If Sam Raimi gets his SHADOW made...

...I hope Universal will dust this title off and re-release a better version on DVD.

As many are aware, Sam Raimi (the director of the Spider-Man movies) is putting together his own version of THE SHADOW (whether he will direct is still up in the air).

However, I hope Universal will take advantage of the situation and put out a better edition of their SHADOW on DVD. Right now, it is a pan and scan version with no real extras.

I haven't bought it yet because their is nothing about it to compel me to buy it. I still am watching my VHS copy which is basically what the DVD is.

My ideal hope is to have a Director's Cut of the movie, if such a thing exists. I have read of a number of deleted scenes that got cut. One that really caught my attention came during the hall of mirrors scene where Khan is taunting the Shadow by showing him scenes from Cranston's life in some of the mirrors, him as a young boy and as Ying Ko that highlight some of his darker impulses.

The stuff of him as a boy is connected to another cut scene where Lamont is telling Margo how he almost killed his cousin when they were boys for telling on him about something. I think this was to show how Lamont's darker side made him powerful.

Another comes toward the end when Margo and her father are coming out of the hotel and are being questioned by Jonathan Winter's character about whether the Shadow was involved in all of this.

One scene involved a back and forth between Margo and Lamont to show how connected they were through their minds. It apparently showed Lamont laying in bed trying to read a book while trying to fall alsleep and it would show Margo doing the same thing. They had this series of stuff they went through with the other copying it.

There were some other small scenes that were cut.

I would like to see most of those cut back into the movie, or at the very least, have them in a deleted scene section.

If a Director's Cut is not in the cards, I want the movie released in widescreen if nothing else.

I would also like to see interviews/commentaries by Director Russell Mulcahy and screenplay writer David Koepp. I would love to hear what Mulcahy has to say about this film and what he had to do to get it released on time. I have heard stories that an earthquake destroyed a big section of the hall of mirrors set and they couldn't get the money to replace them so the whole sequence had to be cut down as it was originally going to be longer and more involved. I would love to hear about some of that.

Koepp really adhered a lot to the Shadow mythos in his script. I would love to hear what he has to say about the end result. In these kind of movies, it is traditional for the bad guy to die. I would love to hear how they came up with the villian's end that was used, because it was inspired.

Interviews, whether new or old, with Baldwin, Miller or Lone would be great. I can think of an old interview where Baldwin was praising Lone and how no one was going to see himself in this movie because Lone created such a striking character, much like Sean Connery did in "The Hunt For Red October."

I know there are some old interviews with Winters and Boyle from somewhere that could be used.

I would also like to see them fill out any new release with trailers, tv spots, marketing posters and Taylor Dane's music video for "Original Sin."

Come on Universal, give us a better release for "The Shadow" whether Raimi gets his version made or not.