Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 28 - 1994

This time around, it was once again hard to find something for the top spot. But for a a change it was not due to a wealth of choices, but because my mind was elsewhere. I had met the woman who would become my first wife, we had moved in together and were planning a wedding. Compared to that, everything else seemed...less important...

1994:

The trivia:

• During a quiet Wednesday evening meeting off the local neighbourhood crime watch meeting in Homestead, Florida, proceedings were interrupted by the noise of a very low-flying plane. Suddenly a package fell out of the aircraft and landed slap bang in the middle of the gathered residents. It turned out to be a 75-pound bag of cocaine.
• When rain began to fall in Oakville Washington in the early hours on 7th August 1994, residents noticed that it was not water but a strange jelly-like substance. Within a few hours various people became violently ill with vertigo, blurred vision , nausea and trouble breathing. when a sample of the material was examined it was found to contain human white blood cells and was teeming with two species of bacteria, one of which lies in the human  digestive system, Over a period of three weeks this strange phenomenon would occur a total of six times and while theories abounded about the cause - ranging from human waste from an airplane, jellyfish thrown into the air by a naval bombing exercise and even the testing of a military biological weapon - nothing was ever confirmed. Apparently no samples of the jelly still exist. I wonder why?...
• After an earthquake caused a power cut over most of Los Angeles, many people phoned observatories (and allegedly even emergency services) to report a strange giant silvery cloud in the sky over the city. It was the Milky Way.

The memory:

The Shadow:

I have already established with previous entries that I have a real fondness for the 'pulp' characters from the early part of the 20th century - heroes such as 'Doc' Savage, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Biggles and Tarzan. I'd enjoyed many of their exploits in the pages of numerous paperback novels, on television and on film - and the main memory of this post is a cinematic one. However with "The Shadow", I came to know first him through another route...

Originally "The Shadow" was simply the sinister announcer of the "Dectective Story Hour" radio show, but intense listener interest led to publishers Street & Smith hiring Walter Gibson to develop a concept and persona to fit the mysterious voice. Beginning in April 1931 and containing for almost two decades, Gibson wrote 282 (out of 325) adventures of the dark vigilante under the pseudonym Maxwell Grant - incredibly that's a novel-length story twice a month. Other guest writers (including 'Doc' Savage's own Lester Dent) did the remainder.

Gibson created the foundations of "The Shadow" - including his persona, multiple  aliases, helpers, and super-villains - and detailed how he terrified criminals as he prowled the streets under the cover of night. His distinctive wide-brimmed hat and red lined cloak coupled with the crimson scarf that just left his eyes and nose exposed and his dual pistols was a familiar image to readers.

As his popularity grew, "The Shadow" expanded into his own radio dramas in 1937, starring a 22-year old Orson Welles as wealthy socialite Lamont Cranston, the vigilante's civilian identity (confusingly, his real name is Kent Allard). It's here that he first exhibited the ability to 'cloud men's minds' so that he could effectively become invisible and where Margo Lane - Cranston's love interest, crime-fighting partner and the only person to know his secret identity - was introduced (the novels did not include her til four years later). After Welles, a succession of other fine voice actors followed and between 1937 and 1954, "The Shadow" was a Sunday night staple of the Mutual Radio Network across the USA.


The same year saw the first film - "The Shadow" Strikes", starring Rod La Rocque in the title role. This was quickly followed by a sequel - "International Crime" - and then a 15-episode serial with Victor Jory. Monogram Pictures then produced a trio of B-movie style features in 1946. The last film for nearly forty years was 1958s "Invisible Avenger" which was actually two episodes of an un-transmitted television show which were spliced together.

"The Shadow" has naturally been adapted for comics several times during his long history. The first time was as a daily newspaper strip between 1940 and 1942 where the plots were adapted from the Walter Gibson pulps. Publishers Street & Smith got in on the act themselves with "Shadow Comics" which lasted 101 issues until 1949. Archie Comics did eight issues in the 1960s which inexplicably turned the character into a blonde superhero in a green and blue costume! In the mid-1970s, DC Comics published a more authentic and atmospheric interpretation as a 12-issue series from writer Dennis O'Neill and artist Michael Kaluta (followed by Frank Robbins and E.R. Cruz). This was extremely well-regarded and also included a team-up with another pulp creation, "The Avenger".

The Shadow also got to meet Batman in the pages of that hero's title, where Bruce Wayne called the crime fighter "his greatest inspiration" - something that was true in the real world too, as co-creator Bill Finger had used elements of the classic mystery man in the development of the Dark Knight. Batman's first story was even loosely based on the Shadow story "Partners of Peril". The second team-up a few issues later even revealed that Kent Allard saved Wayne's life when he was a child.

So by the time we hit the mid-80s, we had a crime fighter who had been around for more than fifty years across multi-media platforms. Yet somehow I had never read a single one of his adventures in prose or comics, nor seen or heard any of the various adaptations. I think it had all been too far in the past or I was too young - I was only six when the O'Neill / Kaluta series was published and the black and white serial was not shown on the BBC in the school holidays like the Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" epics. Beyond being aware of the name, "The Shadow" and a vague idea of his literary origins, he was a blank canvas to me.

That soon changed however, via the controversial 1986 mini-series "Blood & Judgement" from "American Flagg" creator Howard Chaykin. Instead of a period piece, this was a sexy, violent re-imagining, which transplanted the nocturnal crime fighter to then-modern-day New York. Crucially however this was not a reboot. It postulated that Lamont Cranston had vanished in the 1950s, only to reappear thirty years later looking not a day older when his former associates were targeted by an assassin. Dealing bloody justice to a sea of criminals, The Shadow was engaged in a desperate race against time to track down his oldest enemy and counter a deadly plan to bring about nuclear armageddon.

I'd been a big fan of Chaykin's work on "American Flagg" and this was very much in the same vein, helped by long-time lettering collaborator Ken Bruzenak. This was a fast-paced, action-filled thriller full of square-jawed men, drop-dead gorgeous women, seedy dens of iniquity and violent death - no wonder it was labelled for mature readers. Yet despite being set in the contemporary USA, it seemed to ooze a certain 1930s style, and I immediately took to the character.

The mini-series was successful enough to warrant an ongoing comic book, but Chaykin was busy elsewhere. Enter writer Andy Helfer (who had been the editor on "Blood and Judgement") and eclectic artist Bill Sienkiewicz, hot off his runs on "New Mutants" and "Elektra: Assassin". Helfer added newcomers to The Shadow's list of agents, as they investigated ever more bizarre cases. The sex quotient was phased out in favour of black humour, which ramped up even more when Kyle Baker came on board as artist with issue eight.

Baker was new to the comics scene at this point. Seminal works like "Why I Hate Saturn" were still in his future, so this was the first time people got to experience his style and see him grow as an artist. I loved his cartoonish renderings and while the series was vastly different to that produced by Chaykin, it still became one of my top monthly reads. Under Helfer and Baker "The Shadow" became a virtual psychopath, little better than some of the villains he fought and their take on the hero and his attitude towards his calling became more and more irreverent - culminating in them killing him off only to resuscitate his head atop a giant robot body.

But rumours had begun to circulate that current copyright owners Condé Nast were not happy with the direction their property was being taken in. Whatever the truth, the popular series was abruptly cancelled with issue 19 and the next "Nuts & Bolts" storyline was never published. It was a sad end to a brilliant comic. Helfer's skewed vision and Baker's cartoon-like stylings were a perfect match. When the character returned in 1989 it was back in his original hunting ground of the 1930s in a more traditional take on the pulp stories. Gerard Jones and Eduardo Barreto did a competent enough job, but I had moved on to other things by that point and only picked up a couple of issues when it crossed over with "Doc Savage" which DC also published at that time. That would be the end of my involvement with "The Shadow" for five years...

So at last we come to the core of this memory for 1994. Once again the 1930s suspense hero was adapted into a feature film - this time directed by Russell Mulcahy (of "Highlander" fame) and  starring Alec Baldwin as Lamont Cranston and Penelope Ann Miller as Margo Lane, with supporting roles for Ian McKellen and Tim Curry. It combined elements of all the various versions from novels, comic books and radio plays - plus a few new twists of it's own (such as Cranston's ability to mystically conjure a totally different face when he is out on the prowl as "The Shadow").

Unlike the much earlier tongue-in-cheek adaptation of "Doc Savage", this pulp film is more straight-laced, building a downbeat origin story for the masked crimefighter - with just a touch of "Doctor Strange" to it - and crafting a reason for him to stalk the mean streets with his cape, wide-brimmed hat, silver pistols and maniacal laugh. Cranston is also a ruthless individual who coerces those he saves into joining his team of operatives - everything is in service of his war on crime. Yet he's a tormented soul, who seems confused about who he really is. At one point during a conversation with Margo Lane he proclaims "I dreamed I tore all the skin off my face and was somebody else underneath"...

The villain for the film is the pulp novels re-occurring mastermind, Shiwan Khan (John Lone) - who I had come across previously in the DC comics. A direct descendant of the Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, he has telepathic, hypnotic and mind-controlling powers and is very much the Moriarty to Lamont Cranston's Sherlock Holmes, having had similar training by Tibetan monks. Khan intends to dominate New York by both scientific and mystical means and only The Shadow and his associates can stop him.

Visually the film is incredible, with a sumptuous Art Deco New York as it's centrepiece, replete with towering city blocks, vintage cars, period costumes and swirling mist. It really does evoke the feel of the time the original stories were written. Clearly there is *some* influence from the superhero movies that came just a few years before - Burton's "Batman" immediately come to mind - yet "The Shadow" manages to plow its own furrow in most areas and in some harks back to the more absurdist take on the Dark Knight from the classic Adam West series of 1966 - the nuclear bomb in the finale is a giant pinball that careers across a tilting floor and down a maze of hallways.... 

The modest SFX are also very good. Sure they might look a little dated to today's audiences, but to be honest, even though today's CGI wizardry might enable directors to put actors into any scenario or backdrop, there is something rather 'special' about pre-digital matte paintings and optical effects. Maybe it's just my generation.

Are there some liberty's taken with the source material in the transition to celluloid? Probably. But you have to remember that at the time I first watched the film I was totally unfamiliar with any of the pre 80s versions - and those certainly weren't afraid to tinker with the perceived lore built up over the past decades! Maybe that helped me embrace the fun and excitement when so many others had problems with it. Sure the story is hardly original and some of the dialogue might be a bit dramatically overstated, but what do you want from a pre-war mystery magazine adaptation? It was never going to be a Shakespearean classic. It helps that it's also well cast, with Baldwin in particular doing well in the dual roles - effortless charm as the playboy socialite by day and all gravel voice and dark obsession by night, as he strikes fear into the heart of the criminal fraternity.

What really works for me is that it genuinely feels like a live-action recreation of the comics I had loved, albeit transposed back to the original 1930s milieu. It's not grim and gritty or grounded in the real world - and is all the better for it. Everything just works and you can sit back and enjoy a rip-roaring high-action old-school adventure. It's unapologetic good fun.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows !

Honourable mentions:

• Starman - James Robinson's new take on the son of one of DC's original Golden Age heroes manages to not only tell a mature and original story but also weave the history of every single character ever to bear the name into the narrative in a way that made total sense. It's a masterclass in using DC's rich legacy to create a new hero for the modern day. Themes of nostagia, age, collecting and the aftereffects of violence permeated the whole 6 year run and it's a testament to the power of Robinson's work that no-one has attempted to resurrect Jack Knight in the years since the series reached it's natural end. Definitely one of my top 20 comics.

• Inside The Actor's Studio - I'll admit that I didn't get to see this show until Sky's satellite channels started broadcasting episodes in the UK - and by then it had been running for several years - but I soon became addicted to the programme and it's simple format. Every week, James Lipton - Dean Emeritus of the  Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York -  interviews the worlds biggest film and television actors, taking them and us through their careers from humble beginnings to the present day. These are not promotional chats, but in-depth conversations about their life and work and Lipton's meticulous research is legendary. Sure, sometimes things can get a little cosy and verge on the fawning but more often than not you find that actors really open up to Lipton and reveal real insights into their personalities, life and the way they approach acting. It's always fascinating stuff, not to mention the amazing fact that Lipton is still going strong at 90 years of age.

• True Lies - Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a lot of good movies but this is one of my favourites because it manages to so successfully blend action and humour. Arnold plays a computer salesman whose real life as a government super spy is a secret from his wife and family - a sort-of "what if James Bond was married?" scenario.  Cue lots of explosions, fights and cheesy one liners but layered with romance and a knowing wink at its own ridiculousness. It helps that Arnold is ably supported by Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold and of course James Cameron behind the lens.

• Caliban's Hour - Another entry for Tad Williams, but this is a much slimmer volume compared with his door-step sized fantasy epics. It's a sequel to Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (always one of my top plays from the bard), which sees the monstrous looking Caliban forcing a captive Miranda to listen to the dark tale of his origins and the magical and terrible things which led him to a life of villainy - although maybe things are not quite as black and white as they first seemed. Caliban presents his version of events, which offer a new perspective on the original play and many details are expanded upon, turning him almost into a sort of anti-hero. It's a brilliant examination of one of Shakespeare's most famous characters and although knowing something of the original text is helpful it's not essential.

• Donkey Kong Country - I never owned a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). But my young brother-in-law to be did. When I went to visit the in-laws in the period leading up to my wedding, he and I bonded over video games  - and the one we played the most was this classic from the constantly innovative Rare Studios. As they had for the ZX Spectum in the 80s as "Ultimate Play The Game", they pushed the boundaries of console technology to produce a side-scrolling platformer with gameplay and graphics that far outstripped the competition. We played it a lot (well, as much as my fiancee would allow) and my love for the game was a big factor when I came to choose the Nintendo 64 as my next console. I even bought the remake for the Wii so I could wallow in the nostalgia...