and I'm not sorry one bit. So there.

[freckles_and_doubt]

I've had a copy of The Shadow lurking on my DVD shelf for a while, now, having acquired it randomly on the grounds that (a) it's a superhero movie, (b) it was ridiculously cheap, and (c) someone I read once on the internets somewhere said that the set design was brilliant. Other than that, I had every expectation that it would be a dreadful little movie.

I am completely unashamed to say that I loved every campy, pulpy, badly scripted minute of it - I lay on the sofa sipping rosé and wriggling my toes in girlish glee. It's a direct throwback to the pulp sensibility of its radio and crime magazine roots, having incredibly quantities of period feel¹, glamorous women (her wardrobe is stunning), absent-minded scientists, hypnotic powers, secret networks, giant bombs threatening Manhattan and inscrutable evil orientals in full-on Mongol outfits. The special effects are unlikely but charming - the Shadow bounces around with smoke dissolves, glowing eyes and a rather cool morph from suave Alec Baldwin to a hook-nosed, piercing-eyed face behind a muffler and a hat. There's lots of the classic wavering shadow of the Shadow, and lingering manic laughter over portentous reference to the evil that lurks in the hearts of men. And the sets are, indeed, stunning, a sort of love poem to Art Deco, with meticulous attention to detail and some truly beautiful façades.

It also has a cast way, way in excess of its script - not just Alec Baldwin, but Tim Curry and Ian bloody McKellan, hopelessly underused as a hypnotised scientist. The disconnect between the quality of the cast and the quality of the script is a mite disorienting, but it's rather fun to watch them ham it up. If nothing else there's a slightly sadistic satisfaction in Alec Baldwin with long greasy hair living it up as a Tibetan warlord with a harem.

In other news, this weekend I will damned well start knitting again. Knitting acquaintances, please stand by the phones to rescue me when I've once more tied myself to the piano.

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¹ It is my contention that human civilisation would be immeasurably improved if everyone still wore hats all the time.