It's definitely one of my guilty pleasures (that I don't even let my friends and family know that I like). It's a great, faithful adaptation of the old The Shadow radio serials that I enjoyed as a kid, and though nothing can beat the "theatre of the mind" I thought that the visuals in this film really brought The Shadow character and his world to colourful life.
Even though the story was a little bit simple (read: childish), I love watching this film for all those great visual details, the art deco buildings (and cars), the fashions (like that breathtaking backless black dress), the ads/billboards (Llama cigarettes!), and that genuine "feel" of mystery and paranoia that was the trademark of The Shadow radio show (that he and his agents could be anywhere looking for evil doers). Even the supporting characters are nicely developed in this movie (Margo's father, the cabbie, the sycophantic lackey), and there is quite an impressive supporting cast (John Lone, Tim Curry,Peter Boyle, Sir Ian McKellan, the late great Jonathon Winters) . I particularly enjoyed the period N.Y. dialogue and dialect, and I thought the banter between Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane could have been a masters class in the art of flirtation ("Psychically, I'm well endowed"). Also, though we had caught glimpses of Alec Baldwin's comic potential in Beetlejuice, I think that he really shows here for the first time the timing and delivery that would later make him a comic success on SNL and 30 Rock.
This movie cannot stand up in comparison to a Raiders of the Lost Ark or Star Wars, but I categorize it with films that I enjoy just for the atmosphere and spectacle, like Sky Captain or Conan the Barbarian. Escapist fun and fantasy.
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"
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