Quick Poll:
Do you prefer the radio-based version of the Shadow, where Lamont Cranston has the ability to "cloud mens' minds"
or the Pulp-based "Dark Avenger of the Night" where Kent Allard is impersonating Cranston to carry on his work as the Shadow.
Personally I lean toward the radio, but I do really like how this movie does a reasonably good job of combining the two.
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I like the radio show, and it's always been a favorite of mine. The pulp novels are fantastic, I suppose when push comes to shove I'd go for the original pulp depiction of the Knight of Darkness.
The 1994 movie was a decent try at a hybrid depiction of the Shadow though.
Kent Allard but with the ability to cloud men's minds.
I suppose technically the film is not inconsistent with him being Allard...
The Novelization says that he is in fact Kent Allard in the film
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The Novelization says that he is in fact Kent Allard in the film
"by tim-bateman (Tue Jun 22 2010 13:52:49)
Kent Allard but with the ability to cloud men's minds.
I suppose technically the film is not inconsistent with him being Allard... "
This. Reading the novels, I've always imagined him literally merging with the Shadows, flowing in and out of them like ink. There are many scenes where he hides in ridiculous places, like the shadow of a bookshelf or beside a pile of coal. He also hypnotizes a man in the novels and forces him to confess. This leads me to believe he does have some powers and Gibson simply wrote them with far more subtlety than the radio show.
And if The Shadow is Allard, I hope they show it the way the novels did! The reader is first led to believe that The Shadow is indeed Lamont Cranston. A scene happens with Fellows and "Cranston" that completely confirms this in the reader's mind. The very next scene is the real Cranston waking up in the night to find The Shadow speaking to him, wearing his face! If it were up to me, I would copy that bedroom scene word for word and put it near the end of the movie. It would show the audience that The Shadow is forever mysterious, and be engaging sequel bait.
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"Speak softly and carry a sakabatou."
I like the strange psychic abilities of The Shadow in the radio play, but I admit that I really love the mysterious aspect of the original where you never really knew who The Shadow was until later in the series when he was revealed as Kent Allard (at least according to overviews and articles I have read). It's a pretty neat plot to have him take over other people's identities for his own use. I have read an excerpt from one of the old pulps where Cranston returns while The Shadow is using his identity and The Shadow confronts him and pretty much blackmails him into leaving and staying gone until such time as he was finished using him to get what he needs. He threatens Cranston that he can easily seize control of everything Cranston has if he doesn't agree. It would be interesting to see such an approach to the character in a film today. But I will always enjoy the radio drama slant with the psychic powers as well.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?