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Post by snsurone on Jul 13, 2018 0:41:54 GMT
The trend began, of course, with THE PERILS OF PAULINE, beginning in 1914.
But there was a renaissance of this genre in the '30's and '40's.
They were a series of B-movies that were very popular with kids on Saturday matinees.
They include, FLASH GORDON, ZORRO, SUPERMAN, and perhaps my favorite, THE ADVENTURES OF NYOKA.
Interestingly, the leading man in this last one was Clayton Moore, before he achieved stardom as the Lone Ranger.
Has anyone else ever seen these "serials"?
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 13, 2018 1:24:39 GMT
Oh yeah -- big time fan still.
All-time favorite: 1939's DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (three circus performers turned crime stoppers). The first chapter cliffhanger (opening of an L.A. tunnel that becomes flooded) is a classic.
Honorable mentions:
KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (1940 with Rocky Lane)
SPY SMASHER (1942 with Kane Richmond)
DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (better than... OF THE NAVY)
Spielberg and Lucas based RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK on the concept.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jul 13, 2018 2:00:10 GMT
I have watched the Tom Tyler ones THE PHANTOM and THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL. I watched a tiny bit of CAPTAIN AMERICA but the dime store costume was a bit of a shocker.
Want to check out some Zorros next.
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Post by claudius on Jul 13, 2018 9:23:46 GMT
I knew about the Serials before I saw them. As a kid I would read Jim Hammon's THE GREAT MOVIE SERIALS. The Serials I've seen or collected:
BATMAN
SUPERMAN
ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL
BUCK RODGERS
THE TIGER WOMAN
RADAR MEN ON THE MOON
DICK TRACY
ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION
THE CRIMSON GHOST
ZOMBIES IN THE STRATOSPHERE
FLASH GORDON
The Disney Animated Series TALE SPIN is also a nod to the Serials.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 10:10:29 GMT
claudius The Disney Animated Series TALE SPIN is also a nod to the Serials.
Star Wars too. This is what lead to the first Star Wars being # III  Youngster John Wayne was in some Western Serials .
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 13, 2018 10:30:15 GMT
Best film studio for making Chapter Serials -- Republic Pictures
Among the reasons why:
Frequent directors William Witney and John English
Pre-CGI special effects created by the brothers Lydecker
Knock-down drag-out fistfights choreographed by stuntman extraordinaire Tom Steele
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 11:59:02 GMT
... stuntman extraordinaire Tom Steele Wow ! Born in 1909 this amazing guy was still involved with choreographing (and performing )stunts in the 1980s including The Blues Brothers and Scarface ! Stuntmen are often selected because of their resemblance to the star they are doubling for. In contrast to this, many of Republic Pictures' western stars in the 1940s and early 1950s, such as Allan Lane, Bill Elliot, Rex Allen and Monte Hale, were selected in part due to their resemblance to Steele, who would do their stunts. Doubled for Roy Rogers, Rod Cameron, Clayton Moore and George Montgomery. He doubled for James Arness in The Thing from Another World (1951), playing the creature when it was set on fire. The answer to one of the BIG QUESTIONS about movie fights : His trick for keeping his hat on in fight scenes (so the audience couldn't tell it wasn't the star) was to put rubber surgical tubing in the sweatband to make it fit tight. As the MASKED Marvel in 1943.  In Freebee and the Bean (1974) not a serial !   |
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 13, 2018 12:58:52 GMT
My grandfather’s favorite serial was Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), which Primemovermithrax Pejorative and claudius have already mentioned, and which I was eventually able to find a copy of and show him. It’s tons of fun—a surprising lot of effort put into it, like Flash Gordon.  And, vaguely apropos of the topic at hand, I can’t help but think of Annie Wilkes’s hilarious criticism of cliffhangers in Misery! |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 14:12:54 GMT
I read an article once that stated that Joan Crawford never watched them.
I wonder if she confused them with WIRE HANGERS !
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 14:22:54 GMT
Tom Tyler biogparticularly cool (imo): "He became one of the studio's most popular action stars and made a smooth transition into talking pictures, for which he worked hard to lose his natural Lithuanian accent." Played the lead in another "Chapter Play" The Phantom (1943) Nalkarj
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 13, 2018 14:50:33 GMT
BATouttaheckHe was also, if I’m remembering correctly, the Mummy in one of the Universal Mummy sequels… (Can’t remember which one right now—c’mon, Google… Yes, The Mummy’s Hand!)
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 13, 2018 14:50:39 GMT
Oh yeah -- big time fan still. All-time favorite: 1939's DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (three circus performers turned crime stoppers). The first chapter cliffhanger (opening of an L.A. tunnel that becomes flooded) is a classic. Honorable mentions: KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (1940 with Rocky Lane) SPY SMASHER (1942 with Kane Richmond) DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (better than... OF THE NAVY) Spielberg and Lucas based RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK on the concept. It is great to see so many of my favorites already mentioned, esp. the great “Daredevils Of The Red Circle.” That first chapter ending is indeed amazing. There’s no way out of that one! Or is there? There is a very ingenious solution at the start of Chapter Two. Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon serials) is the excellent villain in “Daredevils.” A title I don’t think has come up is “Fighting Devil Dogs” (1938), like “Daredevils,” directed by the unbeatable team of Whitney and English. (Devil Dogs is an old nickname for the U.S. Marine Corp.) I think, at the top of my list is “Zorro’s Fighting Legion” (1939-Republic-12 chapters). It features exciting outdoor photography, chases, fights, wall-to-wall action, and spectacular stunt work. Matt’s reference to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is apt because one of the greatest stunts in Spielberg’s flic (during the fight on the moving truck) comes straight from this cliffhanger. The stunt was invented and first performed by Yakima Canut for John Ford’s “Stagecoach” but stuntman Dale Van Sickle does an elaborate version for the opening of Chapter 8 of “Fighting Legion.” It is Van Sickle’s version that Spielberg used. Enjoy. |
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 13, 2018 15:02:21 GMT
My grandfather’s favorite serial was Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), which Primemovermithrax Pejorative and claudius have already mentioned, and which I was eventually able to find a copy of and show him. It’s tons of fun—a surprising lot of effort put into it, like Flash Gordon. And, vaguely apropos of the topic at hand, I can’t help but think of Annie Wilkes’s hilarious criticism of cliffhangers in Misery! I love Captain Marvel, too, esp. the surprisingly sadistic and gleeful way he treats some of the henchmen. They will empty their guns at him as he stands there and lets the bullets bounce off his chest, then Marvel’s mouth will turn up in a sadistic grin. He then chases each of them down and beats the crap out of them. At one point, Capt. M. picks a guy up, holds him over his head and throws him off a parking garage roof, sending him screaming to his death. Another break from the norm is that young Billy Batson is given his powers by an ancient god because he has refused to go along with American archaeologists who are about to plunder a tomb in another country for riches. Surprisingly enlightened for the time and for the movies of the early '40s. Have you heard about the modern film coming, I think, next year? |
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 13, 2018 15:15:21 GMT
Heh—reminds me of how sadistic early Superman was too! I should probably watch Captain Marvel again one of these days… I have heard about the new Captain Marvel movie, mikef6, and I’m not sure what to make of it. My fear is that it’ll probably be one of these big-budget blow ‘em up extravaganzas, without much in the way of plot or character. While Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are all “real movies,” as Roger Ebert would have said, that don’t give fully away to special effects, it’s possible that the DC studio will now want to go with the blow ‘em aspect for popularity and, of course, more money… Sigh. It doesn’t help that they can’t call him “Captain Marvel,” either, because Marvel’s out with a superhero of that name. |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 15:34:39 GMT
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 13, 2018 15:37:12 GMT
... stuntman extraordinaire Tom Steele Wow ! Born in 1909 this amazing guy was still involved with choreographing (and performing )stunts in the 1980s including The Blues Brothers and Scarface ! Stuntmen are often selected because of their resemblance to the star they are doubling for. In contrast to this, many of Republic Pictures' western stars in the 1940s and early 1950s, such as Allan Lane, Bill Elliot, Rex Allen and Monte Hale, were selected in part due to their resemblance to Steele, who would do their stunts. Doubled for Roy Rogers, Rod Cameron, Clayton Moore and George Montgomery. He doubled for James Arness in The Thing from Another World (1951), playing the creature when it was set on fire. The answer to one of the BIG QUESTIONS about movie fights : His trick for keeping his hat on in fight scenes (so the audience couldn't tell it wasn't the star) was to put rubber surgical tubing in the sweatband to make it fit tight. As the MASKED Marvel in 1943. In Freebee and the Bean (1974) not a serial ! Thanks for the Tom Steele info, Bat.
THE MASKED MARVEL was an interesting 1943 entry -- four insurance investigators battling Japanese master spy "Sakima' and his evil minions. The quartet of heroes all dressed similarly in double-breasted grey suits, with one of the them being the masked guy, though we were not supposed to know which one (in spite of them all being of different sizes and shapes with none of them resembling tall stuntman Steele who did all the heavy lifting and punching).
A tragic ending for one of the four actors. Just before the serial hit the theaters, 29-year-old David Bacon (playing 'Bob Barton') was found stabbed to death on a Hollywood highway in a murder that remains unsolved to this day. Police determined it was most likely a gay-related killing. |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 13, 2018 15:44:43 GMT
12 Chapters -- count 'em ... Twelve. Guaranteed to get you into that theater seat for TWELVE SHOWS in a row... war or no war ! Here's the poster for #9  . |
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Post by koskiewicz on Jul 13, 2018 15:44:47 GMT
I own a VHS copy of every Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" serial that I acquired from "Metro Golden Memories" which is now long gone.
Also purchased at this wonderful place were every radio episodes of "The Shadow" on cassette as well as the original broadcast of Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" - also various radio episodes of "Bulldog Drummond" and many many more...
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 13, 2018 16:05:19 GMT
A title I don’t think has come up is “Fighting Devil Dogs” (1938), like “Daredevils,” directed by the unbeatable team of Whitney and English. (Devil Dogs is an old nickname for the U.S. Marine Corp.)
This former 'Devil Dog' remembers that one as well, Mike. One of the two heroes, Lee Powell, (the other was Bruce Bennett -- also in DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE) must have been heavily influenced by appearing in it. After Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Marines, and died on the island of Tinian in 1944.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 13, 2018 16:27:03 GMT
 A 1969 cliffhanger, the movie actually ended like that... The Italian Job 1969 |
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