RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY

Wanda McKay, Joe Sawyer, and Dennis Moore

RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY (13 chapter Universal serial/1944). Directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor. 

Near the end of the Civil War an organization of Confederate spies is actually the front for gold thieves operating out of Oro Grande, California. But even these desperadoes are being double-crossed by a couple of Prussian agents who need the gold so that they can buy Alaska! Trying to thwart their efforts is Captain Steve Clark (Dennis Moore) of the U.S. Secret Service, aided by Idaho Jones (Joe Sawyer), a Wells Fargo detective, and Cathy Haines (Wanda McKay), a Wells Fargo county agent. 

Lionel Atwill and Virginia Christine

Their main antagonists are Erich von Rugen (Lionel Atwill of Captain America) and the deliciously ruthless Countess Elsa von Merck (Virginia Christine of Three Brave Men), who doubles as a saloon singer named Trina Dessard. They report to a Count Manfried von Richten (Emmett Vogan of Docks of New Orleans). Regis Toomey is Captain Clay Randolph, a legitimate rebel who doesn't realize what the others are up to and only wants the gold to aid the war effort.

Moore, Christine and Sawyer

Westerns have never been my favorite serial genre, but I must say that Raiders of Ghost City -- the title refers to a ghost town not far from Ora Grande -- has made a believer of me, for this is quite well-made, with an especially flavorful screenplay. In cliffhanger sequences a runaway stage coach falls into a river, and Steve is trapped in a cave with rapidly rising water. Chapter eight features a thrilling, expertly-edited chase scene with an entire gang in pursuit of Idaho. The first and tenth chapters have the best cliffhangers: an uncoupled car begins rolling backwards towards disaster during a frantic fist fight; and Idaho is nearly drawn and quartered by Modoc Indians in a very suspenseful sequence. The four main players are all excellent and the supporting players are well cast. 

Verdict: Very exciting, well-made, and well-played Columbia serial. ***1/4. 

THE SPIDER'S WEB

Iris Meredith, Warren Hull, Richard Fiske and Kenne Duncan

THE SPIDER'S WEB (15 chapter Columbia serial/1938). Directors: James W. Horne; Ray Taylor.

The Spider was a pulp character, a take-no-prisoners vigilante, who appeared in a great many action-packed, gruesome, and hard-hitting novels in the thirties. The Spider was actually criminologist Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull of The Green Hornet Strikes Again), and he was aided in his work by his fiancee Nita (Iris Meredith of Caught in the Act), and his associates Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan), Jackson (Richard Fiske), and even his butler Jenkins (Donald Douglas). Wentworth is good friends with Police Commissioner Kirk (Forbes Murray), who can't help but notice that Wentworth and the Spider are often in the same place at the wrong time. His suspicions of Wentworth often led to some tense sequences in the novels, and this situation develops at least once in this serial.

The Octopus contacts his men

The villain of the piece is a hooded man named the Octopus, who has a group of helpmates who all wear black robes. He is out to attack all transportation in his city and across the United States, not just for money but for power, and he doesn't care who dies when trains derail and terminals collapse. At one point he brings out a ray gun which can be used to bring down planes. Wentworth is planning to retire as the Spider and marry Nita when the Octopus begins his wave of terror, and love and marriage must wait until the threat can be eliminated. The Spider dons his mask and cape with the spider insignia and we're off ...

Lester Dorr and Warren Hull as "Blinky"

The Spider and his associates nearly die on several occasions. A cable lowering Wentworth and Nita from a skyscraper nearly plunges them to their deaths; a room in which several of the cast members are chained to a wall floods with water even as the Spider must contend with a deadly gas in another room; our hero is nearly bashed by a falling arc light and almost cut in two by an electric gate; and so on. Handsome Warren Hull is perfect as the less intense movie version of the Spider, and the other cast members are all quite adept. Hull is especially good when he impersonates "Blinky McQuade," an underworld character, so that he can mingle with other criminals. An amusing moment occurs when Hull has trouble getting his arm into the sleeve of his coat and ad libs "Can't see very well."  Byron Foulger plays a nice guy who is killed off rather early, and Lester Dorr [Hot Rod Gang] and Marc Lawrence are effective as members of the Octopus' gang.

Iris Meredith and Warren Hull

Columbia's The Spider's Web, while perhaps not quite on the level of the best of the Republic serials, is an exciting and worthwhile serial even if you aren't familiar with the pulp novels. One wishes that the climax, the final encounter between the Spider and the Octopus, which the viewer has sat through 15 chapters waiting for, wasn't so abrupt, and that the annoying musical score was much darker, given the subject matter. Otherwise, this is snappy stuff for devotees. Followed by The Spider Returns.

Verdict: Thrilling and action-packed. ***. 

THE ADVENTURES OF SMILIN' JACK

Jay Novello, Tom Brown, Marjorie Lord, Rose Hobart

 THE ADVENTURES OF SMILIN' JACK (13 chapter Columbia serial/ 1943). Directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor. 

Columbia turned the popular aviation comic strip The Adventures of Smilin' Jack into a serial in 1943. In this exciting and action-packed cliffhanger,  Jack Martin (Tom Brown) is working in China just before the U.S. entry into WW2.  Mah Ling (Cyril Delevanti of The Night of the Iguana), the governor of Handan, a province of China in the Himalayas, knows the secret route of a passage into India which would be helpful to the allies. The Japanese group, the Black Samurais, a division of Axis Espionage, is anxious to get this secret as well. The Samurais are under the uneasy control of a German agent, Fraulein Von Teufel (Rose Hobart of Conflict), who is better-known to the allies as "Trudi Miller," a war correspondent. We learn early on in the serial that Trudi is a ruthless double agent, but neither Jack, his friend, Tommy (Edgar Barrier), nor his sister, Janet (Marjorie Lord), are aware of this. It seems that in every other episode the evil Fraulein is reminding Kageyama (Turhan Bey) that she is in charge of the Samurais despite the fact that she is German. Philip Ahn is Wu Tan, the loving aide to the elderly Mah Ling; Keye Luke is Captain Wing; and Sidney Toler is cast as the Chinese general, Kai Ling. The ever-versatile Jay Novello is a cast stand-out as the Japanese saboteur Kushimi, and David Hoffman [The Creeper] also scores as the weasel-like Blenker.  With his pudgy face and kind of geeky voice, Tom Brown is hardly perfect casting as the sleek, handsome Smilin' Jack, but his performance is okay, while Lord and Barrier are adept enough in somewhat pointless secondary roles. Rose Hobart, on the other hand, while lacking the viciousness and sensuality of Carol Forman of Black Widow, is quietly effective and quite venomous as the steel-hearted Fraulein, and pretty much walks off with the serial (even if she is saddled with a highly unflattering headpiece). At one point the Fraulein suspends Jack in a net in the water below a trap door, even as the tide comes in and sharp floating spikes rise up higher and higher toward his back. Tom also plunges out of a plane to find that his parachute won't open, and is locked into a leaky box that is thrown into the river. In two of the best cliffhangers, a clipper ship holding our hero and friends crashes into the ocean, letting in gallons of rushing water; and a Japanese sub with Jack and the others aboard is rammed by a huge ship that is also controlled by Jap agents. An amusing aspect of the serial is that Mah Ling seems to take forever to make up his mind to give up the secret of the Mandan route and comes up with one obstacle after another to prevent him from divulging it. With the participation of such actors as Hobart, Luke, Toler, Bey and others, Similin' Jack has a better and better-known cast for a serial than usual. 

Verdict: Decidedly one of the better Universal serials. ***. 

PIRATE TREASURE

PIRATE TREASURE (12 chapter Universal serial/1934). Director: Ray Taylor.

Achieving the world's record for a solo flight, Dick Moreland (Richard Talmadge) decides to use the prize money to organize a voyage to search for his pirate ancestor's gold. Unfortunately, others get wind of his notion and try to snatch away the charts that he needs to reach the island in the south seas where the treasure is. Dick has a girlfriend, Dorothy (Lucille Lund), who takes the journey with him along with her father, and there is a nasty female who works with the bad guys named Marge (Beulah Hutton). Pirate Treasure is primitive but occasionally lively, such as a fight on top of a speeding train, a boat that smashes into a buoy, some gators in a lagoon, and an especially suspenseful sequence involving a falling crate in chapter seven. The fisticuffs are far below the Republic level -- everyone just flails their arms like children smacking each other and there is no nifty choreography. The island is full of angry natives. Talmadge's voice is kind of comical, like a German comedian, and hardly heroic-sounding.

Verdict: One of the serials you can probably miss. **.

FLYING G-MEN

The Black Falcon goes into action!

FLYING G-MEN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1939). Directors: James W. Horne; Ray Taylor.

Four famous sky hawks have now become G-Men, working for the Air Division of the FBI/Department of Justice. Their assignment is to track down the members of a deadly espionage ring and discover who its leader is. When their friend Ed McKay (William Lalley), who's invented a remote control pilot-less bomber, is killed, they vow to track down his murderer with the aid of his young son, Billy (Sammy McKim), and grown sister, Babs (Lorna Gray). The sky hawks decide that one of them should take on the costumed identity of the Black Falcon, so that he can sort of operate outside the law and really get the goods on the bad guys. One of the foursome is killed off in the first chapter, leaving Hal (Robert Paige), Bart (Richard Fiske), and John (James Craig) to become the Falcon. [Hiding the identity of the hero as opposed to the villain had been done the year before in The Lone Ranger, and later in The Masked Marvel.] It is hard not to notice the resemblance between the Black Falcon and comic books' Blackhawk, but the latter character did not actually appear until 1941 [Republic did a serial version of Blackhawk in 1952], meaning the Black Falcon came first. Although the individual cliffhangers tend to be nothing special, Flying G-Men is still a very fast-paced and highly entertaining serial, with lots of lively fist-fights and some exciting aerial action as well. Paige makes an appealing protagonist, and Fiske and Craig are stalwart enough as his colleagues. Lorna Gray would have to wait three years until Perils of Nyoka to make an impression as the evil Vultura; in this she isn't given enough to do. An uncredited Tom Steele has some dialogue passages early in the serial as a bad guy, and Nestor Paiva turns up as one of the saboteurs. Sidney Cutner's rousing music complements the action beautifully. Paige was in Blonde Ice and Son of Dracula; Fiske did The Spider's Web and Perils of the Royal Mounted; and James Craig was in everything from Winners of the West to The Cyclops. Young McKim was also in Dick Tracy's G-Men.

Verdict: Punch-fests and action galore! ***.

THE ROYAL MOUNTED RIDES AGAIN

Distinctive bad guys:Joe Haworth and Danny Morton

THE ROYAL MOUNTED RIDES AGAIN (13 chapter Universal serial/1945). Directors:Lewis D. Collins; Ray Taylor.

Northwestern Canada at the turn of the century. Mine owner Tom Bailey is murdered by Brad Taggart (Milburn Stone), but his employer Jackson Decker (Addison Richards) becomes the chief suspect. Bailey's daughter, June (Daun Kennedy) comes to town to investigate her father's murder, as do mounties Frenchy Moselle (George Dolenz) and Corporal Wayne Decker (Bill Kennedy) the son of Jackson Decker. Jackson wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and work for his copper mine and other businesses, but Wayne didn't like his father's unethical business practices. Now he's hoping to prove that his father was not mixed up in this murder. Other characters include Madame Misterioso, a fortune teller whose real name is Dillie Clark (Helen Bennett), who is an ally of June's; and colorful codger "Latitude" Bucket (Paul E. Burns) '' -- he's been "everywhere" -- who has a rather surprising secret. The bad buys in this movie are not the usual generic gunsels but have a bit more flavor to them, especially Bunker (Joseph Haworth) with his ingratiatingly insolent manner, and "Dancer" (Danny Morton), with his shiny hair and casual, non-subservient attitude. Milburn Stone is typical of the rather bland actor who makes more of an impression as a villain than as a hero [which he played in The Great Alaskan Mystery and other serials], although he's hardly a Charles Middleton. Robert Armstrong, who also appeared in a number of serials such as The Adventures of the Flying Cadets, plays shady Price, who owns the Yukon Gold tavern, where several scenes take place. Rondo Hatton does nothing for chapter after chapter except sit watching the proceedings and drawing his gun now and then; he has no dialogue. Royal Mounted Rides Again has a fairly good story and a few noteworthy cliffhangers, such as when a huge log is shoved down a chute toward a prone Corporal Decker; a mine car that hurtles down a deep shaft towards the same man; and a bit with a dangling suspension bridge in a rainstorm that has explosives attached to it. Paul Birch (Not of This Earth) appears very briefly as a highwayman. While this is not as slick or snappy as Republic's "Mounted" serials such as King of the Mounties, it is nevertheless entertaining. Apparently stars Bill and Daun Kennedy were neither related nor married to one another. Bill was a busy television actor while Daun had only a few credits to her name. Helen Bennett was also in Lost City of the Jungle.

Verdict: Interesting serial with several flavorful performances and good scenes. ***.

JUNGLE QUEEN

JUNGLE QUEEN (13 chapter Universal serial/1945). Directors: Lewis D. Collins; Ray Taylor.

"They're walking into their graves and don't know it."

In 1939 on the eve of WW II, the Nazis have sent agents to the "dark continent" believing it is a necessary strategy to take over Africa, and are using "Tambosa" as their base of operations. One of the German agents is Dr. Elise Bork (Tala Birell) who runs an experimental farm, and works with another Nazi named Lang (Douglass Dumbrille). On the side of the angels are Bob Eliot (Edward Norris) and his buddy Chuck (Eddie Quillan), who go on a mission to Africa and share a plane with Pamela Courtney (Lois Collier), whom they suspect of being an imposter until they all wind up lost in the jungle after the plane crashes. The Nazis are trying to force control upon the natives, but they are less successful with a weird white queen named Lothel (Ruth Roman), who shows up unannounced  to make pronouncements, give advice to the natives, and rescue the boys and Pamela; Lothel is also impervious to bullets [where the hell she came from is never explained]. Then there's the "Sword of Tangu," which has a supposed secret, and is coveted by some of the characters. This is a fairly ridiculous serial but it's often entertaining, the leads are all competent, and it has everyone from Cyril Delevanti to Cy Kendall [the untalented Charles Laughton] in the supporting cast. Pamela is nearly eaten by hungry gators and mauled by a lion, there's a volcanic eruption that sends buildings and statues toppling, and Bob is pursued by dozens of salivating crocs in a river, nearly falls into a pit of lions, and is subjected with the others to a deadly gas attack. Birell had a notable role in The Monster Maker and Collier was in Flying Disc Man from Mars and many other movies.

 Verdict: For all of its flaws, it's one of the better Universal chapterplays. ***.

DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD

DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (/13 chapter Filmcraft serial/1943). Directors: Lewis D. Collins, Ray Taylor.

 "The Japs would give their eyeteeth to get this information."

"You mean their buck teeth, sir." [Oy!]

In this superior sequel to Don Winslow of the Navy, Winslow (Don Terry) is assigned to the Coast Guard and continues to battle the machinations of the Scorpion (Nestor Paiva) and his female lieutenant, Tasmia (June Duprez). Elyse Knox is cast as the plucky nurse, Mercedes, and talented Philip Ahn is rather wasted in the role of bad guy Hirota. Highlights include a fire in an oil derrick, a plane that smashes into a boat, another boat that is blown to bits, and a neat bit with a car that rolls down a hill backward and winds up in the drink. The Scorpion has an interesting headquarters located in a cliff behind a waterfall. An interesting aspect of the serial is that the story is conversationally recapped/reported at the beginning of the chapter by one of the supporting characters. Terry is more than adequate as the action-hero, and Paiva, in a rare villainous role, is adequate if a little bland. Full of WW2 lingo and stock sea battle footage.

Verdict: Much better than Don Winslow of the Navy. ***.

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1934) -- Revisited

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1934). 12 chapter Universal serial. Director: Ray Taylor

Professor Hargrave (James Durkin) and Dr. Bashan (John Davidson) are after the same prize: a secret formula to a gas created by "Confu" that once destroyed ancient civilizations. The formula is written on a disk or medallion that is in two separate pieces. Bashan wants the formula so he can control the world, while Hargrave's motives are a bit fuzzier. Pauline (Evalyn Knapp) is Hargrave's plucky daughter, who is falling for Robert Warde (Robert Allen aka Craig Reynolds aka Hugh Enfield), an engineer who is helping the professor. This globe-trotting adventure begins with a revolution in China and moves to underground treasure chambers in Borneo, a hotel in Singapore, a temple in India, and the Egyptian wing of a museum in New York City. Highlights include the trapdoor that plunges Pauline and Bob into a pit filled with water, and when the two are caught in a fiery, collapsing building. Perhaps the best sequence takes place in Singapore when Pauline has a cat fight with Bashan's vicious female ally and she and Bob wind up falling off a balcony into the hotel's special attraction, a pool full of sharks! The actors are all professional, but Davidson, with his great, commanding voice, is a cast stand-out, as is Sonny Raye, who is often hilarious as the professor's nervous nelly and very excitable secretary. Busy serial actor Frank Lankteen is cast as Bashan's associate, Fang. Allen/Reynolds had a long career; he was also in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry. Davidson had an even longer career, beginning with silents, and appeared in several serials. Kanpp appeared in films from 1929 - 1943.

Verdict: Action-packed serial fun. ***.

SECRET AGENT X-9 (1945)

SECRET AGENT X-9 (1945). 13 chapter Universal serial. Directed by Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins.

This is the second serial adapted from the comic strip "Secret Agent X-9." The action takes place mostly on Shadow Island, “the only neutral territory in Asia,” during World War 2. The villainess is not some sexy Asian doll, but is made up to be a plain-faced, skulking, matronly type named Nabura [Victoria Horne, who is at least a good actress]; the heroine, Jan Wiley, is rather luscious, however. (Wiley was also in Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. and She-Wolf of London.) Lloyd Bridges was never much of an actor, and he makes one of the least memorable serial heroes of all time. Smirking his way through all thirteen chapters, he seems less dashing than disinterested, and is simply not cut from the heroic mold. Keye Luke, however, is notable as a suitably brave Chinese agent. A scene with a moving floor is more comical than thrilling; in fact, the serial on a whole is rather dull, slow and almost pitiful in spots, definitely not a high point in chapterplay history. Universal may have turned out some of the worst cliffhanger serials of all (although there were exceptions). This one just lacks punch, although the theme music is gripping and terrific.

Verdict: Too bad everything else is so blah. *1/2.

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1934)

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1934). 12 chapter Universal serial. Director: Ray Taylor.

This is a sound remake of the silent serial starring Pearl White. In this version the plucky and charming Evalyn Knapp plays Pauline Hargraves, whose father, the Professor, is determined to find the missing half of a piece of a sacred disc found in a temple. The disc contains the formula for a gas that once destroyed some ancient civilizations, but can now perhaps be used for more positive results. Unfortunately, the evil Dr. Bashan (a highly striking and effective John Davidson) and his associate Mr. Fang, want the formula for their own evil ends, and will stop at nothing to get the second half of the disc before the professor, Pauline, and handsome adventurer Bob Ward (Robert Allen) can do so. Pauline and her group have to deal with explosions, storms at sea, a hurling leopard, and a knife-wielding human tigress in twelve episodes, but the liveliest cliffhanger of all comes at the end of chapter seven. In this a hotel our heroine stays at just happens to have a shark pool [!] fed by an underground passage below her balcony. [Even the characters remark upon the illogic of this even as they try to rationalize it.] Of course Pauline and Bob wind up falling into the pool and are nearly eaten by the fish. There's a tomb full of ghostly moans and a well-executed plunge through a trap door into the water far below in chapter eight. For comedy relief there's the professor's milquetoast secretary Willie Dodge (Sonny Ray). A running joke has Dodge always saying “I'm afraid I'll have to resign my position as your secretary” after some especially harrowing mishap. The action bounces around from Shanghai to India to New York and elsewhere.

Verdict: This is a good and very entertaining chapterplay that is full of action and lively fisticuffs. ***.

DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY

DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (1942). 13 chapter Filmcraft Inc. serial. Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor.

Despite some okay action set pieces this is not one of the better or more entertaining serials. Dick Foran-type Don Terry is okay as Commander Winslow of US Naval Intelligence, who takes on the forces of saboteur The Scorpion, whose chief aide is played by John Litel. Somehow this Filmcraft production lacks that certain energy and no-how of the Republic and Columbia serials despite the talents at the helm. The Scorpion, who rarely appears, is a completely colorless and unmasked foe [he's still on the loose at the end] and the musical score is terrible, languid and generally inappropriate. A couple of memorable scenes: a hungry shark sets off in pursuit of Don, and Don falling unconscious as a plane he is in dives toward the ocean. But this is not very good all told.

Verdict: Skip it. *1/2.,

GANGBUSTERS

GANGBUSTERS (1942). Directed by Ray Taylor and Noel Smith.

Based on the radio show of the same name, this is one of the very best Universal serials, with a fast-pace, rapid editing, an effective musical score, and plenty of two-fisted action throughout. Ralph Morgan plays Professor Mortis (his I.D. is revealed in the first chapter), who is out for revenge against the city authorities (this is supposed to be New York but looks more like the typical Hollywood back lot). He is the head of the League of Murdered Men, allegedly bringing various gunsels back to life and keeping them alive with pills that enforce their loyalty. Kent Taylor is the stalwart detective Bill Bannister, and Robert Armstrong is his associate Tim Nolan (as usual Armstrong pretty much just plays himself). Irene Hervey is the intrepid girl reporter. There’s some good character actors in supporting roles but William Haade makes the biggest impression as Mike Taboni, a hood who murders Bannister’s kid brother, commits "suicide," and is revivified by Professor Mortis.

Although pretty much a dim bulb, Taboni is smart enough to ask Mortis who brought him, Mortis, another "suicide," back to life. "An intelligent question," says Mortis, "One best left unanswered." Understandably. I believe we never learn who’s sending Mortis all those notes delivered by the newsboy, either. There are some good cliffhangers in this serial, including one in which a car plunges several stories down a shaft, and a bit involving Hervey switching from the running board of one car to another. The pace never flags. An amusing aspect of the serial is that the secret entrance to the gang’s underground HQ is a trapdoor located right in the middle of the subway tracks. Of course, placing the trapdoor off to the side of the tracks would eliminate the danger as well as the ending that you know is coming. It’s interesting that instead of doing brief recaps at the start of each episode, the serial instead inserts brief new sequences that help the audience catch up with what’s going on – a nice touch. This may not quite be in the "classic" league, but it’s certainly a pretty good serial. And from Universal, no less.

Verdict: Good show! ***.

GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY

GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY (1944). 13 chapter Universal serial. Directed by Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins.

This serial focuses on attempts to steal and use a “Peraton” ray gun that uses a new energized mineral as a power source. At the beginning an evil captain maroons the inventor and party on an iceberg, but they manage to survive for several more chapters of highly moderate and essentially mediocre “excitement.” Yep, Great Alaskan Mystery is more evidence of why Universal was never considered one of the better studios for cliffhanger serials. Milburn Stone is too low-key and dull to make a memorable serial hero. There are a few good scenes, however: a polar bear swims after and attacks a man in the water off the iceberg; and a terrific cliffhanger when a mine car plunges into a pit with the added danger in the fact that it's carrying explosives! The theme music is excellent, and the ever-versatile Jay Novello plays an Eskimo chief. With Marjorie Weaver as Ruth Miller and the always-sinister Martin Kosleck as a nasty turncoat scientist.

Verdict: Okay if you're in the mood for nothing special. **.

RETURN OF CHANDU

RETURN OF CHANDU (1934). Director: Ray Taylor. 12 chapter serial.

Edmund Lowe played Chandu the Magician battling Bela Lugosi in the 1932 feature film Chandu the Magician. In this serial, Chandu was played not by Lowe, but by Lugosi! Chandu has hypnotic powers similar to The Shadow, and becomes embroiled in a sinister plot surrounding a beautiful princess. This woman, Chandu's girlfriend, is the reincarnation of the Cat God of Magic Island. There are ocean voyages, fogbound islands, human sacrifices, underground traps and the like – but as fascinating as it sounds it's all very slow, dull and disappointing. Lugosi is fine, if a little miscast, and spends much of his time knitting his brows and calling on the power of the Yogi who was his teacher. Some of the sets were left over from King Kong. This is by no means one of the more memorable chapterplays.

Verdict: Not worth the eye strain. *1/2.

WINNERS OF THE WEST

WINNERS OF THE WEST (1940). 13 Chapter Universal Serial. Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor.

If this is one of the best chapter-plays put out by Universal, it is probably because Mssrs. Beebe and Taylor were at the helm. The actors are extremely well-cast as well. Dick Foran is perfect as Jeff Ramsey, who's been hired to build a railroad through Hellgate Pass in the Southwest Territory. King Carter (Harry Woods) doesn't want the railroad (for reasons that are never clearly delineated) and tricks the Indians into aiding his cause. Ramsey's boss Hartford has a daughter named Claire who, as enacted by Anne Nagel, is saucy, attractive and intelligent and as brave as any of the fellows. James Craig is Ramsey's handsome pal Jim Jackson, Tom Fadden is their older buddy Tex, and Charles Stevens is “injun” turncoat Snake Eye. The photography, action, and direction are all first-rate, as is the score, although at times it's a bit too sprightly. If there is any problem with the serial, it is that while it remains busy, it eventually becomes quite monotonous and even a bit boring. There simply isn't enough to the plot, the suspense is minimal, and there isn't any mystery whatsoever. Although we are introduced to a “bad girl” in the saloon owned by King Carter, she makes infrequent appearances, and never even meets Claire, let alone has a “cat fight” with her spunky counterpart, which might have been an eye-opener. Still, there are several memorable scenes in the serial, such as when a train rolls over an overturned wagon, and a great cliffhanger in which a boulder thrown from above demolishes a rope bridge. Western fans will probably rank this higher than other serial enthusiasts.

Verdict: Certainly worth a look for the cliffhanger fan. **1/2.

ADVENTURES OF THE FLYING CADETS

ADVENTURES OF THE FLYING CADETS (1943). 13 chapter Universal serial. Directed by Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins.

Johnny Downs is a troubled cadet [of the L.A. Air School]. Danny Collins, who, with some buddies, is accused of being responsible for a series of murders actually committed by The Black Hangman. The victims belonged to a group of seven men who traveled to Africa to find a cave which supposedly holds valuable elements coveted by the Germans. We learn early on that the Black Hand is actually Arthur Galt (Robert Armstrong) who feigns friendship with the boys while trying to trip them up or kill them at every turn. Although there are some exciting moments in the serial – such as an aerial descent and near-crash into a flaming crater – Adventures of the Flying Cadets is rather leisurely-paced. It was also a major mishap to reveal the villain's identity so early in the serial.

Verdict: As cliffhanger serials go, this one is pretty minor. **.