SPY SMASHER

Kane Richmond

SPY SMASHER (12 chapter Republic serial/1942). Director: William Witney.

Jack Armstrong (Kane Richmond) discovers that his identical twin brother, Alan, is secretly the heroic Spy Smasher. The nefarious Nazi Mask (Hans Schumm) wants to flood the U.S. with counterfeit currency, and that's just one of his schemes, which keep SS hopping through this serial's 12 action-packed chapters. The Mask has a "batplane" which can rise straight up into the stratosphere, and an electric ray gun that can knock airplanes out of the sky. Spy Smasher, which was based on the very popular Fawcett comic book, is full of exciting cliffhangers: SS in a mining car loaded with grenades with a fiery conflagration ahead of him and a steel door in front (1); a torpedo room that floods with water (3); a descending frieght elevator that nearly squashes our hero (5); a conveyor belt with rapidly spinning and deadly blades (6); another mining car that heads directly for a fiery doorway; and others. Our hero appears to die in the penultimate chapter, and someone in his uniform is indeed dead. The serial is full of furious fisticuffs and superior stunt work, and the locations are wisely chosen.

Kane Richmond [Stage Struck] makes just about the perfect serial hero: square-jawed, handsome, imposing, and looking great in his uniform instead of silly. He strikes just the right note as both Jack and Alan. Marguerite Chapman [Man Bait] hasn't that much to do as the nominal heroine/love interest, but Tristram Coffin [Up in the Air], as usual, is notable as a cameraman and quisling secretly working for the Mask. Hans Schumm may not go down in history as one of the more memorable serial villains, but he's effective enough in the part. The music is attributed to Mort Glickman, who bowdlerizes Beethoven's 5th symphony to create some rousing and classy theme music.

Verdict: One of the best of the Republic super-action serials. ***