King of the Rocket Men (1949 serial)

King of the Rocket Men is a 1949 Republic serial that mixes crime and science fiction. There are those who consider it to be the last great Republic serial.

Super-villain Dr Vulcan is murdering scientists at a company called Science Associates. Professor Millard decides it would be safer for him to feign death. He and Jess King (Tristram Coffin) hope to uncover the identity of Dr Vulcan. They know he has to be one of the key members of Science Associates’ staff.

Professor Millard and King have one ace up their sleeve. It’s Millard’s new invention, a rocket suit. With its aid Jeff King becomes Rocket Man.

Being able to fly though the air is certainly a useful attribute.

There are quite a few gee-whizz inventions. There’s the rocket suit, a kind of death ray machine and Dr Vulcan has a few communications and surveillance gadgets.

The plot however is reasonably solid and isn’t too outlandish, being essentially a tense but straightforward crime thriller. The plot isn’t entirely reliant on the gadgetry. It’s a good formula. Adding too many fantastic elements was a temptation that made some serials seem a bit silly but this one mostly feels grounded in reality.

And in 1949 a rocket suit would have seemed like a plausible near-future scientific advancement.

The cliffhangers are not quite as imaginative as those that William Witney and John English provided in classic serials like Spy Smasher and Daredevils of the Red Circle but they’re still pretty effective.

The pacing is good, with plenty of action scenes. The fights are well staged. 

The hero and the villain seem evenly matched. Both are intelligent, both have some cool technology, both are determined.

Dr Vulcan isn’t a crazed megalomaniac. He doesn’t seek world domination. He just wants money. He’s a plain old-fashioned gangster.

The special effects are terrific. The flying sequences are exciting and look convincing. They looked convincing in 1949 and they still look surprisingly convincing today. And the flying sequences are imaginative. Clearly a lot of thought was put into coming up with ideas for ways in which the hero could use his rocket suit.

That rocket suit with its full-face helmet looks cool.

The stunt work is good as well.

Budgets for serials were getting tighter by this time but King of the Rocket Men doesn’t suffer too much from this. It’s slick and well-made and looks thoroughly professional. It manages to look more expensive than it was.

The pacing is pretty good and the action scenes are handled well.

You don’t win Oscars for acting in serials but the cast members acquit themselves quite satisfactorily.

This is not far future sci-fi in the Buck Rogers mould. This is more cutting edge super-technology in the present day sci-fi. Actual rocket back packs were developed at the beginning of the 1960s. It’s a crime thriller with futuristic gadgetry.

If you’re a fan of movie serials you’ll want to see this one. King of the Rocket Men is a lot of fun and it’s highly recommended.

This serial is available on DVD as a two-disc set from Cheezy Flicks. The transfer is acceptable.

Panther Girl of the Kongo (movie serial, 1955)

Panther Girl of the Kongo was the second last serial made by Republic Pictures. Republic always made terrific serials so it will be interesting to see how this late entry stacks up.

It’s a jungle girl adventure. That’s always a good start. And it features giant bugs.

It's not bad and if you're a seasoned serial fan you'll want to see it. If you're new to the wonderful world of movie serials there are however much better examples which would be a much better place to start.

My full review can be found at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Perils of Nyoka (movie serial, 1942)

Perils of Nyoka (AKA Nyoka and the Tigermen) is a 15-part 1942 Republic serial directed by William Witney. Republic’s serials were almost always very good but the ones directed by Witney were very very good indeed.

This is a top-notch serial and it’s consistently entertaining. It contains absolutely everything you could want in a serial and all the ingredients are blended perfectly. Immense fun.

My full review can be found at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Sky Raiders (movie serial, 1941)

Sky Raiders is a 1941 Universal serial and what makes it enticing is that it’s both an aviation adventure and a spy thriller - two of my favourite genres.

It might not be one of the better known serials but it combines action, romance and great aerial sequences and it’s prepared to play around with the conventions of the serial form at least to some extent. And it’s extremely entertaining.

Here’s the link to my full review at Classic Movie Ramblings.

The Vanishing Shadow (serial, 1934)

The Vanishing Shadow is a well above average and very well-made 1934 twelve-chapter serial from Universal which combines both science fiction and crime thriller elements and does so very successfully indeed.

This one pretty much qualifies as a must-see for serial fans.

Here's the link to my review at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery (1935)

Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery is a 1935 aviation adventure serial from Universal (it was a follow-up to their 1934 Tailspin Tommy serial). And it’s a very fine example of the breed with superb aerial sequences, an exciting story and very decent acting.

It's highly recommended to serials fans and to fans of aviation advernture.

My full review of this serial can be found here on my Classic Movie Ramblings blog.

Daredevils of the Red Circle (serial, 1939)

Daredevils of the Red Circle is a 1939 Republic action-adventure-crime serial directed by John English and William Witney. Which means it’s probably going to be very good.

It turns out to be very good indeed, in fact one of the best of all the serials of its era, and an absolute must-see for serial fans.

Here's the link to my full review at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Ace Drummond (serial, 1936)

Ace Drummond is a 1936 aviation adventure serial from Universal, and it’s one of the best of the early Universal serials.

This serial is based on Eddie Rickenbacker’s comic strip of the same name. Rickenbacker himself was a colourful and larger-than-life character. He was the highest scoring American air ace of the First World War, a racing car driver, the founder of an automobile manufacturing company and an airline executive as well as being a bitter enemy of President Franklin Roosevelt.

International Airways is trying to establish an international network of air services and of course Mongolia is the key to this. So they need to establish an air field there. They have suffered a series of disasters which appear to be the work of a master criminal known as the Dragon, the intention being presumably to close down the airline’s operations in Mongolia.

In desperation the directors of the airline have called on the services of the G-Man of the Air, the famous Ace Drummond. Drummond very narrowly escapes death on his way to Bai-Tal Field, the Mongolian headquarters of International Airways.

There's another mystery to be dealt with as well. Eminent archaeologist, Dr Trainor, who claimed to have discovered a mountain of jade, has disappeared. His daughter Peggy (Jean Rogers) has arrived in Mongolia to try to find some trace of her father.

Both Ace and Peggy suspect that the Dragon is behind Dr Trainor's kidnapping.

Singing cowboys were amazingly popular in 1930s Hollywood. Ace Drummond is a variation on the theme - he’s a singing aviator. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of opinion. I did get a little tired of hearing the one song over and over again.

John King as Drummond is an effective square-jawed hero while Jean Rogers as Peggy Trainor makes a fine heroine. Noah Beery Jr gives a scene-stealing performance as aircraft mechanic and part-time hero’s sidekick Jerry. Jerry could easily have been made into a comic relief character but he isn’t. He’s a sidekick who is resourceful and actually useful, and quite heroic in his own right.

Guy Bates Post gives a florid performance as the Grand Lama of the nearby monastery (where the monks are extremely hostile to the Foreign Devils of the Air). The monastery is not quite the haven of peace you might expect, given that it contains a room specifically designed for the purposes of torture.

There’s also a potentially annoying kid, the son of the airline president, but he turns out to be not as annoying as one might have feared.

The other notable cast member is Lon Chaney Jr as one of the henchman of the chief villain.

There’s no shortage of action in this serial, and the action sequences are imaginative and exciting. There are lots of aerial sequences and they’re pretty impressive.

The cliffhangers are mostly pretty good. As you might expect quite a few involve air crashes.

The identity of the chief villain, the Dragon, is reasonably well concealed. One interesting feature is the killing off of a heroic character, rather surprising in a serial.

This is a Universal serial so the production values are somewhat higher than you’d find in a contemporary Mascot serial. The sets are quite good, especially the monastery sets. There are some gadgets, the best by far being the use of the fans and prayer wheels and even water wheels as radio receivers for messages from the Dragon.

Ace Drummond is available on DVD from several sources. My copy was from, Alpha Video. Both the image quality and sound quality are quite good (by Alpha Video standards anyway).

Ace Drummond is a truly excellent serial. Highly recommended. There were quite a few other 1930s aviation-themed serials, such as The Mystery Squadron (which is also highly enjoyable).

The Whispering Shadow (serial, 1933)

The Whispering Shadow is a 1933 thirteen-part Mascot serial starring Bela Lugosi. It’s a crime thriller with some elements of science fiction and of the fantastic thrown in, and with a hint of the gothic as well.

The Empire Transport and Storage Company has carved out its own market niche. It’s a trucking company but with some very high-tech features. The trucks are in constant communication with the central warehouse by radio-phone. The system seems fool-proof but unfortunately in practice it’s proving to be worryingly vulnerable. Four Empire trucks have been hijacked recently with fatal results for the drivers involved. A sinister figure knows as the Whispering Shadow is believed to be behind the hijackings. There is no real explanation as to why those particular trucks were targeted.

When another trucks is attacked and the kid brother of chief dispatcher Jack Foster (Malcolm McGregor) is killed the company decides to get serious. They hire the celebrated detective Robert Raymond (Robert Warwick) to take over security.

There’s an extraordinary amount of plot packed into the first episode, not to mention several action set-pieces. Several intriguing characters are introduced - such as jewel thief Jasper Slade and magician Professor Strang (Bela Lugosi). There are cool gadgets. There’s a shadow that speaks. There’s a wax museum. There’s a prison breakout. There’s a full-scale attack on the company’s headquarters - by autogyro! There’s a death ray! There are at least half a dozen very suspicious characters. And it’s paced like a speeding locomotive.

It all has something to do with the most fabulous of all jewel collections, the jewels of the Tsar of Russia.

The pacing doesn’t flag at all. There’s no time wasted on extended dialogue scenes. Any exposition that needs to be done is done at a run. Then it’s time for more action.

The central mystery is the identity of the Whispering Shadow and that mystery is fairly well concealed. Don’t make the mistake of assuming it’s going to be Bela Lugosi - he did several serials and did not always play villains. There are several other very strong suspects. There’s some fairly good misdirection in this serial with all sorts of clues that point to different suspects.

The misdirection is not just to do with the Whispering Shadow’s identity. There seem to be a lot of people after those jewels, some of whom think they have legitimate claims and some of whom are obviously merely crooks. There are political agendas and it’s not clear precisely who is working for whom. The plot twists are actually reasonably nifty.

The Whispering Shadow is a diabolical criminal mastermind with access to terrifying and murderous technologies such as television. He is also a master of radio technology which is of course invaluable for killing one’s enemies at a distance. This particular serial is a celebration of technology's potential for mayhem!

There are too many flashbacks but you have to remember that you’re supposed to watch a serial like this over a period of twelve weeks, in which case the flashbacks would probably be quite useful. Modern viewers often make the mistake of watching an entire serial over a period of just three or four nights. It doesn’t really work. I try to watch no more than one episode per night and to take a few breaks so that I usually end up watching a twelve-episode serial over a period of maybe two-and-a-half weeks. It makes it a lot more fun.

The acting is very much in the hyper-active B-movie melodrama mode but that’s as it should be in a serial. Malcolm McGregor does make a pretty fair square-jawed action hero. Viva Tattersall overacts delightfully as Professor Strange’s daughter Vera.

The Alpha Video DVD release, on two discs, is unfortunately rather poor. Sound quality is adequate but image quality is definitely not good. On the other hand the other available versions are either public domain or grey market so there’s no reason to think they’d be any better. The Alpha Video release is watchable and if you’re a fan of serials it’s worth putting up with the less-than-stellar picture quality.

If you’re not a fan of serials than The Whispering Shadow is probably not the best place to start. But if you are a fan of serials you should find plenty of enjoyment here. Recommended.

my favourite movie serials

It’s been suggested that I should do a post on my favourite movie serials. So here goes. I’m not going to try to rank them - the serials I’m listing here were all good and all enormous fun. I've provided links here to my full reviews.

King of the Wild (1931), an absolutely outrageous and wonderfully fast-paced Mascot serial with Boris Karloff, guys in gorilla suits, exotic settings in Darkest Africa and the Mysterious East and unbelievable amounts of inspired lunacy. Unbelievably political incorrect.

Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), an excellent Republic serial and a treat for fans of diabolical criminal masterminds bent on wold domination and yes it’s also unbelievably political incorrect.

Flash Gordon (1936), probably the most expensive serial ever made. The Universal science fiction serials were all good but this is the best of them. And in Ming the Merciless it has one of the great screen villains.

Spy Smasher (1942). If it’s a Republic serial directed by William Witney you know you’re in for a treat. Made on a much more modest budget than Universal’s serials but it manages to look very impressive. Incredibly entertaining.

The Mysterious Dr Satan (1940). Another Republic serial. This one has killer robots, a mad scientist and a mysterious masked crime-fighter. Lots of enjoyment to be had here.

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe was the third and last of Universal’s insanely successful Flash Gordon serials, being released in 1940.

And it's straight into the action! Earth is being devastated by the Purple Death, a deadly plague. The cause is unknown until Dr Zarkov establishes that it’s spread by a dust and the dust is dropped by spaceships from another planet. Dr Zarkov, Flash Gordon and Dale Arden set off for the planet Mongo to investigate. On arrival there they find that the Emperor Ming is still very much alive and he’s up to his old tricks again.

Flash and his party join up with their old friend and ally Prince Barin.

Ming’s death dust is bad enough but his scientists have come up with an evil new twist - a death dust that only kills intelligent strong-willed people (the sorts of people who might pose a threat to Ming’s authority) but it spares unintelligent weak-willed people (who make useful slaves).

Ming has acquired a new enemy, Queen Fria. Which means Flash has acquired a new ally. Fria’s icy kingdom of Frigia is vital since it is the only source of the antidote to Ming’s death dust. But no-one born outside her kingdom can survive the bitter cold there - unless Dr Zarkov can find a way to counteract the cold.

Flash and his party face all manner of terrors including Ming’s dreaded mechanical men - not just unstoppable robots but walking bombs.

Of course there will be many more perils to face, and for Dale Arden the greatest peril of all - Ming the Merciless intends to compel her to be his bride!

There’s plenty of treachery and countless narrow escapes for Flash and his friends. Having survived the peril of murderous cold he will have to face unquenchable fires. Naturally Dale Arden gets captured several times. As well as rescuing Dale Flash will have to rescue Ming’s own daughter Princess Aura who has incurred her father’s wrath by marrying his rival Prince Barin.

Quite a few secret weapons make their appearance. The climax will come with the discovery of Ming’s greatest secret of all, which Flash will have to find a way to counter.

Science fiction was by no means a new genre in the late 30s but science fiction writers were still tying to get a handle on ways to deal with alien races. A few writers, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, had tried to imagine truly alien-looking aliens but it was still extremely common for alien races to be simply humans wearing funny costumes. That’s mostly the approach adopted in the Flash Gordon serials. The rock people seem like an attempt to do more bizarre aliens, until we find out the slightly disappointing truth about them.

Barin’s people are ordinary humans but they dress like Robin Hood’s Merrie Men and carry longbows. These serials have a certain comic-opera feel to them, and also a slight Ruritanian flavour. In fact at times there’s quite a strong flavour of Victorian adventure fiction in the Rider Haggard manner. It’s a weird mix of aesthetic influences but it’s charming and it works. In fact the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials created their very own science fiction aesthetic.

Carol Hughes takes over from Jean Rogers as Dale Arden. She is perhaps not quiue as god as her predecessor. Larry “Buster” Crabbe was at best a moderately competent actor but he was the perfect star for these serials. He was the square-jawed action hero with a great deal of likeability and plenty of charisma and he throw himself into the rôle with commendable dedication.

Charles Middleton gave us one of the great screen villains in the Emperor Ming. Again there’s the odd mix of influences - his performance is outrageously stagey and straight out of a Victorian melodrama but it’s immense fun. Ming also clearly owes a lot to Sax Rohmer’s Dr Fu Manchu.

The formula is the same one that worked so well in the two earlier Flash Gordon serials. Why change a formula that is working so splendidly?

Universal’s serials were not necessarily the best serials. Some of the Republic serials, such as Spy Smasher, were arguably more exciting and more inventive. It has to be admitted though that Universal’s efforts were extremely good, probably the best actual science fiction serials, and they were certainly the most expensive. They were not made on A-picture budgets but the studio still spend some serious money and Universal’s efforts have a certain gloss to them. Universal didn’t have the kind of money MGM had but they were still a major studio and their science fiction serials were like their gothic horror movies - much more visually ambitious and visually successful than similar efforts by rival studios. Universal weren’t good at everything but what they did well they tended to do very very well indeed.

The gadgetry is delightful - it’s not just outrageous and campy but it manages to be both genuinely campy and genuinely cool. This is what happens when you let loose the art department of a major studio that has already established itself as a specialist in gothic horror and science fiction - you tend to get bold but extremely good results.

Mention should also be made of the spaceships. In the late 1930s no-one had the slightest idea what a spaceship would look like. Most importantly they had no idea what a spacecraft would look like inside. The interiors of these spaceships look like a cross between the crew compartments of a dirigible airship, the flight deck of an airliner and the control room of a submarine.

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe is enormous fun. Highly recommended.

Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939)

There are those who claim that Zorro’s Fighting Legion is the best of all movie adventure serials. I don’t agree but this 1939 Republic serial is still worth a watch.

Zorro was created by pulp writer Johnston McCulley and made his debut in print in the novel The Curse of Capistrano, serialised in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in 1919. It was published in book form under the title The Mark of Zorro after the immense success of  the 1920 feature film with that title starring Douglas Fairbanks. McCulley went on to write another sixty or so Zorro stories.

The serial makes several quite significant changes to McCulley’s original creation, most of these changes being (in my opinion) ill-advised. One of the most refreshing and original  things about the Zorro stories is their setting - California in the 1820s during the period when it was a territory under Mexican rule. The serial is set, less interestingly, in Mexico itself. Zorro is in reality nobleman Don Diego Vega. Don Diego pretends to be a rather ridiculous figure - excessively bookish, extremely foppish and thoroughly indolent. He is such an absurd figure that no-one takes him seriously, which is of course his intention. In reality he is a master swordsman, a fine shot with a pistol and a magnificent horseman. As depicted in the serial Don Diego is still rather foppish but at times he comes across as being a bit too sensible and serious - he’s not quite ridiculous enough to convince us that no-one would see through his deception.

The other major change is that the Indians are on the side of the bad guys in the serial (although arguably they’re being manipulated by the real bad guys and so are not actual bad guys) whereas in McCulley’s stories Zorro is very sympathetic indeed to the Indians. In fact Zorro is very much the champion of the poor and the oppressed, regardless of race. This crucial aspect of the Zorro character is much weakened in Zorro’s Fighting Legion - Zorro is certainly portrayed as being a good guy but he is fighting for the Mexican government rather than directly for the oppressed.

These changes dilute the unique flavour of Zorro and turn the serial into more of a straightforward western. 

Having said all this there’s still a great deal to enjoy here.

William Witney and John English directed and the appearance of their names on the credits of a Republic serial was always a good sign. You knew the action scenes would be plentiful, imaginative and skillfully executed and that the cliffhanger endings would be top-notch and the hero’s narrow escapes at least reasonably plausible. All these virtues are very much in evidence here.

The story is reasonably interesting. A faction is plotting to overthrow the Mexican government and part of their strategy is to disrupt the shipment of gold from the mines in San Bendolito province, shipments on which the government is absolutely dependent. To further this nefarious scheme the conspirators are making use of the Yaqui Indians, convincing them that the legendary Don Del Oro, a kind of god/superman, will lead them to victory and freedom.

The oddest element in the story is that Zorro is no longer a solitary masked crusader - he is now the leader of the Legion, a large band of loyal well-armed followers.

Production values are adequate by serial standards. One gets the impression that most of the money was spent on making the action sequences convincing. This was certainly a sensible approach - any serial stands or falls on the quality of its action scenes.

Don Del Oro himself is fun, being a man inside a kind of golden suit of armour and looking rather robotic.

Reed Hadley’s performance as Zorro/Don Diego is a highlight. Even if he doesn’t always quite manage to make Don Diego sufficiently indolent and foolish he is certainly entertaining and he does have the charisma to make him an excellent Zorro.

This serial has had quite a few DVD releases. Unfortunately, as is the case with most serials, no-one has ever thought it worth the expense of doing a proper restoration so picture quality tends to be a little dubious. My copy is the Alpha Video release and picture quality is most definitely dubious although admittedly that’s compensated for to some extent by the very low price. 

Zorro’s Fighting Legion is not quite up to the standards of the very best Republic serials like Spy Smasher but it is consistently entertaining and exciting. Highly recommended.

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938)

Released in 1938, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars was the second of the three Flash Gordon serials made by Universal. The original 1936 Flash Gordon serial was one of the best of its breed and Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars is a fairly worthy successor.

Flash (Larry “Buster” Crabbe), Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and Dr Zarkov (Frank Shannon) have returned in triumph to Earth after their successful struggle against the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) on the planet Mongo. All is not well on Earth. The Earth is being slowly destroyed by a ray from space which is draining all the nitron from the atmosphere. Dr Zarkov believes the ray originates from Mongo. In fact, as Flash and his pals soon find out, the actual source of the ray is the planet Mars.

Which doesn’t mean that Ming is not involved. He is very much involved. Ming has forged an alliance with the Martian queen Azura (Beatrice Roberts) whose magical powers make her a formidable adversary in her own right. Ming has offered to assist Azura in her war with the Clay People.

For this adventure Flash, Dale and Dr Zarkov are joined by a stowaway, a pushy but reasonably amiable newspaper reporter, Happy Hapgood (Donald Kerr). Hapgood serves no real purpose other than to provide some comic relief. Fortunately he’s not excessively irritating.

The potential problem with all serials was the difficulty in maintaining the excitement over so many installments without too many dull patches and without too many episodes that fail to advance the plot. This problem does not afflict Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars to any great degree. The action is fairly constant, the cliffhangers are exciting and the plot does move along. On occasions the serial does resort to some of the expected cliffhanger clichés but not to an excessive degree.

Apart from Ming and his minions and Azura and her minions there are two main alien races. The Clay People shamble about and look fairly sinister and have the unnerving habit of disappearing into the rock walls in their underground wall. They may not be as sinister as they first appear although they’re certainly dangerous. There is a secret to the origin of the Clay People, a secret that will be revealed as the serial progresses. The Forest People are creepier and they’re pretty creepy although not as impressive as the Clay People.

Azura’s magic makes this serial more science fantasy than science fiction but then Flash Gordon serials are hardly serious science fiction to begin with. The trouble with introducing magic is that it can make a character a bit too powerful but fortunately Azura’s magic has its limitations.

There’s the usual array of delightfully silly pseudoscientific ideas. The giant nitron lamp that is draining the Earth’s atmosphere looks cool and is a nifty idea. 

The spaceships in these 1930s serials are wonderfully silly although in their own way the designs are quite interesting. Of course the special effects are incredibly crude, the miniatures look like kids’ toys and the spaceships in flight are ludicrously unconvincing. All of which just makes me love these serials even more.

The budgets of these Universal serials were, by serial standards, reasonably generous. The sets look fantastic and the costumes are great (if often bizarre).

The acting is bad but it’s bad in a very entertaining way. Buster Crabbe makes a terrific square-jawed action hero, Jean Rogers does little more than look glamourous while Beatrice Roberts does her best to appear as diabolical as she possibly can. Of course the highlight is as always Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless, a superb melodrama villain just oozing evilness from every pore.

The plotting is tighter than you might expect - each episode actually does advance the main story line without to many irrelevant digressions.

The Madacy boxed set includes all three Flash Gordon serials at a very reasonable price indeed. The transfers are not stellar but they’re more than acceptable. 

You might want to watch the original 1936 Flash Gordon serial first - Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars assumes you already know the backstories of the major characters. After watching the original you’ll be keen to watch Flash’s second adventure.

Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars has everything that a fan of 1930s movie serials could wish for. Highly recommended.

Drums of Fu Manchu (1940)

The 1940 Republic serial Drums of Fu Manchu is one of the notable attempts to transfer the adventures of Sax Rohmer’s great arch-villain to the big screen. 

Sax Rohmer was the pseudonym employed by Arthur Henry Ward (1883-1959). Rohmer is today a very under-appreciated writer. He wrote some fine gothic fiction and an extremely interesting series of occult detective stories. He also wrote five books chronicling the plots of the female diabolical criminal mastermind Sumuru. His greatest fame however came from the Fu Manchu novels, the first of which appeared in 1913 (the final book came out in 1959).

There was an immensely entertaining and quite outrageous 1932 MGM film adaptation, The Mask of Fu Manchu, with Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu. It is most notable for Myrna Loy’s sizzling and utterly depraved performance as Fu Manchu’s daughter Fah Lo Suee. 

There was also a series of five films in the 1960s featuring Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu. The first two films, The Face of Fu Manchu and The Brides of Fu Manchu, are actually rather good.

Although there was a Fu Manchu novel called Drums of Fu Manchu Republic’s serial has nothing to do with it, although it does have some resemblances to the 1932 MGM movie The Mask of Fu Manchu.

Dr Fu Manchu is once again plotting for political control of the whole of Asia. His idea this time is that if he can get his hands on the Sacred Sceptre of Genghis Khan then all the peoples of Asia will recognise him as their ruler. Naturally getting hold of the Sacred Sceptre is a complicated process. First you need to find three separate fragments of an inscription, that will then lead you to the location of the tomb of Genghis Khan, then you have to survive various booby traps to reach the tomb. This being a serial, the process becomes even more complicated. Fu Manchu’s nemesis, Sir Denis Nayland Smith (for some bizarre reason the serial insists on referring to him as Sir Nayland rather than Sir Denis), is engaged in a race with Fu Manchu to find the Sceptre first, and then once it is found it changes hands half a dozen times.

Allan Parker, the son of a scientist murdered by Fu Manchu, becomes Nayland Smith’s invaluable assistant. Smith’s old friend Dr Petrie is there as well, although playing a fairly minor role. Fu Manchu is ably assisted by his daughter Fah Lo Suee and by his loyal Dacoits. In this serial their loyalty is not voluntary - they have been surgically turned into zombies by Fu Manchu. This is a fun idea, although perhaps not quite consistent with the methods of the Fu Manchu of the books.

And this being a serial both the heroes and the villains are regularly captured by one other only to pull off a daring and improbable escape. There are car chases, and chases on horseback, and by train and aeroplane. There are countless fist fights and plenty of gun fights. There are battles with marauding tribesmen loyal to Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu has a whole series of fiendish deaths planned for his enemies, including a particularly nasty fate for Nayland Smith in the penultimate episode. 

The fun in a serial does not come from the fact that the heroes always escape - we know they will always escape - but rather from the ingenious ways in which they manage this in the cliffhangers. This serial has the very considerable advantage of being directed by John English and William Witney, two of the best serial directors in the business, and these hair’s-breadth escapes are executed with skill and imagination. The biggest problem with serials was to prevent the pace from flagging in some of the middle episodes but English and Witney were notable for not allowing this to happen.

Drums of Fu Manchu has some reasonable sets but more importantly the action sequences are executed with care and attention to detail.

The Dr Fu Manchu of this serial is not quite the Dr Fu Manchu of Rohmer’s novels. Rohmer was always at pains to stress Fu Manchu’s very strict code of honour, something rather less in evidence here. The serial does not quite capture the flavour of Rohmer’s books but it’s a pretty good attempt.

Henry Brandon makes a fine larger-than-life and deliciously villainous Fu Manchu. My own personal opinion is that Christopher Lee was the best of the screen Fu Manchus but Brandon is certainly very very good. William Royle as Nayland Smith does not seem quite clever enough to be a serial rival to the evil doctor - he’s a bit Colonel Blimp-ish. Gloria Franklin is a good Fah Lo Suee although she pales into insignificance alongside Myrna Loy’s magnificent performance in the 1932 MGM movie. Robert Kellard as Allan Parker handles the action hero bits fairly well although he’s otherwise a little colourless.

VCI’s DVD presentation provides acceptable if far from impressive transfers and a short documentary that provides a reasonable introduction for viewers new to the wonderful world of Fu Manchu.

Drums of Fu Manchu has the reputation of being one of the best of the classic serials and it’s a reputation that it generally lives up to. It’s not quite as much fun as Republic’s superb Spy Smasher or Universal’s deliriously camp Flash Gordon but it’s still in the top tier. Highly recommended. I also highly recommend the 1932 movie and of course Sax Rohmer’s novels such as The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Daughter of Fu Manchu and The Bride of Fu Manchu.

The Mystery Squadron (1933)

The Mystery Squadron is a 1933 Mascot aviation adventure serial and it’s rather good fun.

The plot is ridiculously far-fetched but in a serial that’s really a feature rather than a bug. Stephen Gray is a contractor building a dam but the project is being sabotaged by aerial attacks by a group of pilots known as the Mystery Squadron. These rogue flyers are led by a mysterious masked figure, the Black Ace. They have half a dozen aircraft equipped with flame-throwers. If you were going to arm aircraft for these kinds of sabotage operations I would have thought there were much simpler and more effective ways of doing so than fitting a rather clumsy flame-throwing device at the tail but one of the requirements of a serial is goofy gadgetry and the flame-throwers do look reasonably impressive.

Mr Gray decides he needs protection so he hires a couple of barnstorming aviators, Fred Cromwell (Bob Steele) and Bill Cook (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams). Their efforts to discover the base from which the Mystery Squadron is operating and the identity of the Black Ace provide plenty of opportunities for various good guys to get captured by the bad guys and for various bad guys to get captured by the good guys. Those kinds of plot twists were pretty well essential in order to spin out a serial for a dozen or so episodes (this one runs for twelve episodes).

Naturally Stephen Gray has a beautiful high-spirited daughter, Dorothy, who also happens to be a pilot. Needless to say she will need to be rescued on various occasions. 

As for the identity of the Black Ace there are several possible suspects and the mystery is sustained fairly well. There’s a sub-plot involving a gold mine, always a popular concept in a serial.

Much of the action takes place at the San Juan Tavern, a large establishment well equipped with secret passageways and hidden staircases. There will be endless chases through these secret passageways.

The big drawcard though is the promise of aerial action and on that score this serial certainly delivers the goods. There’s at least one flying sequence (and often more) in each episode. The aerial sequences are quite impressive with some suitably hair-raising stunt flying. The Mystery Squadron’s base is in a cave concealed in a canyon, which seems like the sort of location for a base that would practically guarantee you would lose most of your aircraft in accidents in the first week. It might not be a very sensible location but it looks good. There’s a considerable reliance on miniatures for the many scenes of aircraft being blown up and the miniatures work is very proficient for a low-budget production.

Serials often relied too much on recycling footage by means of flashbacks in order to pad them out to the required number of episodes. The Mystery Squadron uses this technique but does so sparingly.

The acting is of the standard you expect in a serial, in other words it’s mostly wooden and the dialogue (which isn’t exactly sparkling to begin with) is delivered in a generally stilted manner. That doesn’t matter too much in a serial. What matters is that the heroes should look heroic, the villains should talk like villains and the heroine should be beautiful and high-spirited. The Mystery Squadron satisfies these requirements. Bill Cook’s addiction to jelly beans provides a running gag that gets a little tired after a while but Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams is there to provide some comic relief which he does without being too irritating.

Pacing is always a potential problem in a serial but this one moves along pretty swiftly. The action comes thick and fast and the episode cliffhangers are done well. Mascot had vast experience in turning out serials that provided good entertainment on modest budgets and they knew how to work the serial formula to good effect.

The Mystery Squadron is available on DVD from Alpha Video, a company renowned for spectacularly horrible transfers of public domain movies. Even by their standards this one is atrocious. On the other hand you can pick it up for a couple of dollars and that eases the pain a little.

The Mystery Squadron offers plenty of thrills and serial fans should get a great deal of enjoyment out of this one. While the DVD is terrible it is absurdly cheap and the serial itself can be highly recommended.

Spy Smasher (1942)

Spy Smasher is a 1942 Republic serial and it’s one of the very best of its breed.

Spy Smasher is a typical masked crime-fighter except that his target is not crime but espionage. His particular target is Nazi fifth-columnists and spies within the United States. The mastermind behind the German espionage operations in the US is a mysterious figure  known only as The Mask. The character originated with Fawcett Comics.

Spy Smasher’s real name is Alan Armstrong. He fights espionage in the US but he holds no official US government position. This was necessary because the original comic dated from a time when the US had not yet entered the war and was still technically a neutral country. The serial added the character of Alan’s twin brother Jack (both brothers being played by Kane Richmond). Jack helps Spy Smasher in his campaign against The Mask.

Spy Smasher receives unofficial support from Admiral Corby, a senior figure in US naval intelligence.

The serial opens in Nazi-occupied France, with Spy Smasher apparently about to be executed. Needless to say he pulls off an amazing escape and is soon on his way back to the United States. He has discovered the existence of a vast and sinister network of Nazi espionage and sabotage, under the direction of a sinister masked figure known (appropriately enough) as The Mask. The Mask directs operations from a U-boat.

The Mask’s activities are wide-ranging, including sabotage of American bombers by the use of a death ray, an attempt to destroy the US economy with counterfeit dollars and the theft of gold. 

The Mask’s operatives in the US include reporters for a television network. Television was an extremely popular device in the movie serials of this era. Every self-respecting diabolical criminal mastermind had access to television technology.

William Witney is regarded today as one of the best directors of serials and he does a superb job. Pacing is always a potential problem when you have a story-line spread over 12 episodes but Spy Smasher has no problems at all in that area. Witney is also quite masterful in his staging of the obligatory cliff-hanger episode endings - they’re among the very best and most exciting to be found in any serial.

The action is frenetic and non-stop. There are countless fist fights, gun duels and explosions and Witney always manages to make them more imaginative than is usual in the serial genre.

There is action in the air and on the ground, in trains and automobiles, at sea and under the sea. Every action scene seems to take place in a different setting. It’s difficult not to repeat yourself at some stage in a twelve-episode serial but Witney pulls out all the stops to ensure that it happens as little as possible.

Spy Smasher neatly avoids the worst serial cliché of all, the heroine who is constantly getting herself kidnapped by the bad guys.

The miniatures work in this serial is extremely impressive. One of the coolest gadgets is the sinister Bat Plane used by the German spies. It’s a strange futuristic design and ironically it bears some resemblance to some of the advanced experimental aircraft built by the Germans in the later stages of the war. The submarine sequences are very well done and quite convincing. Although it was done on a modest budget compared to Universal’s Flash Gordon serials the special effects and miniatures work in Spy Smasher actually look better than in Universal’s serials.

The ATI DVD release includes all twelve episodes on a single disc. The transfers are pretty decent. There are no extras. This is such a visually impressive serial that it really would benefit from a deluxe fully restored DVD or Blu-Ray release. 

Spy Smasher manages to combine all of the virtues of the serial format without any of its vices. This is one of the very best Hollywood serials, wonderfully energetic, expertly crafted with an extraordinary flair. It has the perfect mix of gadgets, action, suspense and sheer unadulterated fun. An absolute must-see if you’re a serial fan. Very highly recommended.