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| Watching Any Good Serials? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,392 Views) | |
| Grampy | Jan 16 2008, 07:00 AM Post #481 |
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Agent of SHIELD
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Just started Jungle Girl. About halfway through my first viewing of King of the Royal Mounted. Just fantastic! Tex Granger is running so-so after 5 chapters. |
| Still Alive and Well | |
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| riddlerider | Jan 16 2008, 08:33 AM Post #482 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I'm halfway through TAILSPIN TOMMY AND THE GREAT AIR MYSTERY, which I bought off eBay last week. The Serial Squadron transfer is exceptionally nice, but having recently seen and enjoyed TAILSPIN TOMMY (which I had remembered as being the weaker of the two), I have to say I'm finding GREAT AIR MYSTERY a wee bit disappointing. It certainly has plenty of flying -- much of it shot for this serial and not just stock footage -- and a neat mystery-man character in The Eagle. But six chapters in, I've not come across anything that resembles a plot. There's been a lot of talk about valuable oil fields but as of Chapter Six they have yet to be seen. And although Clark Williams is more handsome than Maurice Murphy, he doesn't exhibit the latter's gosh-wow quality in his portrayal of Tommy. Jean Rogers is an improvement over Patricia Farr as Betty Lou, but at this early point in her career she's barely able to get the lines out, much less deliver them with the proper emotion. Also, the villainy is weak: Matthew Betz and Howard Heywood sit in an adobe hut, wear Panama hats and white linens, and bark orders to singularly inefficient minions. Heywood's character apparently has as much interest in eating hot dogs as in seizing his brother's oil-rich property. Having said all that, I'm still enjoying the serial. It's impossible for me to totally dislike a Universal from this period. |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 16 2008, 12:18 PM Post #483 |
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Charter Member
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10 chapters into Phantom of the Air (Universal '33). Decent early serial starring Tom Tyler as the two-fisted stalwart hero, Gloria Shea as platinum blonde eye candy, LeRoy Mason as the dastardly leader of a gang of smugglers (Mort Crome!) which includes Walter Brennan (!) as a low-level henchman and William Desmond (the ol' Riddle Rider himself) as the inventor of Contragrav - a system of negating gravity, mostly in the form of a remote-controlled flying plane. Dependable Ray Taylor directs. Lots of aerial footage and a surprising amount of action for a Universal. Some very good cliffhangers, even if the escapes are fairly pedestrian. Although there are a few spots that drag, I enjoy this overall as the pacing is usually brisk once you get past the first two chapters. Also for you anatomy fans: Spotted a bit of nipple poking out under the heroine's white sweater at one point, unusual even in a pre-code serial. |
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| John Doe | Jan 16 2008, 12:41 PM Post #484 |
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Charter Member
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Can you post a screen cap? Just interested in seeing that for historical reasons. <_< |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 16 2008, 12:53 PM Post #485 |
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Charter Member
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Sorry Johnny, don't have that technology in the cave. |
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| riddlerider | Jan 16 2008, 02:02 PM Post #486 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Apparently, Gloria Shea was no big fan of brassieres. She is similarly, er, unadorned in various scenes from several other films during the same period, including Ken Maynard's SMOKING GUNS (1934) and the Frankie Darro-LeRoy Mason starrer, BLACK GOLD (1935). And one of the early Bob Steele Westerns released by Supreme, if memory serves. She's a cutie, no doubt about it. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 16 2008, 02:54 PM Post #487 |
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Look for In The Balcony on Facebook!
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I have the technology, but I don't own a copy of Phantom of the Air. I do own a copy of Phantom of the West, if anybody wants to see William Desmond's nipple. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Grampy | Jan 21 2008, 05:21 AM Post #488 |
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Agent of SHIELD
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Finished King Of The Royal Mounted-WOW! I'm not a fan of any one studio for serials. They all have their good points and bad, but after seeing Alan Lane in King, I can understand why so many serial fans are Republic aficionados. Tightly crafted with a good storyline and great fights, my only gripe is the lackluster leading lady. She had almost no conceivable use in the entire story. But you got to love any serial that still uses the old buzzsaw cliffhanger! Fantastic, I've been shying away from the sequel becuase of the missing soundtrack, but I think King of the Mounties is going to be among my next batch purchased. In the middle of Tim Tyler's Luck-As a kid in Chicago, I always watched Outer Space theater which ran serials every Sunday morning. It was mostly a rotation of the Flash Gordons, Buck Rogers & Republic's 'Aliens & Fedora Boys" serials. But one time they ran Tim Tyler and I remember enjoying the hell out of it. Thankfully, it still holds up after all those years. |
| Still Alive and Well | |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 21 2008, 05:24 PM Post #489 |
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Charter Member
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Watched the first chapter of King of the Wild (Mascot '31). Although the print is very rough-looking, it's pretty interesting so far. Intrigue that takes place throughout the African continent, wild animals, look-alike ruler and foreigner played by Walter Miller (the similarities with Prisoner of Zenda pretty much end here), a shady arab named Mustafa played by Karloff, a friend's betrayal, enemies forming a bond of friendship, an attempt to steal a throne, a sultry femme fatale, a field of diamonds, an untamed wild man - and all this in just the first chapter! |
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| riddlerider | Jan 21 2008, 05:39 PM Post #490 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I'll be curious to get your take once you've seen the whole thing, Tiger. I have a pretty high tolerance for creaky early talkies, but I found KING OF THE WILD awfully tough sledding. I don't know as I would have lasted through all 12 chapters had we seen it at Joe's Place back in the day! |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 21 2008, 10:52 PM Post #491 |
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Charter Member
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Back in the day we would sit through ANYTHING. After watching a particularly bad film I remember the immortal Bert Gray yelling out from one of the rows: "it doesn't matter if it's good or bad. If it's rare, it must be seen!" Amen, brother. |
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| kirgo2 | Jan 22 2008, 03:08 AM Post #492 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I'm working my way through "White Eagle". I love James Horne serials and it's a contest between Raymond Hatton and James Craven as to who is more "over the top". To me, that's a good thing. The cliffhangers are lame. It's the usual Columbia "dust yourself off after climbing out from under the rubble". This serial has some of the best running inserts I've ever seen. The camera is low and looking up at Buck Jones making for an exciting scene. |
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| Grampy | Jan 22 2008, 05:35 AM Post #493 |
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Agent of SHIELD
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Started Universal's Scarlet Horseman featuring the goofiest looking masked rider in all of serialdom. The costume looks like it was rejected by Bozo, Liberace, & the Mardi Gras Costume Committee as too garish-and that's in black & white. At some points it almost looks like he's riding for the KKK. Other times, it looks more like my grandmother's old furniture covers. Along with the costume is the buffalo whistle-an instrument made of bone that he toots on as he rides along. It sounds like a kids toy horn and he plays it constantly. This entire get-up strikes terror into baddies and Indians far and wide. And you also get Cy Kendall as a comic Mexican sidekick. The plot is basic Indian uprising and land grab. I'll give it a shot, but this is the silliest looking thing serial I've seen in a while. Also started Vanishing Legion-damn fine early Mascot! |
| Still Alive and Well | |
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| George Kaplan | Jan 22 2008, 05:57 AM Post #494 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Grampy, I have never seen this serial but after that vividly looney costume description I'm adding it to the must-see list. To think I once had trouble getting used to the full-face Zorro and Lone Ranger masks! |
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| Grampy | Jan 22 2008, 06:02 AM Post #495 |
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Agent of SHIELD
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George, The mention of Zorro & Lone Ranger conjures up the image of a masked rider convention with everybody laughing and hooting when the Scarlet Horseman sashays in. It's that bad. |
| Still Alive and Well | |
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