The Shadow (1994)

Plot of The Shadow: It is 1930 something. Lamont Cranston is a playboy who, when resident in Tibet, dealt in drugs and frolicked with a bevy of beauties. He is captured by the Tulku, a mysterious holy man, under whose tutelage Lamont develops supernatural powers and returns to New York City to do good. His life changes when Shiwan Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan arrives in the city with the intent of taking over the world, offering Lamont the chance to join him. He has similarly the ability to control the actions of others and so engages a scientist to develop an atomic bomb. Lamont almost unwittingly forms a friendship with Margo Lane, a socialite, who has undeveloped telepathic powers. When he is trapped in a water filled sphere, he manages to call on her to release him. He discovers that Khan has a refuge in a vast hotel in central New York which he has telepathically concealed from the inhabitants, and enters to pursue him. Meanwhile Margo and her father attempt to disable the atomic bomb.

Content: No sex or nudity, but Margo is slinky in a number of backless dresses. A lot of drinking and smoking. Lamont particularly orders two martinis whenever he joins his uncle, the police commissioner at the Carlton Club.  We meet Lamont as a drug dealer in Tibet, but the film avoids the extensive training by giving us a written summary on the screen. There are scenes involving a dagger, the Phurba, which is telepathically controlled at different times by the Tulku, Khan and Lamont. There are a lot of scenes in the streets of New York. The Shadow has a network of assistants who use one of those pneumatic tube systems to send information.  He also has a car and driver, which masquerades as a taxi. Often featured is a cigarette advert which actually blows smoke rings.

A View: I had not heard of the Shadow, but liked the idea of a 1930s superhero. The developers of the film had done a lot of work in their effort to make it authentic many of the scenes apparently taken from the actual stories written by Gibson, but unfortunately this would be lost on most audiences, who would want a bit of superhero action, and a sexy heroine. I found that while I mostly appreciated the environment, the action sequences fell pretty flat, since they involved mind control. Perhaps there was a fundamental plot error in making the villain a man from a different era, rather than having the Shadow take on the crime lords in the city. So maybe a view just for its place in filmography.

Fun Fact: The climax takes place in a hall or mirrors, but a week of production was lost when the set was destroyed by an earthquake.