alec Baldwin is surprisingly good in the role of Lamont Cranston -- who could have pictured him a hero? Not long before, he was a scrawny nerd in "Beetlejuice". The impressive cast could be singled out one by one -- Jonathan Winters, Tim Curry, Penelope Ann Miller and more... this was quite the ensemble.
Some things did not make a lot of sense, but I think perhaps that was intentional. Or, as Ebert says, "If the movie is finally just a little less than the sum of its parts, maybe that's appropriate." Unfortunately, the least coherent part is the beginning (which includes the origin story), and this might lose some viewers before they have decided to even give the movie a chance. And then the rest of the film sort of glosses over the moral conundrum that this millionaire playboy can afford to be a hero because he made his money addicting Tibetans to heroin and opium...
Thanks to Shout Factory, we now have a slick new Blu-Ray disc looking better than ever. Sadly, the features are a bit weak for a special edition. Although they were able to track down the writer, director, cinematographer and two of the three lead actors to create a 23-minute featurette (worth watching), apparently none of these folks was willing to provide a couple hours for commentary.
This is the sort of film that was overlooked in its day (losing revenue to "The Mask") and really deserves a sequel, though of course at this point the only option is a remake. If the rumors of Sam Raimi wanting to tackle the project turn out to be true, maybe some day we will see it...