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starring: Victor Argo, Kathy Bates, Andy Berman, Katy Dierlam, Mia Farrow
List Price: $7.98Amazon.com's Price: $7.58 You Save: $0.40 ( 5%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 0027616854230
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: June 05, 2001
Running Time: 85 minutes
Sales Rank: 42310
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: March 20, 1992
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
No other Woody Allen film has ever been hustled into oblivion faster than this black-and-white mélange of Mittel-European nightmare, absurdist farce, and homage to German expressionism--sort of Woody Allen meets Franz Kafka in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, set to Kurt Weill's score for The Threepenny Opera. Yet the daft experiment is not without charm and, as the title suggests, oodles of atmosphere.
In a murky, seriously deranged cityscape only a studio art department could create, a giant bald strangler (Michael Kirby) is going around killing people with piano wire. The authorities are powerless (though he stomps about freely, occasionally declaiming speeches), so vigilante posses start roving the streets. For some reason, they dragoon a noisy nebbish named Kleinman (Allen) to assist them. So Kleinman goes into the fog, kvetching, and meets Irmy (Mia Farrow), a circus sword swallower (no double-entendres, please) whose clown of a husband (John Malkovich) is two-timing her with the strongman's wife (Madonna). Add an 'et cetera' here, because the big, mostly wasted cast also includes Kenneth Mars as the strongman, Donald Pleasence as a philosophical coroner, John Cusack as a student who mistakes Irmy for a prostitute, and Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, and Lily Tomlin as the real prostitutes in whose company she happens to be at the time. None of this adds up, and the whole thing moves and feels less like a film than one of Allen's oddball New Yorker sketches. Still, as the fever dream of an art-house addict, it has its moments. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Shadows and Fog DVD
Seller gave me superb and speedy service! This movie is deliberately both suspenseful and very depressing. Rating: aces to seller, a couple of stars to the film.
Rating:  - Developed appreciation of this sleeper classic
I original saw "Shadows and Fog" when it first came out on home video in like 1993 or 1994. When I saw this movie for the first time, it is safe to say "I didn't get it". I mean I liked it alright, but I really didn't get it. I think most people felt the same way, since this movie seems like the black sheep of the Woody Allen library.
I also really enjoy Woody Allen's work. I know that many people either love him or hate him. I think that probably works in his favor. I also find ... Read More
Rating: - Little Man's Night Out
I like Woody Allen's "Shadows and Fog" and I think it is seriously underrated. Shot in a beautiful B/W this surreal Comedy / Mystery / Drama / Thriller takes place in a small town somewhere in the Eastern Europe between two World Wars where a mysterious maniac stranglers the people all over the town. Since the local police proved to be helpless, the citizens form vigilance committees and a small timid insignificant bookkeeper Kleinman (his name is translated as "Little Man") is recruited to ... Read More
Rating: - Massively Underrated
Woody Allen's "Shadows and Fog" has been called a "misfire" and is, in a sense, a forgotten film by Allen. It's hardly mentioned in conversations about his work. I consider myself a pretty big fan of Woody Allen, but the only reason I rented the movie was because John Malkovich was in it. Turns out, this is one of my favorite Woody Allen movies (I've seen 13). It's funny, well acted, has a huge array of stars, has perfect black & white cinematography, and is a pretty damn good movie. Allen plays ... Read More
Rating: - A Personal Favorite
Much of the plot has been outlined above, as well as the cast and I am, in large part, in complete agreement with the positive reveiws recorded.
I want to add that, for anyone raised on the old Universal horror pictures, or the films directed by James Whale or Val Lewton, where the suspense is the important part of the film; this picture, Shadows and Fog, has this quality absolutely dripping from every frame! Despite the comedic elements (and there are many funny things happening) the tension ... Read More
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