Shadows and Fog (1991)

With a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen

Stars:

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Michael Kirby

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Kirby	...	Killer
Woody Allen	...	Kleinman
David Ogden Stiers	...	Hacker
James Rebhorn	...	Vigilante
Victor Argo	...	Vigilante
Daniel von Bargen	...	Vigilante (as Daniel Von Bargen)
Camille Saviola	...	Landlady
Tim Loomis	...	Dwarf
Katy Dierlam	...	Fat Lady
Mia Farrow	...	Irmy
John Malkovich	...	Clown
Madonna	...	Marie
Dennis Vestunis	...	Strongman
Donald Pleasence	...	Doctor
Lily Tomlin	...	Prostitute

Storyline

A small and insignificant bookkeeper, Kleinman, is awoken one night by his neighbors who wants his help to track down a strangler who has been killing people all over town. The citizens form vigilance committees, but when Kleinman has dressed, his neighbors have disappeared. Meanwhile a circus has come to town. Irmy and Paul are two of the artists. After a fight, Irmy leaves the circus in the middle of the night. Eventually she meets Kleinman, scared and alone.

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Plot Keywords:

serial killer | directed by star | circus | man wearing glasses | lynch mob | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 March 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sombras y niebla

Filming Locations:

Kaufman Astoria Studios - 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,111,314, 22 March 1992

Gross USA:

$2,735,731

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,735,731

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of two 1991 films starring Woody Allen. The other film was Scenes from a Mall (1991).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Hacker: Kleinman, Kleinman, open up! Kleinman! We know you're in there!

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)

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Soundtracks

Prologue from the Seven Deadly Sins
(1934)
Music by Kurt Weill
Text by Bertolt Brecht
Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licesing

User Reviews

Style Over Substance

Woody Allen's tribute to German expressionism is better than most critics would have you believe. Sure there is very little plot to speak of, it's more a series of vignettes and gags than a cohesive narrative. Sure, it ends rather abruptly, never solving the mystery, but none of this stopped my thorough enjoyment of this film.

As the title suggests the entire movie is designed in shadows and fog. Shot with beautiful black and white photography, Allen and cinematographer Carlo Di Palma create the look and feel of an unnamed East European city as seen in such films as M and Nosferatu. The lighting is set up so that in nearly every shot underlying shadows engulf the scene. In the exteriors a vicious fog rolls across the night sky obscuring most details. Through the fog bumbles Kleinman (Allen is his typical neurotic schmuck role) trying to find his role in a vigilante mob's plan to stop a serial killer roaming the streets. From dark night until dawn, Kleinman wanders from place to place meeting a wide variety of curious characters (played by an even more curious group of celebrities), the most endearing of which is a desperate sword swallower (Mia Farrow)who is has wandered into a brothel after fleeing her cheating boyfriend/clown (John Malcovich).

It is a little unsettling to watch Allen do his normal schtick while the characters around him are murdered, subjected to racial prejudice, beaten by the police and discuss such subjects as love, sex, and meaning. There is a subtext involving the plight of the Jews between the World Wars, foreshadowing the Nazis. Yet the gags remain as solid as any Woody Allen film. Amongst the seriousness of his subtext and the films he is paying homage to, Allen finds away to bring full bellied laughter. Though his quirky neurosis isn't as resolutely hilarious as it is in such films as Annie Hall, it is still enough to fill the film with mirth.

The film ends rather abruptly with Kleinman having never learned his role in the plan, nor the killer having been caught. Yet as the credits role we realize the mystery was not so much the reason behind the story as method in creating it.