The Shadow's Score

iTunes' random play dealt out Jerry Goldsmith's 'Main Title' from The Shadow and I was forcibly reminded how sharp the disconnect between the quality of his music and the associated movies could be. The Shadow has its points, but the overall effect is well-intentioned but mediocre. The score, however, belongs to a movie that would have launched a billion-dollar, block-busting, decades-spanning, studio-financing, star-making juggernaut that would have eclipsed all other entertainment. That's what I hear in it, anyway. That it is attached to the 95 lb weakling that is The Shadow is a testament to Goldsmith's imagination. And all this filtered through a re-recording by Joel McNeely with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. This is due for an expanded release.