CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT

Dave O'Brien as Captain Midnight

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (15 chapter Columbia serial/1942). Director: James W. Horne.

Captain Albright (Dave O'Brien) also uses the costumed and masked identity of Captain Midnight, although everyone seems to know the two are the same. He is aided by his buddies, Ichabod or "Icky" (Guy Wilkerson) and the spunky Chuck (Sam Edwards). A scientist named John Edwards (Bryant Washburn) has invented a special range-finder weapon that he hopes to sell to Washington, but the nefarious Ivan Shark (James Craven) and his gang want to get their hands on it first. Captain Midnight and his own gang, including Major Steele (Joseph W. Girard) and Edwards' daughter, Joyce (Dorothy Short), have their hands full trying to stay alive, outwit Shark and either keep the invention out of Shark's hands or get it back once he's stolen it. Shark also has a daughter named Fury (Luana Walters of Shadow of Chinatown), who helps her father and bosses around his henchmen.

There are some terrific cliffhangers in this serial. In chapter three Midnight finds himself trapped on a plane without a parachute and a cockpit rapidly filling with deadly gas. Midnight is nearly cut in half by a buzz saw in chapter four, and most of the supporting players are nearly crushed by moving walls with electrical charges in chapter fifteen. There is an excellent business with a water tank death trap in a cage inside Shark's HQ in chapter six, and even wilder is a fire pit in chapter ten in which Midnight is trapped on a revolving platform above the flames even as a huge block descends from above. Fury and Joyce have a brief tussle in chapter five. O'Brien is fine in the lead and the others are okay, but James Craven [The Purple Monster Strikes] really steals the show with his portrayal of the nasty and determined Ivan Shark, who is also a master of disguise, causing lots of problems because of it throughout the serial. Lee Zahler's music is right on target. O'Brien and Short appeared together in Spooks Run Wild.

Captain Midnight was adapted from a popular radio show (it became a TV series in the fifties). When this serial became equally successful, it was decided to turn it into a comic book -- in which the character can fly without a plane, unlike the serial -- which was published by Fawcett and lasted nearly seventy issues.

Verdict: Humor, frenetic action, and a fast pace add up to one very entertaining serial. ***.

THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES

THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (1945). Directed by Spencer Bennet and Fred Brannon. 

A man from Mars who is inexplicably known as the Purple Monster (Roy Barcroft) lands on Earth and literally takes over the body of Dr. Cyrus Layton (James Craven). He does this by dematerializing into a phantom form and simply sitting down in Leyton's body. He hopes to steal Layton's scientific devices -- especially a jet ship launching rocket -- for use in a planned Martian conquest of Earth, and by becoming Layton leads good guy Craig Foster (Dennis Moore) and Layton's niece Sheila (Linda Stirling), on a merry chase. The Purple Monster Strikes is snappy and fast-paced. There are some exciting cliffhangers involving a ladder dangling high over the ground, a pit that fills with water, a car in an auto shop that smashes rapidly downwards towards Moore, and spiked cell bars that threaten to impale Moore as he goes to use the phone (he uses his ingenuity to escape this trap). There's a zesty "cat-fight" between Sheila and Martian Bitch Marcia (Mary Moore) in chapter 12, and the fisticuffs are even more furious than before in chapter thirteen. Tom Steele is one of the thugs, and even Ken Terrell, butler Jess from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, has a small role, as he usually did in these things. 

Verdict: The cast serves up this zany stuff with relish. ***.

THE GREEN ARCHER

THE GREEN ARCHER (1940). 15 chapter Columbia serial. Director: James W. Horne.

Victor Jory adds a little class as the star of this cliffhanger, but The Green Archer can in no way be compared to the far superior Shadow, which also starred Jory. Jory doesn't play the title role this time, which is another problem. The story revolves around an old castle full of secret passages and trapdoors where a smooth villain named Abel Bellamy (James Craven) has framed his brother and taken over the place as headquarters for his nefarious activities. He even goes so far as to wreck the train taking his brother to prison in order to kill him. Bellamy imprisons his sister-in-law and spends the next fourteen chapters trying to outwit, confound or murder his brother's friend Spike Holland (Jory), an insurance investigator. In the meantime there are not one but two masked archers who are up to mischief. One, whose identity we know, is working for the bad guys. The other, whose identity is secret [although anyone over the age of five can figure out who it is] mysteriously shows up on the side of the angels now and then. There are some good scenes in The Green Archer, but it never quite recovers from the fact that the title character – unlike Batman, Superman, The Shadow etc. -- is a complete and rather colorless cypher. Highlights include a very well-done sequence featuring a most uncomfortable-looking Jory trying to stay well beneath some descending spikes; his fall out of a high window, which is broken by an awning; and an underground trap that rapidly fills with water. The exciting conclusion has most of the good guys trapped on a slowly crumbling shelf atop a fiery pit! There's a feisty lady gang member who doubles as a housekeeper, and a likable gunsel named Dinky. [In fact The Green Archer benefits from a large cast of talented character actors; Iris Meredith is the heroine.] Based on a novel by Edgar Wallace.

Verdict: Not one of the all-time great serials but not entirely without merit, either. **1/2.