THE GREAT MOVIE SERIALS

THE GREAT MOVIE SERIALS: Their Sound and Fury. Jim Harmon and Donald F. Glut. Doubleday; 1972.

An entertaining look at the great and not-so-great cliffhanger serials, with chapters on the imperiled girls such as Pauline and Nyoka; Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and other space heroes; western heroes such as the Lone Ranger; the aviator heroes; detectives such as Dick Tracy; classic villains; and superheroes like Captain Marvel, Superman and Batman. There are also photographs and interviews with several serial stars, and a foreword by actor Kirk Alyn (Superman and Blackhawk, among others). Harmon and Glut not only tell the stories of many of the most memorable serials, but also go behind the scenes, telling how certain stunts were done, and which serials borrowed footage from previous chapterplays and movies, and which were merely re-releases under another name. The authors' enthusiasm for these great old serials informs every page and makes you wish that more of them were available. [Luckily thanks to the video and DVD revolution many of these serials can be seen in their entirety, which was not true at the time of this book's publication.]

Verdict: Great!

BUCK ROGERS

BUCK ROGERS (1939). Directors: Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind.

Colonel Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his young pal, Buddy ( Jackie Moran) wind up frozen in suspended animation after a dirigible crash and wake up five hundred years later in the 24th century. [Neither Buck nor Buddy have any reaction to the fact that everyone they know, including all of their loved ones, have died many decades in the past.] There they learn that organized crime has taken over and the world is run by the nasty – and rather colorless -- “Killer” Kane (Anthony Warden). Earth is trying to form an alliance with the “oriental” people of Saturn, but the Saturnians are afraid Buck and his buddies, including Lt. Wilma Deering (Constance Moore), are their enemies and that Kane is a benevolent leader [you would think that his nickname of “Killer” might have given them a clue!] -- and so on. The good earthlings live in a mountain lair known as Hidden City, which Kane is always trying to find the entrance to, and there are mindless, milling creatures called Zugs. There are some impressive matte paintings in this, but the cliffhangers are generally uninspired and often cheat, and the climax is completely unexceptional. This isn't as much fun as the Flash Gordon chapterplays and Kane is certainly no Ming the Merciless! The plexiglass land car or monorail is an asset, as are the art deco sets and ships. The serial features a transporter that disassembles and reassembles individual atoms to move people from place to place many, many years before Star Trek came up with a more sophisticated version of the same idea. The acting is competent, Crabbe is suitably heroic, Moore, pretty and Jackie Moran is a likable and plucky youngster.

Verdict: Okay, but not exactly a must-see. **.