Shadows (film)

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This article is about the 1959 film. For other uses, see shadow (disambiguation).
Shadows
Directed by John Cassavetes
Produced by Maurice McEndree
Written by John Cassavetes
Starring Ben Carruthers
Lelia Goldoni
Hugh Hurd
Anthony Ray
Release date(s) November 11, 1959
Running time 78 min. (1957 version)
87 min. (1959 version)
Country United States
Language English
IMDb profile

Shadows (1959) is an improvisational film about interracial relations during the Beat Generation years in New York City, and was written and directed by John Cassavetes. The film stars Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd, and Anthony Ray. Many film scholars consider Shadows one of the highlights of independent film in the U.S.

Contents

[edit] Production

Cassavetes shot the film twice, once in 1957 and again in 1959. The second version is the one Cassavetes favored; though he did screen the first version, he eventually lost track of the print, and for decades it was believed to have been lost or destroyed. In 2004, after over a decade of searching, Cassavetes scholar and Boston University professor Ray Carney announced that his discovery of the only print of the original version of the film, found in a box on the subway before being bought with some other "lost and found" objects.[1] The film Carney managed to find was a pristine copy that apparently had only been screened two or three times before it was lost.[2] Carney has posted three video clips from Shadows I for viewing on his website to verify the film's condition and indicate the presence of a complete credits sequence, which demonstrates that the version he possesses is a final version, not a rough assembly.[3]

[edit] Reception

Film critic Leonard Maltin calls Cassavetes' second version of Shadows "a watershed in the birth of American independent cinema". The movie was shot with a 16 mm handheld camera on the streets of New York. Much of the dialogue was improvised, and the crew were class members or volunteers. The jazz-infused score, some of which is composed by jazz legend Charles Mingus, underlines the movie's Beat Generation theme of alienation and raw emotion. The movie's plot features an interracial relationship, which was still a taboo subject in Eisenhower-era America.

In 1993, Shadows was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carney, Ray (February 2004). The Searcher. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  2. ^ Carney, Ray (2004). Lost and Found Department: Chasing Shadows. Ray Carney. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  3. ^ Carney, Ray (2007). Letters from students and artists, announcements of events and screenings, and miscellaneous observations about life and art. Ray Carney. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.

[edit] External links


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Films directed by John Cassavetes


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