ON THE LOOSE

Joan Evans

ON THE LOOSE (1951). Director: Charles Lederer.

Jill Bradley (Joan Evans) is a small-town 16-year-old girl who has distracted parents (Lynn Bari and Melvyn Douglas) and a seemingly devoted boyfriend named Larry (Robert Arthur of Naked Youth). When Larry brings Jill to his house when his parents are gone, he passes out on the sofa and is found hungover the next morning. Larry is forced to break up with the "fast" Jill, who dates lots of guys to get over her heartbreak and winds up with a "reputation," nearly leading to tragedy. On the Loose is a time capsule of a movie, looking back at 1950's attitudes towards dating and premarital sex, as well as at timeless troubled marriages, and on that level is quite effective. Joan Evans [Roseanna McCoy] gives a very good performance as the confused and unhappy young woman, and the rest of the cast are also on target, with Melvyn Douglas [Hud] delivering some fine moments when he does his best to bond with his daughter in the second half of the film. Hugh O'Brian makes an impression as a kind-hearted doctor, and Tristram Coffin plays a judge, who shows up after some melodramatic developments in a bar. The ending is unrealistically happy but nevertheless touching.

Verdict: Teen angst well-played. ***. 

THE FAT MAN

Julie London and Rock Hudson

THE FAT MAN  (1951). Director: William Castle.

A dentist named Bromley (Ken Niles of Out of the Past) is knocked unconscious and thrown out of an 18th story window. His secretary, Jane (Jayne Meadows), comes to the corpulent private investigator, Brad Runyan (J. Scott Smart), for help in proving that the dentist's death was murder and not an accident. Suspects include mob boss Gordon (John Russell of Hell Bound); his shady chauffeur, Anthony (Anthony George of Checkmate); a patient named Roy (Rock Hudson) who disappeared after being fitted for a dental plate; Roy's worried wife, Pat (Julie London); and Roy's ex-cell mate, Ed Deets (Emmett Kelly). The large and interesting cast also includes Jerome Cowan as a police lieutenant and Tristram Coffin as a Missing Persons Officer.  The Fat Man is an entertaining, if cold-blooded movie -- hardly anyone registers dismay over the death of the poor dentist, and the Fat Man doesn't seem much bothered by the murder of his client -- but director William Castle keeps things moving at a snappy pace. In this early role for Rock Hudson, it's clear that he had the ability and presence to emerge a major movie star, as he did. Based on a long-running radio series, the character of The Fat Man was created by Dashiell Hammett. This was Brad Runyan's one and only screen appearance. Although J. Scott Smart gives a competent performance as Runyan, it's easy to see why the character never caught on with the public, as he's just not that likable. Julie London makes a positive impression as Pat, although Clinton Sundberg, playing Runyan's major domo, has been seen to better advantage elsewhere. The Fat Man is a bit similar to another fictional detective, Nero Wolfe. Playing a most unusual role considering his usual profession as a clown, Emmett Kelly proves a splendid actor and walks off with the movie. Even the bit parts in this are well-cast.

Verdict:  Absorbing enough mystery. ***. 

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. ***

RADAR SECRET SERVICE

"Remember me, I'm your boyfriend." Adele Jergens, Tom Neal

RADAR SECRET SERVICE (1950). Director: Sam Newfield.

The "Radar Patrol," which uses radar in its war on crime, is after some uranium which was stolen by Mickey Moran (Tom Neal of Bruce Gentry) and sold to a man named Michael (Tristram Coffin). Hard-boiled blonde Lila (Adele Jergens) is supposedly Mickey's girlfriend, but she's playing up to Michael to help Mickey -- although she may be planning a double-cross just as Michael is. Bill Travis (John Howard) and his partner "Static" (Ralph Byrd) are the agents on the case. Riley Hill is a hood named Blackie; Myrna Dell [Why Men Leave Home] is his girlfriend, a waitress named Marge; and the ever-irritating Sid Melton is "Pill Box," a hypochondriac member of Michael's gang. There's some mild excitement at the climax; a good laugh when Marge makes a comment about how Lila really gets rid of her boyfriends after she sees Michael's corpse; and an inside joke when Ralph Byrd, who played Dick Tracy numerous times, makes a remark about "Dick Tracy's two-way radio." The good guys are called Radar Patrol throughout the movie, and not "Radar Secret Service," possibly because there was a serial called Radar Patrol vs. Spy King two years earlier.

Verdict: Pretty dull cops and robbers, but at least it's less than an hour long. *1/2.

PYGMY ISLAND

Billy Barty and Johnny Weissmuller

PYGMY ISLAND (1950). Director: William Berke.

Army Captain Kingsley (Ann Savage of Dangerous Blondes) disappears when she leads an expedition into territory where she hopes to find a certain plant. This plant has unusual properties and will provide "strategic war materials." Major Bolton (David Bruce of Lady on a Train) arrives in Africa to search for Kingsley and confers with the famous Jungle Jim (Johnny Weismuller), who tells him that this plant grows primarily in pygmy territory. Some nasty foreigners led by Leon Marko (Steven Geray)  and his confederate Novak (Tristram Coffin) try to exploit the pygmies, who are led by Makuba (Billy Curtis). Billy Barty [The Day of the Locust] plays the likable pygmy, Kimba; in fact all of the pygmies seem to be played by Caucasian little people. Elephants go on a mini-stampede at one point, crushing a jeep and a truck, and Jungle Jim has an exciting battle with a crazed gorilla that tries to throw him off of a rope bridge into a watery chasm; the picture's best scene. Tamba the chimp gets in on the action as well. While this looks like an ultra-cheap Monogram production, the early Jungle Jim features were released by Columbia.

Verdict: Kind of dull for the most part. **.

DOOMED TO DIE

Henry Brandon, Catherine Craig, William Stelling

DOOMED TO DIE (1940). Director: William Nigh.

Cyrus Wentworth (Melvin Lang) is bitterly opposed to his daughter Cynthia's (Catherine Craig) marriage to Dick Fleming (William Stelling) because he is the son of his shipping rival, Paul Fleming (Guy Usher). Paul is hoping to consolidate both firms, especially after there's an accident at sea which claims many lives. Naturally the Flemings are the top suspects when Cyrus is murdered, but Cynthia sticks by her fiance. Of course Captain Street (Grant Withers) is convinced Dick is guilty, but reporter "Bobbi" Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) gets James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff) on the case. Other characters embroiled in the mystery include Matthews (Wilbur Mack), who works for Wentworth; attorney Victor Martin (Henry Brandon); and insurance adjuster Baldwin (Tristram Coffin). Doomed to Die is not awful and moves fast, but it's just blah; it's a series that ran out of gas early on. One of the problems is that the blustery character of Captain Street and his prickly relationship with Bobbi wore thin. The considerable talents of Henry Brandon [Captain Sindbad] are completely wasted in this movie. This was the penultimate Mr. Wong movie, and the last to star Boris Karloff. Keye Luke replaced him for Phantom of Chinatown. Catherine Craig is much better in this than she was in Spy Train.

Verdict: One last gasp for Karloff's Mr. Wong. **.

THE FATAL HOUR

Hands up! Grant Withers and Boris Karloff

THE FATAL HOUR (1940). Director: William Nigh.

Police captain Bill Street (Grant Withers) is disheartened to learn that old friend and fellow cop Dan O'Grady has been murdered and his body dumped in the river. Criminologist James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff) thinks there's little he can do as the case seemingly has no connection with the Chinese-American community, until Street reminds him that many Chinese objects have been smuggled; O'Grady himself was investigating a smuggling racket. The people the two men investigate include dealer Frank Belden (Hooper Atchley); his son (Craig Reynolds of Romance on the Run), who is in love with adventuress Tanya (Lita Chevret); radio actor Griswold (Jason Robards Sr.); financier Forbes (Charles Trowbridge of Mysterious Dr. Satan); and crooked club owner "Hardway" Lockett (Frank Puglia of The Boogie Man Will Get You), who owns the Club Neptune. Street has a love-hate thing going with reporter Roberta Logan (Marjorie Reynolds). The actors, especially Karloff, are swell, and Tristram Coffin has a small role as a desk clerk in a hotel. The Fatal Hour has a fairly clever murder scheme but the movie is not very memorable. One of the characters is inexplicably murdered in police headquarters right outside Street's office.

Verdict: Pleasant time-passer but little else. **.

THE FIRST TRAVELING SALESLADY

Very odd pairing: Clint Eastwood and Carol Channing

THE FIRST TRAVELING SALESLADY (1956). Producer/director: Arthur Lubin.

In 1897 feminist Rose Gillray (Ginger Rogers) tries to make a killing selling corsets, but when that doesn't pan out she inveigles a job selling barbed wire in the wild west, but has to deal with a powerful rancher, James Carter (David Brian), who is opposed to the use of it. Rose has a sort of thing going with Charles (Barry Nelson,) who has a horseless carriage, while her assistant Molly (Carol Channing) becomes embroiled in a romance with Lt. Rice (Clint Eastwood) in one of filmdom's strangest pairings. The performances are all good in this, with Rogers affecting a high squeaky voice and Channing, sounding just like "Satchmo," just being her own weird self. James Arness [The Thing from Another World] and Tristram Coffin [Up in the Air] have smaller roles.

Verdict: Cute picture. ***.

LOST TV: COOL AND LAM

Benay Venuta and Billy Pearson

COOL AND LAM. CBS pilot 1958. Director: Jacques Tourneur.

This pilot for a series based on the books about Bertha Cool (Benay Venuta)  and Donald Lam (Billy Pearson), private investigators, aired on CBS in 1958 but never became a series. The books were written by Erle Stanley Gardner (as "A. A. Fair") and he introduces the show as well. Gardner more famously created Perry Mason; this show has the same producer, but lightning didn't strike twice. In this one and only episode, based on "Turn On the Heat," the Cool and Lam team are hired by a man calling himself "Smith" to find out if a certain woman ever remarried. Turns out Smith is a mayoral candidate and may be an accidental bigamist. Then a cocktail hostess named Evaline Dell (Allison Hayes of The Disembodied) who has some knowledge of the situation is found murdered. Lam, the brains behind the outfit while penny-pinching Cool takes care of the finances, eventually unmasks the true murderer. This could have developed into an interesting show, but perhaps the unusual Venuta and Pearson -- not exactly subtle actors -- were seen more as supporting players than stars. Diminutive Pearson had been a thoroughbred jockey who appeared on game shows in the fifties and then became an actor with a short-lived career [no pun intended]. The hefty Venuta appeared sporadically in films and on television and had a small role in Repeat Performance. Tristram Coffin appears briefly in a funny prologue. Margaret Field, Don Megowan, Sheila Bromley, and Maurice Manson also have roles.

Verdict: Not bad, but you can't win 'em all.

UP IN THE AIR

Darro, Renolds, Moreland, and Coffin have a conference

UP IN THE AIR (1940). Director: Howard Bretherton.

Frankie (Frankie Darro) is a page boy in a radio studio who tries to impress new receptionist Anne (Marjorie Reynolds of The Time of Their Lives) by pretending to be a producer, which doesn't sit well with her or with their boss, Mr. Farrell (Tristram Coffin). Farrell and others at the station are having problems with difficult, bitchy radio singer Rita Wilson (Lorna Gray of The Perils of Nyoka) but those problems abruptly end when she's shot dead by an unknown person during a rehearsal. Will Anne be chosen to go on in her place? Will Frankie and his buddy Jeff (Mantan Moreland) unveil the murderer before the police do? Yes, it's another Darro-Moreland mystery comedy from Monogram studios, full of flavorful actors but without much of a story. Gordon Jones (The Green Hornet) is a lousy cowboy singer; Dennis Moore (The Purple Monster Strikes) is a gag writer; Dick Elliott is Hastings, the station owner; and John Holland (The Girl in Black Stockings) -- also Alice's handsome boss on an episode of The Honeymooners -- is Sam Quigley, another executive. Neither of the "girl" singers really do justice to the snappy number "Conga;" the best scene has Mantan Morelamd doing a soft shoe routine.

Verdict: Very likable leads but where's the decent script? **.

PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS

PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS (15 chapter Columbia serial/1950). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet; Thomas Carr. 

On the paradise island of Talua in the south pacific post-WW 2, Kelly Walsh (Tommy Farrell) is bedeviled by the crew of a "phantom cruiser" that shoots at his boat and then disappears into thin air. Said cruiser has the ability to dive underwater while retaining the outward appearance of a boat instead of a submarine [this ability is so under-utilized that it's a wonder the serial even bothers with it.]. Kelly sends for his old Army buddy Jeff (Buster Crabbe), who has no interest in returning to the south pacific but suddenly finds himself besieged by passengers who must get to Talua, including Kelly's pretty blond sister, Carol (Lois Hall); Whitlock (Gene Roth), who turns out to be the governor of the island; and Castell (Tristram Coffin of King of the Rocket Men), an agent who is after a Nazi war criminal named Van Horsdorff who has hidden away millions of dollars worth of diamonds somewhere in the vicinity of Talua. The clue to the location of the diamonds may be inside a music box that plays "Three Blind Mice." It is revealed early on that Whitlock is corrupt, to put it mildly, and has some nasty confederates, especially Shark, captain of the phantom cruiser, who as portrayed by Marshall Reed with two day's growth of beard is one of the sexiest sociopaths to ever appear in a serial. Handsome Shark thinks nothing of gunning down associates with impunity before they can impart important information to the good guys. There are a couple of memorable cliffhangers, such as when a heavy stone block comes crashing down on a coffin inside which Jeff is hiding; and a great bit when Jeff battles a hood on a flat piece of wall that has just been torn off the side of the jail and is being dragged behind a speeding truck as it careens toward a cliff. Most of the characters in this, even some of the good guys, are rather shady and duplicitous, including Lamar (Stanley Price), Whitlock's secretary, and the Lotus Lady (Symona Boniface), who runs the general store and whose loyalties are ambiguous. Pirates of the High Seas may not be one of the classic serials, but it is entertaining if overlong at nearly four and a half hours. Crabbe may be a bit paunchy and middle-aged in this but he still delivers the goods, and the other cast members are generally equally adept.

Verdict: Worth a trip on the Phantom Cruiser. ***.

IRISH LUCK

Purcell, Darro, Flavin [background], Moore and Darcy

IRISH LUCK (1939). Director: Howard Bretherton.

"Can't you see I'm just one step from finding out who the murderer is?" -- Buzzy

"And you got your other foot on a banana peel." -- Jefferson

Buzzy O'Brien (Frankie Darro) is a bellboy in a hotel but he has an interest in mysteries and crime-solving, much to the consternation of cop Steve Lanahan (Dick Purcell of Captain America and Mystery House). When a man is found dead in the hotel, Buzzy covers up for a pretty gal named Kitty Monahan (Sheila Darcy) who he spotted coming out of the dead man's room; his mother (Lillian Elliott) just likes her because she's Irish. Kitty is concerned about her brother, Jim (Dennis Moore), who found out about some shady stock manipulations or something along that order and is hiding out. When Buzzy gets in a jam confronting the killer, his buddy Jefferson (Mantan Moreland) saves the day. James Flavin is hotel detective Fluger, and Tristram Coffin shows up briefly as a desk clerk. This is another Monogram quickie teaming Darro with Moreland; they are both swell, as are Purcell, Moore and Elliott; the picture runs less than an hour. Bretherton directed The Monster and the Ape and other serials. Moore was in The Master Key and others.

Verdict: Amiable silliness with likable performers. **1/2.

LET'S GO COLLEGIATE

Frankie and Tad have both gotten the kiss-off from their girlfriends

LET'S GO COLLEGIATE (1941). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

Gale Storm! Mantan Moreland! Frankie Darro! What a stellar "B" movie cast this picture has. Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Tad (Jackie Moran), members of the Kappa Psi Delta fraternity of Raleigh U, have promised to deliver a sports hero named Bob Terry in order to give the school a champion rowing team. Then they discover that Terry can't come because he's just been drafted. Now none of this is their fault, but instead of simply telling the truth -- which no reasonable person could blame them for -- they decide to pass off an uneducated burly and surly truck driver named "Herc" Bevans (Frank Sully) as Terry. [Of course, if the boys acted sensibly there would be no movie.] Herc appalls the professors with his stupidity, has a hatred of water which makes rowing problematic, and worst of all steals away the fellows' girlfriends, Midge (Gale Storm) and Bess (Marcia Mae Jones). This idea could have been turned into a very cute picture but the laughs are very sporadic in the movie, and most of them are provided for by Mantan Moreland as an apparent chauffeur named Jeff.  Marguerite Whitten appears as Jeff's girlfriend Malvina, and Tristram Coffin shows up as an alumni and police officer. Keye Luke appears as another student named Buck Wing and he's surprisingly serious, probably trying to hold on to his dignity. The performances in this are good, with Sully effective as the impersonator.  There's even a nice number entitled "Let's Do a Little Dreaming," but this is more of a time-waster than anything else. This is one of several pictures Darro did with Moreland for Monogram. Moran was "Buddy" in the Buck Rogers serial, and Marcia May Jones had a significant role in These Three.

Verdict: Interesting cast given too little of note to do. **.

HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE

Evelyn Brent and Jack Holt

HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE (15 chapter Columbia serial/1941). Director: James W. Horne.

Jack Holt of the Secret Service (Jack Holt) is assigned to getting back some valuable plates stolen by counterfeiters, so to that end he pretends to be gangster Nick Farrell, and takes along agent Kay Drew (Evelyn Brent of Daughter of Shanghai) to pretend to be Farrell's wife. The most unusual feature of this serial is that the two leads are not typically "young and pretty" but are both middle-aged -- Holt, who'd been acting since silent movies, was 54 [and looks much older] and Brent was 43. Still, their performances are top-notch for this type of material, so their casting can not be faulted. Holt has a lot of gravelly presence as the secret service man, and Brent is saucy and thoroughly convincing both as agent and moll. Of the supporting cast, Tristram Coffin makes the best impression as a member of the counterfeit gang, and Stanley Blystone is effective as Garrity. The other henchmen and comparatively colorless leaders are all satisfactory if not especially memorable. After much rushing around with different factions trying to get their hands on those plates, the last few chapters take place on an island where the bad guys try to rile up the natives to their own ends, and thieves fall out. There are a few lively fight scenes and some more-than-decent cliffhangers. Holt of the Secret Service is entertaining, but not outstanding.

Verdict: Solid, enthusiastic lead performers never hurt. **1/2.

TERRY AND THE PIRATES TV

TERRY AND THE PIRATES TV show. 1952.

This fair-to-middling television show based on Milton Caniff's famous comic strip only lasted for 16 episodes. John Baer is perfect in both good looks and demeanor for Terry Lee, while William Tracy, in an atrocious rug, is also good as his partner, "Hotshot" Charlie. The two fly planes to and from Hong Kong for a shady character named Chopstick Joe (Jack Reitzen). The Dragon Lady, played to perfection by the sexy Gloria Saunders, appeared in almost all of the episodes, and was usually up to some hijinks. Burma (first Mari Blanchard, and then Sandra Spence) appeared with less frequency. The show wasn't terribly riveting -- although cute, appealing Baer and super-slinky Saunders must have had their fans -- but there were a few decent episodes. Pamela Duncan (Attack of the Crab Monsters) appears in "Black Market for Death," in which Terry assumes that the Dragon Lady is behind the theft of an important serum; this one has a good twist at the end. In "Extra Cargo" the boys foil the D L's plot to assassinate a maharajah with a bomb on a plane [Burma is in this episode as well]. The corpse of a wealthy man is held for ransom in "Chinese Coffin" and a boy prince (little Stephen Wong) is kidnapped in "Little Mandarin." "Tea Hee" has an old lady buying a special blend of tea from the Dragon Lady which has valuable jewels hidden inside. Series guest-stars include Tristram Coffin, Lyle Talbot, Phyllis Coates and Victor Sen Yung. Baer also appeared in Night of the Blood Beast. 12 years earlier William Tracy actually played a younger Terry Lee in the Terry and the Pirates serial.

Verdict: Attractive leads certainly don't hurt. **1/2.

RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING

RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (12 chapter Republic serial/1949). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

Operative Chris Calvert (Kirk Alyn) and scientist Joan Hughes (Jean Dean) versus Spy King John Baroda (John Merton) and hench-woman Nitra (Eve Whitney), who hope to sabotage radar defense stations. The cliffhangers involve deadly acid, deadlier explosions and cars off of cliffs, plus a poison gas inside an encyclopedia and an exciting plane crash in chapter eleven. Tom Steele and Tristram Coffin are also in the cast. The serial has mediocre villains but a good climax in the air. George J. Lewis, who plays good guy Lt. Agura, was a villain in Federal Operator 99. Jean Dean was also in Blood of Dracula and Eve Whitney, playing herself, was the brunette party goer who inspires the jealous gals to go to "Charm School" on a classic episode of I Love Lucy. Merton was in several other serials, including Brick Bradford, Hop Harrigan, and The Adventures of Sir Galahad.

Verdict: Acceptable but second-rate serial. **1/2.  

FEDERAL AGENTS VS UNDERWORLD INC.

FEDERAL AGENTS VS UNDERWORLD INC. (12 chapter Republic serial/1949). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

Professor Clayton (James Craven) is kidnapped because he has knowledge of something called the Golden Hand of Abisthan treasure, which is coveted by a villainess named Nila (Carol Forman). Nila wants to organize the entire underworld of the country into a massive group like the F.B.I [not nearly enough is done with this great idea]. Out to stop her nefarious plans and find the professor are Inspector David Worth (Kirk Alyn of Superman fame) and Laura Keith (Rosemary La Planche from Strangler of the Swamp). While there are a couple of borrowed cliffhangers in this serial, it also boasts a suspenseful bit involving a box with a bomb in it in chapter 5; Dave nearly running Laura over with his car in chapter 8; a stone-hearted Nila shooting David in 9; a collision between planes in mid-air in 10; and a collapsing bridge in 11. Roy Barcroft, Tristram Coffin and Tom Steele are also in the cast.

Verdict: Fast-paced and generally lively. ***

BRUCE GENTRY

BRUCE GENTRY 15 chapter Columbia serial (1949). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr.

"As a last resort, use your brains."

Tom Neal, most famous for the film Detour, plays the comic strip "daredevil of the skies" in this Columbia serial. Several agents investigating the story of a "flying disc" either crash to earth or disappear. The unseen leader of the sinister group that controls the [cartoon] flying discs is called "The Recorder" because he uses recordings to send messages to his underlings, chief among which is Krendon (Tristram Coffin, the King of the Rocket Men). The Recorder has kidnapped Dr. Benson (Forrest Taylor) and is holding him captive until he tells him all of his scientific secrets. Bruce is hired by Radcliffe (Hugh Prosser), who runs an engineering firm, to investigate the flying discs and find out what happened to Benson. Along the way he is helped by a spunky brother and sister team of young ranchers, Frank (Ralph Hodges) and Nita (Judy Clark, who isn't much of an actress). Highlights of the serial include a plane with jammed controls roaring toward a car with an unconscious Gentry inside in chapter 9; a bit with propellers that nearly slash into Nita in chapter 11; and a sequence in which Gentry's parachute, caught on rocks, begins to unravel strand by strand in chapter 12. Perhaps the most thrilling sequence occurs in chapter 5 as Bruce desperately tries to get Frank out of a car that stalled on train tracks at the end of the previous chapter. While the unmasking of the Recorder may at first seem to make absolute nonsense of everything that went before, it's actually all explained quite credibly in the serial's final minutes. Neal is fine as Gentry and the other performers are generally more than competent. Radcliffe's flirtatious secretary, Louise, is uncredited. Hodges also appeared in the serial version of Mysterious Island in 1951.

Verdict: Practically by the numbers at times, but it has some good moments. **1/2.

CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN

CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955). Director Edward L. Cahn.

With the aid of Dr. Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gaye), bitter gangster Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger) revivifies corpses, attaches mind-control circuits to their heads, and sends them out to kill off everyone he wants to have revenge upon. Irradiated with radioactivity, the "creatures" have super-strength and can shrug off bullets. Police doctor Chet Walker (Richard Denning) heads the investigation, which also embroils the D.A. (Tristram Coffin of King of the Rocket Men and The Night the World Exploded), the mayor (Pierre Watkin of a zillion items) and Walker's colleague, Captain Harris (S. John Launer). Scripted by  Curt Siodmak, Creature with the Atom Brian boasts an interesting and creepy premise, fast, adroit direction from Cahn, and players who are at the very least professional.

Verdict: Fun movie with a nifty idea. ***. 

THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED

THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED (1957). Director Fred F. Sears.

"I wanted to pray but I didn't want to be by myself; I wanted to be with other people. There was rioting at the church -- people fighting to get in."

Dr. Conway (William Leslie) has invented an earthquake-predicting machine, but he and his colleagues also discover a new element that represents a deadly threat to the world. Element 112 is perfectly safe when wet, but when it's dry it becomes hot, expands, and ultimately explodes. Huge reserves of this element are pushing their way to the surface and causing devastating earthquakes. The axis of the earth has shifted three degrees. The world itself will explode in only 28 days and 4 hours! Conway and his assistant (Kathryn Grant, who is rather good) try to find a solution from a base deep in the Carlsbad Caverns. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Unfortunately this has the budget of the average episode of Science Fiction Theater, and while only 63 minutes in length seems at least twice as long. It isn't terrible, just a bit dull, like a monster movie without a monster. Tristram Coffin (King of the Rocket Men) plays Conway's boss. Sears also directed Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Produced by Sam Katzman.

Verdict: Watch The Monolith Monsters or Unknown World instead. **.