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The Shadow (3-Hour Collectors' Editions) (3-Hour Collectors' Editions) |
Author: VARIOUS
Published: 2003-02-01 |
List price: $19.98
Our price: $24.81
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As of: November 20th, 2008 03:34:58 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 THE SHADOW'S GIRL STRIKES BACK
OK, dear and constant reader, let's talk about "The Shadow". IN the beginning the character was nothing more than the HOST of a radio program called "Detective Stories" on NBC---rather like Raymond on INNER SANCTUM and The Man in Black on SUSPENSE (both of which came later). He took no part in the stories themselves. He also hosted Street and Smith's other radio anthology "Love Stories" for awhile (no one has managed to figure out why). James Lo Curto (and, later, Frank Readick) portrayed this creepy host from 1930 until about 1937.
It was around this time that Street and Smith bowed to public pressure which had been demanding copies of "The Shadow Magazine" which didn't exist and finally created it with the inestimable help of Walter B. Gibson who (under the nom-de-plume of Maxwell Grant) wrote THE LIVING SHADOW---the first of over 280 Shadow novels he was destined to write and THIS is when the radio program BECOMES "The Shadow" as legions and generations of fans have come to know it. It is at this point that Orson Welles steps before the microphone for the FIRST time as "Lamont Cranston---aka THE SHADOW" with Agnes Moorehead as his "friend and companion" (whatever THAT may have meant) "the lovely Margo Lane."
Other actors would inherit the part as the years passed---Bill Johnstone, John Archer, (and, in Australia, Lloyd Lamble would play the part with Lyndall Barbour as Margo). But it was my Uncle Bret Morrison who would play the part the longest. A total of ten years in the end. He was to "The Shadow" what Tom Baker was to Doctor...oh never mind.
The evolution of THE SHADOW is briefly covered in this CD.
Though if you were a fan of the magazine you knew something the radio (and later movie) audiences never knew. Namely that Lamont Cranston WASN'T "The Shadow." THE SHADOW would occasionally use Cranston's identity (with Cranston's full knowledge) when he (Cranston) was out of town. So, THE SHADOW was occasionally CRANSTON but Cranston was never THE SHADOW. It was Kent Allard, a flier who had crash-landed near Tibet, who was REALLY "The Shadow".
This CD is a good introduction to the show and gives you episodes from various periods (a total of SIX 30 minute episodes). I'd recommend it as a great Christmas gift to a young person who may not have had much exposure to the program.
 Three hours means three hours.
I got this as a Christmas gift and was rather shocked. I thought it was a large boxed set, with nine discs, based on the description here. But it is actually six episodes on three discs from all over the Shadow's history. I love the episodes, that's not the issue, that product description needs to be changed.
The Episodes that are in this collection are as follows:
The Caverns of Death 9-11-38 ***
Orsen Welles & Margot Stevenson
A so-so episode about a cavern, and some death. Not really up to par with the best Shadow fair.
Gun Island 10-23-38 ****
Bill Johnstone & Agnes Moorehead
A fantastic episode with pirates and patriotism. This episode is worth it just to watch the political soft shoing they had to do in those days. I love the Bill Johnstone Shadow years just because of the political atmosphere and the scary things their writers cooked up.
Hypnotic Death 2-12-39 *****
Bill Johnstone & Marjorie Anderson
I always love episodes when Cranston/Allard has to face a fow with hypnotic powers.
Friend of Darkness 2-19-39 ***
Bill Johnstone & Marjorie Anderson
A wonderful PSA on seeing eye dogs.
Evil In the House 11-7-48
Bret Morrison & Grace Matthews
Until Death Do Us Part 3-6-49
Bret Morrison & Grace Matthews
Based on the product, I give it *****. Based on Amazon's greatly missleading discription I give it **.
rhyme pays; crime don't
I'm buying this because I only own one of the 18 listed episodes, and I'm always looking to add a few Shadows to the collection.
I was introduced to this wonderful old program when I was a little kid back in the early 80's. On long family car rides I would wake up in the middle of the night, and every now and again some radio station would be playing an episode. The violence and Old Testament morality of the show scared the hell out of me when it wasn't making me laugh myself into apoplexy. It wasn't long before I landed my first tape, an episode called "Death from the Deep" about a rich psychopath who trolls the seas in a custom-built submarine, sinking passenger liners and machine-gunning their crews. It featured what might be the best piece of cartoon villainy in all of entertainment history, when the baddie, smooth-talking Barry Vinton, exclaims: "Ah, this is the life, there's nothing like it. The sighting of fresh quarry in this periscope. The excitement of the chase and the spine-tingling thrill as the torpedo finds its mark. And then the climax, on deck with a machine gun, shooting them down like scurrying rats. Ha ha!"
I don't know about you, but (to paraphrase Homer Simpson) I like my beer cold, my women hot, and my villains EEEEEEVIL. And nobody delivers mustache-twirling villainy like "The Shadow."
The Shadow had a certain formula I grew to love as I began to buy episodes as a kid. Besides the frantic organ music and Margo's tendency to get kidnapped, it fell very heavily into the eye for an eye school of justice. To hell with shades of gray: the bad guys here were not merely bad, they were awful, literally bubbling over with villainy. It was a public service to kill them, although in fairness to the Shadow, he usually tricked his enemies into killing each other, climbing into booby-trapped boats, or blundering into 20 trigger happy policemen led by the bumbling Commissioner Weston. It is interesting to note that the obvious crazies, the mad-scientist types who wanted to put human brains in gorillas and phantom-of-the-opera type psychos who strangled women and beat their faces in, were shown no more mercy than the gangsters who had actually chosen to be evil. Didn't matter to the Shadow. If he couldn't trick you into blowing yourself up, he'd have you on an express train to the death house, and never mind your mental illness. And he wasn't above taunting his opponents even after they were beaten. In "The Silent Avenger" he actually taunts Joey Brecker as he is being taken to his execution. As I said, very Old Testament.
Personally, I think Welles was the best. His rich voice was marvelous on the ears, capturing the essence of Cranston -- a combination of effortless, almost smug brilliance, British suaveness, dry wit, decency, cruelty, and ruthless obsession. In some ways he reminds me of a combination of James Bond, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes, all in one. And contrary to popular legend, Welles did not refuse to rehearse for his Shadow sessions, he simply didn't have time. In 1938 Orson was doing full-time on Broadway, shows every single day, and actually hired a private ambulance to drive him, sirens blaring, from 42nd street to the studio so he could make it to Radio City for airtime without getting pulled over. If that isn't dedicated, what is?
Whoever your favorite Shadow, you know when you hit "play" on one of these puppies, you're gonna open up that mind's eye and let it feast on a darkly violent city landscape where the bad guys always finish last....if they finish at all.
 the shadow - just was
many people will tell you that orson welles was the best shadow. many people will also tell you that ice cream is best after it's been left in the car overnight in the middle of july. well orson was the first who took an active part playing lamont cranston so let's give him some points for that. had he rehearsed like a true professional he would have been better. better yes, best, not on his best night. his best night was 'war of the worlds - but that as they say is another story.i used to listen to the shadow with my dad. my older sister who loved dance music every other night (and hogged our only radio), was right there with us when 'his nibs, came a calling. the shadow is truly a great institution. whether it's welles, johnstone, or my personal favourite brett morrison you are in for a treat. and along with a truly great adventure every episode you have agnes moorehead, grace mathews, and the other great talents who have played the lovely margo lane. just think a crime fighter linked up with the same femme fatale for 40 years. did margo ever get her man - without a shadow of a doubt. but who really knows - the shadow knows. lloyd davidson
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