# The Shadow (1994) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128 "2013-06-04T17:35:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/1 "2013-06-04T17:35:11Z")
I love this movie. The only reason I don’t own it on DVD is because the only domestic DVD release was in 4:3 pan and scan. Guess what came out on Blu-Ray today, in 1.85:1? Yesss. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/2 "2013-06-04T17:48:27Z")
Yeah. This is a wonderful, wonderful, terrible movie. Some great scenery chewing by Baldwin and whoever was Khan. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/3 "2013-06-04T17:56:20Z")
I always liked it too. Fun movie and underrated. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/4 "2013-06-04T18:11:20Z")
I loved it when it came out and I think I saw it multiple times in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/5 "2013-06-04T18:13:10Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Yeah. This is a wonderful, wonderful, terrible movie. Some great scenery chewing by Baldwin and whoever was Khan. John Lone - same guy who faced off with Mickey Rourke in Year of the Dragon. He was also in that movie by Alan Pakula about the artistically-rebellious types of the 1920’s - maybe Exiles or something…? ETA: The Moderns. Oh, and he was the grown-up emperor in The Last Emperor… Whatever happened to John Lone? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/6 "2013-06-04T18:35:11Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Yeah. This is a wonderful, wonderful, terrible movie. Some great scenery chewing by Baldwin and whoever was Khan. Indeed, there were some brilliantly goofy interactions there. I loved the bit about the tie. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/7 "2013-06-04T18:43:31Z")
Hate to be the grouch at the party, but… I grew up on oldtime radio recordings of the Shadow and reading the pulp novels. The one great thing about the Shadow from all that backstory is that they never ever ever tell you who he really is or give him an origin story. Which they did in the first few minutes of the movie. Outside of that they did it right and Baldwin was much better than I’d have believed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/8 "2013-06-04T18:55:39Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Hate to be the grouch at the party, but… I grew up on oldtime radio recordings of the Shadow and reading the pulp novels. The one great thing about the Shadow from all that backstory is that they never ever ever tell you who he really is or give him an origin story. Which they did in the first few minutes of the movie. Outside of that they did it right and Baldwin was much better than I’d have believed. That’s funny-from listening to the radio shows and reading the old pulp stories is exactly where I learned that the Shadow wasKent Allard impersonating Lamont Cranston. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/9 "2013-06-04T19:02:39Z")
I just saw this recently b/c it was a free movie on demand. I thought it was enjoyable - I think my favorite character was that evil knife. John Lone was also in the IMO underrated movie **The Hunted** with Christopher Lambert, which has that great scene inside the bullet train with the old samurai guy putting on a clinic for the “new” samurais. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/10 "2013-06-04T19:11:57Z")
I’m not a big fan, and I was disappointed that they went with the radio version of the Shadow rather than the pulp version (which is far more akin to a modern sensibility than the sanitized radio show). Most of the film was lifeless other than that scene between Pacino and Lone with the ties. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/11 "2013-06-04T20:20:29Z")
Every city should have that pneumatic tube system! Fun Jerry Goldsmith score, and the most notable Ian McKellen fantasy film pre-Magneto. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/12 "2013-06-04T20:32:35Z")
I was a fan of The Shadow comics by Helfer/Sienkiewicz/Baker in the late 80’s. The Shadow was so mysterious he was hardly in the comics at all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/13 "2013-06-04T20:56:52Z")
What is the “evolutionary tree” of the character? I had thought he began in radio, then moved to pulps, movies, and comics in that order? What was his very first appearance? I’d only heard a few radio episodes, enough to get the gist of the character, when the movie came out. I liked it! I could see how they took some liberties with the established canon…but not too awful. (The upcoming Lone Ranger looks a bit alarming; I really hate the new Tonto’s appearance…) Preserving the essence of a character is damn tough, since no two people agree on exactly what it is! I did adore the way Baldwin’s nose grew! Why in hell does the Shadow have that ginormous great honker, anyway? The current comic book version doesn’t work very well for me. The writing is a bit tepid. Same problem with the current Green Hornet. The concepts are all there, but there just isn’t any – I dunno – soul. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/14 "2013-06-04T22:56:08Z")
I remember seeing it in the theater, and thinking it was okay. Slight hijack: CandidGamera, now I can’t get the picture out of my head of a giant flying turtle playing practical jokes on people. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/15 "2013-06-05T00:06:31Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Slight hijack: CandidGamera, now I can’t get the picture out of my head of a giant flying turtle playing practical jokes on people. I’m not sure if this is where he got his name, but MST3K did a few marathon’s of the Gamera movies and called them “Candid Gamera”. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/16 "2013-06-05T00:29:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s funny-from listening to the radio shows and reading the old pulp stories is exactly where I learned that the Shadow wasKent Allard impersonating Lamont Cranston. Umm, not according to Maxwell Grant, the guy who created the Shadow and wrote most of the pulps and a number of the scripts. In actuality (and it’s only referenced in a few radio episodes and one or two pulps), he is someone else impersonating Kent Allard impersonating Lamont Cranston. Grant’s other claim to fame was being Houdini’s biographer (as W. Gibson), and he wrote a number of books on stage magic and illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/17 "2013-06-05T00:49:21Z")
The work I’m referencing is titled Gangland’s Doom, and it’s by Gibson. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/18 "2013-06-05T01:20:15Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Preserving the essence of a character is damn tough, since no two people agree on exactly what it is! I did adore the way Baldwin’s nose grew! Why in hell does the Shadow have that ginormous great honker, anyway? Because a single, prominent feature is a very effective bit of disguise. People remember the feature, and forget much of the face or build. When he’s being the Shadow, he’s clouding the minds of those who see him so that they think they’re seeing a guy with a big nose, so that’s how they’ll describe him–thereby misdirecting anyone trying to figure out who he really is. Plus, y’know…the Shadow nose. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/19 "2013-06-05T01:31:50Z")
I also liked _The Phantom_ with Billy Zane. I love the 1930’s! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128/20 "2013-06-05T01:39:34Z")
Was he the bomb? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shadow-1994/660128.md?page=2)