Review of These Amazing Shadows (2011) by Eric L — 09 Aug 2013

Entertaining, yes. Informative, yes. Purposeless, yes. Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton's documentary These Amazing Shadows is best described as a propaganda film aimed at the hearts of people who aren't fans of classic cinema.

There is no coherent story being told by this film, and outside of the first fifteen minutes, it's an episodic string of descriptions and fun facts about different movies with only vague plot-points or thematic elements linking them together.

In addition to that, the people they interviewed were significantly less important and interesting than other documentaries about film provide (most notably Side By Side). All of that being said, I found These Amazing Shadows to be incredibly interesting if only for the trivia knowledge gained.

I agree that the National Film Registry is incredibly important, that historic cultural cinema should be preserved, and that classic films are often times incredible, but none of that makes a documentary persuasive.

I doubt very seriously that anyone was swayed intellectually by this film. Bottom line, this movie doesn't fulfill the criteria of a good documentary, or even get close really, but it is a very interesting and informative propaganda film.

Bottom lines, if you're a cinefile like me and love classic films, this is a must see; not for the film itself, but for the information it provides. If you're not, you should stay away from this at all costs.

It's quite the polarizing documentary.