The Shadow Strikes!

[bionicbob]

I ordered this today from Amazon:

It is an independently produced MOD 2 hour documentary on the history of the Shadow.

Also pre-ordered the Shadow blu-ray.

 

[Fanedit]

I ordered this today from Amazon:

It is an independently produced MOD 2 hour documentary on the history of the Shadow.

Also pre-ordered the Shadow blu-ray.

Let me know how this is. I've been tempted by it myself. Probably gonna go for the Blu Ray also. After seeing your cut, its gonna be a let down though.

 

[joethetimelord]

Just watched this edit and posted my review. Long story short: you've turned a crappy movie into a good one, and that's the very point of fan editing.

Fantastic work.:yo:

 

[bionicbob]

Just watched this edit and posted my review. Long story short: you've turned a crappy movie into a good one, and that's the very point of fan editing.

Fantastic work.:yo:

I am happy you enjoyed it. And THANK YOU very much for taking the time to write such a thoroughly detailed review.

 

[bionicbob]

THANKS to Omaru for his review and generous score!!!!

As to his comment about saving THE SPIRIT.... yeah, I think that might be impossible? :-o

But maybe THE PHANTOM? ;-)

 

[Dwight Fry]

But maybe THE PHANTOM? ;-)

YES! That's the perfect sequel project for this! But, other than a couple lines and over the top moments, that one I think would benefit more from adding footage than from removing it.

Just started a thread on The Phantom in the Movies subforum. And also submitted a review for The Shadow Strikes to IFDB.

 

[bionicbob]

THANK YOU Dwight for the review.

Who knows, maybe THE PHANTOM STRIKES! will one day become a reality.... ;-)

 

[rustmouth]

Just watched this last night and wow! I've seen the film 2-3 times and this is the best version. It really stuck out to me how the B&W masks the CGI. It's somehow easier to accept because the film is already in black and white so you don't see the imperfections. I would watch this one over the original any day. I did have some issues in my phillips DVD player. It wanted to pause about every 20 mins , I think that was just my player.

I'd agree with some of the previous comments:

- The beginning credits you made were really well crafted, but I don't think they fit the overall tone you were trying to set. I would have preferred some old timey looking credits, kinda like something you would see at the beginning of a serial or film from that era.

I agree. I would have preferred a more "mysterious" title music like Ennio Morricone - Untochables theme

The comics are a nice touch but they are just a little too "clean" for the rest of the retro look.

- The scratch and line effects during scene transitions were well placed. My only gripe is that you had them fade at certain points. I think I would have preferred to see them stay until the scenes shifted to another angle.

Again I agree that they are a nice touch but yes they can seem weird when they disappear on the same angle shot.

The only other thing I noticed was right after they meet in the restaurant Khan is rising up from the floor and talking about how they would rule the world. It seemed weird that we jsut saw him get away and then we see him talking to his followers. Maybe there needs to be a fade out after the motorcycle chase to denote time passing? I'll have to check what is there in the original.

Also I think the flash backs to the original beginning are amazing but it seemed to happen so fast that it was very little time to understand what was happening. I would have liked to see a little more of the flash back but this might be unavoidable because of how the scene are cut.

I watched it with someone who had never seen the original and they couldn't tell anything was missing and loved it!
Thanks!

 

[bionicbob]

Just watched this last night and wow! I've seen the film 2-3 times and this is the best version. It really stuck out to me how the B&W masks the CGI. It's somehow easier to accept because the film is already in black and white so you don't see the imperfections. I would watch this one over the original any day. I did have some issues in my phillips DVD player. It wanted to pause about every 20 mins , I think that was just my player.

Happy to hear you over all enjoyed it, especially more so than the original, that is high praise -- Thanks!

The only other thing I noticed was right after they meet in the restaurant Khan is rising up from the floor and talking about how they would rule the world. It seemed weird that we jsut saw him get away and then we see him talking to his followers. Maybe there needs to be a fade out after the motorcycle chase to denote time passing? I'll have to check what is there in the original.

This is how it played out in the original. The passage of time seemed clearly implied to me.

Also I think the flash backs to the original beginning are amazing but it seemed to happen so fast that it was very little time to understand what was happening. I would have liked to see a little more of the flash back but this might be unavoidable because of how the scene are cut.

It would have been nice if I could have alluded to more aspects of the Shadow's origin, but that was all the source material allowed for and I did not feel comfortable with harvesting scenes from other movies to try and make it work. I would much rather go with LESS is MORE, and leave the audience guessing than spoon feeding them all the answers. In my opinion, the Shadow works much better as a Force of Mystery.

Thank you again for watching and taking the time to post your comments.

 

[havok1977]

Just to reiterate, my review of The Shadow Strikes! as posted on the IFDB:

bionicbob is not only a very active member of the fanediting community but a very prolific releaser of high quality edits of films that I often find near and dear.

It has been many a year since I last watched the original film, but I remember enjoying it on VHS more than once; and while it features a very well constructed plot that I often found vaguely reminiscent of the serial type adventure of the Indiana Jones entries from the 80s, it is elevated with some great production value and quite a good direction. But flawed by a shall we say, somewhat distracted performances from the leads actors and it suffers from a few excesses that thankfully Bob has remedied with this release:


A/V quality, I have to say I really enjoyed the Black and White treatment - it fits the time period, look and film of the movie perfectly. And with it, one of the 90s excesses I mentioned has been resolved in one fell swoop: the somewhat over the top coloring of the film is thankfully gone for good, and the experience is all the better for it.

The inclusion of classic radio clips as a framing device is a dead on way to introduce a character like the Shadow and the editing is completely seamless, and given that the original source is a years old DVD encode I applaud what has been accomplished on this edit.

However I did notice some slight stretching of the frame to the sides throughout the edit, and perhaps this is an issue of the original encode and not much can be done about it. - All in all a solid 9/10.


Visual Editing - Not a single noticeable cut, the whole edit flows completely unhindered and its quite enjoyable. As mentioned,I enjoyed the The B&W treatment quite a bit, and some added effects were added on top - scratches and marks here and there that I understand are meant to give a period piece look and feel, but felt just a tad too much at times (such as when Cranston is being driven by his loyal Cabbie associate/friend), nothing too hindering but I wish they'd be toned down juuust a little bit. 9/10

Audio Edition - In a word : perfect. As mentioned, some Radio clips were seamlessly added on top of a brand new credits sequence that fits perfectly with the edit; a very few scenes from the main feature were suppressed and I couldn't find a single noticeable change. 10/10

Narrative - The narrative from the original is pretty much intact, and it's a good thing; the quite flat tension release humor is completely gone and the most over the top scenes involving Lamont Cranston's dubious past were smartly trimmed down to show the audience what is necessary to follow the plot. 10/10

Enjoyment - A real pleasure, I enjoyed the experienced thoroughly for the reasons already exposed. 10/10

In shot, another not to be missed quality release from bionicbob, congrats

 

[bionicbob]

THANK YOU havok1977 for your glowing review! WOWZERS!

I really never expected this fan edit to get so much attention or such positive reviews.
Nice to know there is still an audience for the first generation of super heroes. ;-)

I have not made a final decision, but I am toying with maybe doing another STRIKES! style edit,
maybe 1980's Legend of the Lone Ranger?
Or 1980s Flash Gordon?
Or any other suggestions? I believe there is both a Phantom and a Dick Tracy edits in the works....
Any fans of Tales of the Gold Monkey? That might work as a B&W?

 

[Gatos]

WARNING THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

So per usual, I rewatched the original again before watching bob's edit. I also avoided reading any reviews of his edit as well as his cutlist and intention (all I knew was black and white and 4:3 AR).

I remember really enjoying The Shadow as a kid. I thought it was a cool movie. But this was the first time I'd seen it in at least 15 years. So as I rewatched it, my mind was already working thinking of what I would cut or change to improve the movie.

Enter: The Shadow Strikes. Very cool DVD menu! And the edit itself...bionicbob, to quote Chris from Family Guy: "get outta my head!" I love that you removed the intro scene with the flying posessed dagger in Tibet and all that jazz. Worked perfectly to just use the flashback stuff. And having the movie start with The Shadow dealing with some bad guys is definitely a stronger start to the movie.

Also have to say you did an awesome job removing all the horrible humor in this movie. "Nice tie, Brooks Brothers, is that midtown?" God, I wanted to puke when I heard that crap. So glad that was removed!

The 4:3 and B&W definitely worked for this movie since it takes place in the 30s or 40s IIRC? It could have easily remained widescreen and color, but those changes that bob made worked fine for me.

This is the first bionicbob fanedit that I've ever seen. (Unfortunately the source material/subject matter of most of his edits have been movies or shows that I have either never seen or am not a fan of). But I thoroughly enjoyed this edit.

The editing was invisible to me. Audio and Video quality was up to par, although there was some graininess and dots and lines at various points on the video

I hope that some of your future projects also cover material that I'm a fan of as I'd love to see more of your work! Well done bionicbob!

(Review also posted on IFDB)

 

[bionicbob]

I hope that some of your future projects also cover material that I'm a fan of as I'd love to see more of your work! Well done bionicbob!

(Review also posted on IFDB)

Well, I am scratching my head for a new project, so give me a list and I will get right on it! :lol: lol

Seriously, [MENTION=8731]Gatos[/MENTION] THANK YOU for taking the time to post such a positive review.

 

[bionicbob]

Finally had time to sit down to watch the newly released from Universal THE SHADOW blu-ray.

NICE. Very, very nice. Not pristine video quality, but a significant improvement over the previous dvd.

No bonus material, but I did not expect any.

Still a must have for any Shadow fan.

 

[bionicbob]

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Shadow-Blu-ray/47145/#Review

Frak me! :frusty:

So now I learn SHOUT FACTORY is preparing a top secret blu-ray release of THE SHADOW!!!! Shout does fantastic dvd work, and they usually have excellent bonus materials. If I had known this, I would have waited for its release. Now I will be double dipping. My wife is going to kill me! LOL!

 

[Ripplin]

No bonus material, but I did not expect any.

I did expect some for the Rocketeer blu-ray, as did pretty much everyone, and we got nothing. But that's neither here nor there. (but every similar!) Nice to hear about the Shout version. They do make some awesome discs!

 

[Dwight Fry]

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Shadow-Blu-ray/47145/#Review

Frak me! :frusty:

So now I learn SHOUT FACTORY is preparing a top secret blu-ray release of THE SHADOW!!!! Shout does fantastic dvd work, and they usually have excellent bonus materials. If I had known this, I would have waited for its release. Now I will be double dipping. My wife is going to kill me! LOL!

Get it into eBay before it's too late!

 

[Gatos]

https://leonthomasblog.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F53262293763

Renegade Cut: Superheroes and Orson Welles — How would superhero movies be different if Orson Welles decided to adapt The Shadow?

I thought [MENTION=4677]bionicbob[/MENTION] and other fans of The Shadow might be interested in this little video (this guy's entire blog is pretty great IMO, thanks to [MENTION=11896]g1orkatsos[/MENTION] for introducing me to it)

 

[bionicbob]

https://leonthomasblog.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F53262293763

Renegade Cut: Superheroes and Orson Welles — How would superhero movies be different if Orson Welles decided to adapt The Shadow?

I thought bionicbob and other fans of The Shadow might be interested in this little video (this guy's entire blog is pretty great IMO, thanks to g1orkatsos for introducing me to it)

Cool vlog! Citizen Kane or the Shadow? I think he made the wrong choice. :lol:

 

[bionicbob]

This is sort of Shadow related.... Pixar Does Pulps!!!!

http://minionfactory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/pixar-does-pulp.html