A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

One of the current favoured genres of film among the major studios is the comicbook superhero, turning comics that most people have never heard of into movies, usually with limited success, though there is the odd exception.  Of course, it all came after the success of Batman, though it's really only taken off to such a great extent after the turn of the century; one of the earlier efforts to capitalise on the apparently big market was The Shadow, a pretty dreadful movie which I'm sure the excellent Alec Baldwin seriously regrets, which sees the titular character battling to save the world from nuclear annihilation, by (amongst other things) making himself invisible, hence his name.  Despite great production design, nothing could save the movie from its shoddy script (by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park, no less!) and it sank under a barrage of negative criticism.

Sadly, Jerry Goldsmith has not been used often as part of the superhero craze, despite seeming to be perfectly-suited to it (most of the best such movies have seemingly been done by Danny Elfman, though others have contributed from time to time); indeed, The Shadow is the only one he's ever done (unless you count Supergirl, which doesn't get counted among many things).  The theme for The Shadow is wonderful, a colourful and powerful piece... for whatever reason, it is also note-for-note the same as Franz Waxman's theme from Prince Valiant.  While Goldsmith obviously saw a chance to use a great theme from one of his favourite golden age scores, its relevance to this movie is not particularly clear, and it's very odd that he didn't credit it.  Call it homage, call it plagiarism, but it's a great theme whatever it is.

The remainder of the score is an impressively colourful effort full of interesting percussion, imaginative use of synths and real drive and energy.  There is a lot of breathless action material, with "Chest Pains" and "The Knife" in the middle of the album, and "Frontal Lobotomy" at the end, being particular highlights.  There is also a wonderful secondary theme heard in "The Tank" in which the percussion section is really given a big workout; and then some of the wonderfully well-structured, truly thrilling action music that only Goldsmith could manage to conjure up.  There is also a very subtle jazzy element to suggest the 1930s period, but most of this gets buried on this album, which sadly misses out a great deal of terrific music Goldsmith composed for the film (there is barely half an hour of score here).  Chances are, we'll never get to hear any more of it on album, which is a great pity - I for one would love to.

Coming during a period in his career in which sparse orchestrations were favoured for action projects, The Shadow is a surprising throwback in some ways to Goldsmith's heyday of the early 1980s.  This album is too much a collection of highlights to truly flow properly, which is a pity; I am not one for calling every 30-minute release a waste of time (most modern film scores are nowhere near good enough to maintain interest for even 30 minutes, let alone longer) but this is one which is really harmed by the short running time.  You get the sense that there is a great score in here trying to burst out - but it never quite manages it in this presentation.

Tracks

1. The Shadow Knows (:08)
2. Original Sin Taylor Dayne (6:27)
3. The Poppy Fields (3:16)
4. Some Kind of Mystery Sinoa (3:48)
5. The Sanctum (3:33)
6. Who Are You? (4:02)
7. Chest Pains (3:26)
8. The Knife (3:05)
9. The Hotel (5:53)
10. The Tank (4:08)
11. Frontal Lobotomy (2:28)
12. Original Sin Taylor Dayne (5:02)
13. The Shadow Radio Show, 1937 (:29)