Shadows (1959)

Directed by: John Cassavetes | 87 minutes | drama | Actors: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd, Anthony Ray, Dennis Sallas, Tom Reese, David Pokitillow, Rupert Crosse, Davey Jones, Pir Marini, Victoria Vargas, Jack Ackerman, Jacqueline Walcott, Cliff Carnell, Jay Crecco, Ronald Maccone, Bob Reeh, Joyce Miles, Nancy Deale, Gigi Brooks, Lynn Hamilton, Marilyn Clark, Joanne Sages, Jed McGarvey, Greta Thyssen, John Cassavetes, Seymour Cassel, Bobby Darin, Ellen Paulos, Gena Rowlands, Jean Shepherd

Without dialogues, without scripts, without professional actors, independent filmmaker John Cassavetes set to work in the 1950s. His debut ‘Shadows’ is a film carried by intriguing characters. There is a glimpse of a plot present, but it is left to the characters to drive the story forward. The director lets his (handheld) camera record what his cast is doing at his leisure, and does not care about cinematic traditions.

Two African-American brothers and a sister share an apartment in Manhattan. The eldest brother (Hugh Hurd) is black. Hugh is a talented but very underrated singer in a nightclub. His breakthrough is yet to come. When the film starts we see that he feels humiliated because he has to announce the strippers who will grace the stage after his performance. He thinks this is below his means. Ultimately, he will have to decide which is more important: friendship (with his manager) or success. The second brother (Ben Carruthers) has much lighter skin and passes for white. He mainly hangs out in cafes with his friends, playing cards and trying to hit on girls. Actually, Ben doesn’t really know where he belongs, his quest for his identity is one that transcends race, time and place. Sister Lelia (the beautiful Lelia Goldoni) is the whitest of the three. Her skin color only becomes an issue when her boyfriend Tony (Anthony Ray) meets Hugh. Even though Tony has just promised Lelia undying loyalty and love, he can’t suppress his shock. Hugh protects his sister and asks Tony to leave. With the help of her loving brothers, young Lelia must deal with this disappointment. It is difficult to say who the emphasis is actually on: Cassavetes gives all three characters ample time to fully develop and allows the viewer to enter this family in an intimate and loving way. Cassavetes shot on 16mm and in black and white a beautifully realistic time image of New York youth in the fifties.

‘Shadows’ is one of the first, if not the first, independent American film. Cassavetes inspired many aspiring filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch and Peter Bogdanovich. He proved that it was possible to make a film outside the walls of Hollywood studios, not for the money, but for the fun of filmmaking. The actors rolled straight from the workshop he organized and led (financed with the money he earned as an actor) onto the set. None of the employees knew anything about sound or editing, so ‘Shadows’ proved to be a good learning experience. That is why the film looks rough and messy, the sound is not always satisfactory and the dialogues are sometimes unintelligible. Because the dialogues are improvised, and there were no written dialogues available, it took the filmmaker a lot of time and effort to get the dialogues appropriate and audible again. The jazzy music in ‘Shadows’ by Shifi Hadi and Charles Mingus is particularly effective, and lifts the viewing experience to a higher level.

Cassavetes’ debut seems to have been shot off the wrist, but it is actually based on a scenario. Although the film is full of technical flaws, it is clear that it is a film that was made with an incredible amount of enthusiasm and love for the product. It offered the actors and filmmaker a way to express themselves. A polished version of this film is something that nobody wants. This film is a gem in American film history, which every serious film buff with an interest in film history should see at least once.