The Shadow

The Context: The Shadow emerged from the "dark ages" of comic book films. It wasn't until the late '90s that comic book adaptations began to be fully recognized and executed as deep, well rounded movies that could deal and be handled with the same kind of dramatic weight and brevity of other, more respected genres. And while some of the campiness of the time period and the hindsight of the radio show lends itself to the "lighter" brush with which the film is painted, the period itself is often viewed with a sense of nostalgia and through such an idealized lens, that the setting of the film immediately exudes an air of fantasy. And it's this tone that lends itself to the fantastical elements of the story.