| The Shadow |
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Composed by Jerry Goldsmith |
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Orchestrated by Arthur Morton and Alexander Courage Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith Produced by Jerry Goldsmith Release Date: 1994 |
Currently not available for purchase
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A failure at the box office, I first encountered this film when it premiered on pay-per-view way back when, and I will fully admit that I've enjoyed it since the first time I saw it. Sure it has it's problems, and it shares much in common with the other "superhero" flicks that came out before it, but I still thought the movie was great fun, with a decidedly tongue-in-cheek feel at times. Originally Sam Raimi had tried to procure the rights to The Shadow, but not being able to do so came out with his own character, Darkman, instead. Had Raimi succeeded, this would definitely have been an interesting film (especially in light of Spider-Man). Despite would could have been, The Shadow is quite fun and I would really like to see a proper release of it on DVD. The current disc available now is in pan-&-scan with no extras and is way overpriced. As such, I'll stick with my VHS copy for now. Being no stranger to the genre, having scored Supergirl in the previous decade, Jerry Goldsmith was tapped to compose. With the Eastern mysticism surrounding the character, along with the inherit air of spookiness from being able to "cloud men's minds," Goldsmith was ably suited to the job, especially given his style of electronic composing. He puts it all to good use here, and what could have turned into a generic hero score is given a flavor that has yet to be matched. Themes abound (as well as references to plenty of other films), including one for the Mongol hordes which is a direct descendent of Goldsmith's Klingon theme. This is interesting since the development of the Klingon race in Star Trek was actually inspired to some degree by the Mongols. The tone of the score waves back and forth between light and dark all the while maintaining a much needed consistency between the two. There is also plenty of foreshadowing of yet-to-come Goldsmith scores as well, most notably Star Trek: First Contact. The CD itself, now out of print, is arranged in an odd fashion. The opening track is a line from the film spoken by Alec Baldwin. It's an interesting way to start off the CD, though things get dull with the below-par song, Original Sin (performed by Taylor Dayne if that means anything to you). Finally, after over six-and-a-half minutes of running time, do we come upon the main title. The CD ends roughly the same way, concluding with yet another version of Original Sin (the only difference being a slightly less running time), and the opening from the original 1937 radio show with Orson Welles (of Citizen Kane fame). This leaves only thirty minutes of score. While there aren't any major portions of the score missing, I could've done without both versions of Original Sin. At least the other song, Some Kind of Mystery, was actually used in the film and is fun in its own retro sort of way. An above-average Goldsmith score, The Shadow is fun both on film and in the CD player. Unfortunately, having been out of print for quite some time, this can be quite a difficult album to obtain. Fans of the film should definitely take interest, and especially those looking to add more titles to their Goldsmith collection. **** |
| Track Listing - Total Running Time: 46:28 | |
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