The Shadow (1994 Movie)

David Koepp wrote the screenplay that was finally produced after Martin Bregman bought the film rights in 1982. Koepp's take draws most of its inspiration from the radio shows where Lamont Cranston is the Shadow's true identity, but it also uses some concepts created by Walter B. Gibson. Koepp also attempts to explain why Cranston knows the evil that lurks in the hearts men, giving him new origin as a former crimelord seeking redemption.

Synopsis[]

Following the First World War, Lamont Cranston sets himself up as a Opium kingpin and brutal warlord in Tibet. During this time Cranston goes by the name Ying Ko and never reveals his true identity to anyone. A mysterious Tulku abducts Cranston takes him to the Temple of the Cobras. The Tulku attempts to purge the darkness from his soul and alleviate his inner pain. Cranston initially refuses and tries to stab the Tulku with a gold Phurba. The dagger springs to life and the sculptural faces bites hand. Ultimately, Cranston succumbs to the Tulku's tutelage and learns how to cloud men's minds so that he becomes nearly invisible, save for his shadow.

Cranston returns to New York City seven years later and resumes his former life as a wealthy playboy, while secretly operating as The Shadow—a vigilante who terrorizes the city's underworld. He recruits some of those he saves from criminals to act as his agents, providing him with information and specialist knowledge. His identity is largely unknown, especially to his Uncle Wainwright, who happens to be the Police Commissioner of New York, who he has to regularly hypnotize in order to keep the police from interfering with him. Cranston's secret identity is endangered upon meeting Margo Lane, a socialite who is also telepathic. Shiwan Khan, a powerful rogue protégé of the Tulku, arrives in New York inside Genghis Khan's sarcophagus. As Khan's last descendant, Shiwan plans to fulfill his ancestor's ambitions of world domination. He proposes an alliance to Cranston, who refuses. After acquiring a rare coin from Khan, Cranston learns that it is made of bronzium, a metal that could be used for nuclear fission, and that Margo's father Reinhardt—a scientist working on energy research for the War Department—has become uncharacteristically reclusive and aloof. Cranston deduces that Khan has compelled Reinhardt to create an atomic bomb. Khan hypnotizes Margo and commands her to kill The Shadow. Cranston breaks Khan's hypnotic hold on her, but she learns his secret identity. Reinhardt's assistant Farley Claymore allies with Khan to produce a working bomb, which Khan uses to hold New York at ransom. The Shadow eventually discovers Khan's location: the luxurious Hotel Monolith, a building that Khan has rendered forgotten and invisible to the city's inhabitants. Entering the hotel for a showdown with Khan, The Shadow is subdued by the Phurba before he turns it against Khan, disrupting Khan's hypnotic control over Reinhardt and the city. While Margo and Reinhardt disarm the bomb, The Shadow pursues Khan through the hotel and defeats him by hurling a broken shard of glass into his frontal lobe. Khan awakens in the padded cell of a mental hospital. One of the doctors tells Khan that they were able to save his life by removing a part of his brain, nullifying Khan's psychic abilities, before walking away and revealing a ring the Shadow gives to his agents. Cranston and Margo begin a relationship and join forces to fight the criminal underworld.