Shadows
Shadows • 1h 22m
Directed by John Cassavetes • 1959 • United States
Starring Lelia Goldoni, Anthony Ray, Hugh Hurd
John Cassavetes’s directorial debut revolves around a romance in New York City between Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), a light- skinned black woman, and Tony (Anthony Ray), a white man. The relationship is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh (Hugh Hurd), and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was. Shot on location in Manhattan with a mostly nonprofessional cast and crew, SHADOWS is a penetrating work that is widely considered the forerunner of the American independent film movement.
Up Next in Shadows
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Lelia Goldoni on SHADOWS
Lelia Goldoni was eighteen years old and a student at the Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop when she was cast as the female lead in SHADOWS. This 12-minute interview with her was conducted in Los Angeles in 2004.
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Seymour Cassel on SHADOWS
Seymour Cassel was a young aspiring actor when he met actor-director John Cassavetes in 1957, and the two went on to make numerous films together and forged a lifelong friendship. In this interview, conducted in Los Angeles in 2004, Cassel discusses his experiences as a crew member on SHADOWS.
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Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop Footage
The Cassavetes-Lane Drama Workshop, founded in 1956 by John Cassavetes and Burt Lane, was located in the Variety Arts Building at 225 West Forty-Sixth Street in Manhattan. It was there that the idea to make SHADOWS originated. This rare silent footage captures various actors rehearsing at the wor...
