Word: cranston
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...Alec Baldwin as Lamont Cranston, also known as the Shadow, the mysterious crime-fighter equally comfortable in Far East opium dens, dark alleys and posh clubs (even if he's always late for dinner with his uncle...
...movie version of the Shadow is based more than a little on Batman-a rich playboy with a darker side that he uses to fight crime. But Baldwin's Cranston has a bit more of an edge than Keaton's Batman. When we first meet him, he's known as "The Butcher," who has amassed a fortune in the Far East and is living a life of depravity in Tibet. Cranston is redeemed when a "holy man" forcibly takes the Westerner under his wing to teach him "how to cloud men's minds...
...Cranston's career as the Shadow, then, is his penance for his formerly corrupt lifestyle, not a whim he indulges in. And he doesn't act alone. In fact, whenever the Shadow saves your life, it belongs to him, as he tells the scientist whom he rescues from mobsters at the beginning of the movie. The Shadow uses his "agents" to keep him posted on evil doings within the city...
Just think of New York City (pre-Depression era) as a giant spiderweb, with Cranston as its center. A little spooky? Yes. So is Cranston, the master manipulator. But the makers of the film don't go over-board with his mystical abilities. Cranston isn't a superman--he's just a snazzily dressed guy with the ability to "cloud men's minds" to effectively hide his presence or convince them to do his bidding...
...Cranston's life as the taxi-catching Shadow is disrupted by the arrival of Shiwan Khan, a direct descendent of Genghis Khan, who wishes to take over the world--starting with the Big Apple. He plans to use the semi-mythical material broncium in an implosive device--something which Cranston christens an "atomic bomb." "Catchy," replies the scientist (yup, the one he saved at the beginning) who tells him about the broncium...