The Shadow (1994)

In 30's New York City, the Shadow battles his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, who is building an atomic bomb.

Director:

Russell Mulcahy

Writers:

Walter B. Gibson (character The Shadow from stories), David Koepp

Stars:

Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alec Baldwin	...	Lamont Cranston / The Shadow
John Lone	...	Shiwan Khan
Penelope Ann Miller	...	Margo Lane
Peter Boyle	...	Moe Shrevnitz
Ian McKellen	...	Dr. Reinhardt Lane
Tim Curry	...	Farley Claymore
Jonathan Winters	...	Barth
Sab Shimono	...	Dr. Tam
Andre Gregory	...	Burbank
Brady Tsurutani	...	Tulku
James Hong	...	Li Peng
Arsenio 'Sonny' Trinidad	...	Wu
Joseph Maher	...	Isaac Newboldt
John Kapelos	...	Duke Rollins
Max Wright	...	Berger

Storyline

Based on the 1930's pulp fiction and radio drama series, the film pits the hero against his arch enemy, Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "The power to cloud men's minds", the Shadow comes blazing to the city's rescue with explosive results.

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Plot Keywords:

city | bomb | invisibility | the shadow | radio | 

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Taglines:

The Shadow Knows!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

La sombra

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$32,055,248 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Bregman/Baer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 93 min (edited)

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The finale in which Cranston chases Shiwan Khan through a hall of mirrors was intended to be longer, with Khan taunting Cranston by displaying images from his violent past on the mirrors. An earthquake (Northridge, 17 January 1994 - 6.7 magnitude) destroyed the set and the filmmakers, out of time and money, were unable to complete the scene as originally envisioned.

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Goofs

While hanging from the top of the Empire State Building, the sailor looks straight down the side of the building, which is shown to be flat. This is wrong. From the observation deck, there is another level that sticks out below, where the lights that shine upwards are stored.

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Quotes

Lamont Cranston: You are a barbarian.
Shiwan Khan: Thank you.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #30.5 (2003)

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Soundtracks

"SOME KIND OF MYSTERY"
Written by Diane Warren
Performed by Sinoa Loren (as Sinoa)
Produced by Jellybean Benítez for Jellybean Productions, Inc.
Arranged by Johnny Mandel

User Reviews

Fun Film, Beautiful Looking, Great Performances

Before BATMAN, there was THE SHADOW. In the history of troubled billionaires donning disguises at night, THE SHADOW told the story of Lamont Cranston before Bruce Wayne's story filled DC Comics' pages. Finally, in 1994, the long-running radio drama came to life on the big screen in one of the best adaptations since Tim Burton brought The Dark Knight to the silver screen in 1989. For some reason, the movie never caught on with the public; maybe not as many people remembered the radio version as I did. I loved it, though; I could watch this film again and again.

Alec Baldwin (BEETLEJUICE, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER) plays Lamont Cranston, a former drug lord who is captured by a Tibetan monk and retrained to fight evil as his penance for doing it. Cranston's power is a kind of hypnotic telepathy; he has the power to "cloud men's minds", which he uses to make himself invisible to evildoers except for his shadow (because light itself can never be fooled).

Cranston lives an exciting double life in what is apparently a glamorized version of the 30's, playing the town as a billionaire playboy and building up a secret network of helpers from those he saves as The Shadow (each identified with a silver fire opal ring given them upon their rescue), until he meets his match in two ways: Cranston loses his heart to enchanting-but-scatterbrained Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), and The Shadow must fight his evil counterpart, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), last descendant of Genghis Khan, who has a hypnotic telepathy of his own and is seeking to bring life as we know it to an end using elements that have never been combined before (Dr. Roy Tam to Cranston: "I guess you'd call it an implosive-explosive-submolecular destruction device." Cranston: "Or an 'atomic bomb'." Tam: "Hey, that's catchy.").

Forget trying to follow the plot; like BATMAN, the plot isn't the point. The point is the look and feel of the movie, and this movie has glamour and pizazz to spare. 1930's New York City has NEVER looked better. The special effects are brilliant (at one point, as water rises in an enclosed room, the invisible Shadow's legs make deep dents in the rising water) and very well used throughout, so that they are not intrusive but rather a part of the story. Like BATMAN, there's also a large assortment of anachronistic gadgetry (pneumatic tubes delivering messages over a sophisticated network, video phones, elaborate neon billboards) that somehow work with the story as well. And the acting--Baldwin, Miller, Lone, Peter Boyle as Cranston's driver, Tim Curry as an evil scientist in league with Lone, Ian McKellen as Margo's father, another scientist whose discoveries are exploited by Khan--is also first-rate. THE SHADOW is the perfect Saturday Night movie: Fun to watch, attractive-looking, and not terribly taxing on the brain. Go see it.