The Shadow - SE ever?
03-01-04, 09:27 PM
#27
DVD Talk Special Edition
Welles is certainly my favorite of the performers. He also handled the part of the radio Cranston with a smoothness and humor that I just never heard from the others. I've listened to Bret Morrison and Bill Johnstone and I felt they were too wooden at times. However, as much as the radio shows did to create the character, I never cared for the emphasis on Margo Lane as his partner. It felt too Nick and Nora-ish minus the drinking and ribbing. The Shadow and his alter-ego/disguise Lamont Cranston/Kent Allard were always more enigmatic and interesting on the written page.
I think the movie made a mistake by limiting itself to a rather traditional take on the character and relying on Margo just as the radio shows did. They missed an opportunity to explore a much more mysterious almost inhuman character. The story was a dud in my opinion. I do think ALec Baldwin was a great choice. The movie also has one of my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores.
I know it offends purists but I'd like to see a movie of The Shadow based on the violent but original approach taken in the 80's comics, first by Howard Chaykin then by Andy Helfer with drawings by Bill Sienkiewicz. That interpretation of The Shadow, though it ended strangely and abruptly, placed more emphasis on the Shadow's Agents, new and old. The stories themselves were dark, with a twisted sense of humor and vengeance but provided a more textured world and really zeroed in on the tone of a spectral crimefighter who laughed maniacally before telling criminals that crime does not pay.
I think the movie made a mistake by limiting itself to a rather traditional take on the character and relying on Margo just as the radio shows did. They missed an opportunity to explore a much more mysterious almost inhuman character. The story was a dud in my opinion. I do think ALec Baldwin was a great choice. The movie also has one of my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores.
I know it offends purists but I'd like to see a movie of The Shadow based on the violent but original approach taken in the 80's comics, first by Howard Chaykin then by Andy Helfer with drawings by Bill Sienkiewicz. That interpretation of The Shadow, though it ended strangely and abruptly, placed more emphasis on the Shadow's Agents, new and old. The stories themselves were dark, with a twisted sense of humor and vengeance but provided a more textured world and really zeroed in on the tone of a spectral crimefighter who laughed maniacally before telling criminals that crime does not pay.
03-02-04, 02:50 AM
#28
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Originally posted by Groucho
He didn't say they should be stoned to death, he said that if we lived in another couple, they probably would be stoned to death. Huge difference.
He didn't say they should be stoned to death, he said that if we lived in another couple, they probably would be stoned to death. Huge difference.
03-02-04, 05:26 AM
#29
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Originally posted by philo
I know it offends purists but I'd like to see a movie of The Shadow based on the violent but original approach taken in the 80's comics, first by Howard Chaykin then by Andy Helfer with drawings by Bill Sienkiewicz. That interpretation of The Shadow, though it ended strangely and abruptly, placed more emphasis on the Shadow's Agents, new and old. The stories themselves were dark, with a twisted sense of humor and vengeance but provided a more textured world and really zeroed in on the tone of a spectral crimefighter who laughed maniacally before telling criminals that crime does not pay.
I know it offends purists but I'd like to see a movie of The Shadow based on the violent but original approach taken in the 80's comics, first by Howard Chaykin then by Andy Helfer with drawings by Bill Sienkiewicz. That interpretation of The Shadow, though it ended strangely and abruptly, placed more emphasis on the Shadow's Agents, new and old. The stories themselves were dark, with a twisted sense of humor and vengeance but provided a more textured world and really zeroed in on the tone of a spectral crimefighter who laughed maniacally before telling criminals that crime does not pay.
03-02-04, 07:06 AM
#30
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Originally posted by EPKJ
He certainly did say they should be stoned to death.
He certainly did say they should be stoned to death.
"I’m thinking to myself, if we were in other countries, we would all right now, all of us together, [starts to shout] all of us together would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death! [crowd cheers] Wait! Shut up! Shut up! No shut up! I’m not finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families. [stands up, yelling] What is happening in this country? What is happening? UGHHH!"
