The Message: Striking, bold, sharp, and shrouded in shadow. Obviously the movie it's advertising will be similarly so, and the best thing since Darkman (1990).
The Truth: The poster highlights the most compelling features of the vigilante, weighed down in the movie by camp and silliness. Less, in this case, was more.
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Certainly not the worst comic book-to-movie adaptation the world has seen, The Shadow deserves attention for the amount of potential it failed to deliver on. Based on the 1930s radio dramas and pulp magazines, the movie followed a young man who takes to the streets cloaked in darkness, face covered, fedora donned, bringing justice to thugs and mobsters alike - how? Through the ability to cloud his enemies' minds, rendering him nearly invisible.
Alec Baldwin's steely gaze and raspy voice was perfect for the role, with the actor even donning prosthetics when shrouded to emphasize his disguise. It's that sense of mystery and secrecy that the poster recalls, with only The Shadow's eyes visible in the blackness.
Fans who knew the source material, or were simply enticed by the blending of a superhero-ish moniker and a poster that repeated it visually, were ultimately let down. Campy, and lacking any real memorable features, the franchise was immediately abandoned. That wasn't the character's fault, and Sam Raimi has remained interested in rebooting the character for years.
Whether he ever sees the light of...night again, The Shadow lives on in the pages of his own comic books - not to mention a poster too inspired to be tarnished by the movie's failure.