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Watching Any Good Serials?
Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,359 Views)
HAWKEYE
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Eddie Gribbon, who played the sheriff, in "The Phantom Rider" (1936), actually, did come from a show business family. His brother was fellow actor, Harry Gribbon, who had a shorter film career, than his brother. Eddie had an almost 40 year screen career, stretching from his days, as a Keystone Kop, to his role, as a regular, in the Joe Palooka, Monogram series. His exaggerated style, of acting, was, probably, a holdover, from his silent film days.
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Last night I saw the first chapter of The Three Musketeers. John Wayne as Lt. Tom Wayne. Seems that some white guys like dressing up as arabs and they're smuggling rifles to use against the Foreign Legion. Ya also get an appearance from Lon Chaney Jr.....but it's just an appearance. The dvd I'm watching is from one of those PD sets that contain about 12 serials. The synopsis on the disc's sleeve states that Wayne and his friends (Musketeers) are in pursuit of El Shasta. I kept hearing the villian's name but it had an "N" at the end of it. IMDb has the character as El Shaitan. If you're gonna make a couple of bucks using PD serials, could ya try to get some of the shit correct. I guess not.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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JazzGuyy
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Just finished "The Adventures of Frank Merriwell". A rather slow moving serial in my opinion, with one of those "college" groups where everyone is terribly talented at song, dance and/or athletics. Merriwell is a crashing bore but he's the greatest athlete on earth.

The coolest thing in the serial is his girl's car which appears to be a Duesenberg or something similar. (These are not poor college students; they all appear to be quite well to do.) There's also tons of stock footage used since this is a Universal serial.

The masked villain has the silliest mask I have ever seen. It covers the left half his face and doesn't have any eye holes. I don't get it. I thought at first it might be hiding horrible scars or something but that is not the case.

I think this one doesn't score higher than middling in my personal serial rankings.

TANSTAAFL!
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mort bakaprevski
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JG, who the hell WAS the masked villain anyway. I watched the whole thing many years ago, but never figured out who the guy was... and couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm to go back & view the critical portions again.

Loved Carla Laemmle doing her dance, though!! :lol:
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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JazzGuyy
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The masked villain was who he was. He wasn't anybody at the school or elsewhere who was hiding his identity. He is just this guy who wears this weird half mask. There is no other background or anything else given for him.
TANSTAAFL!
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mort bakaprevski
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WOW!! George Plympton has come up with some great surprises regarding his mystery villains, but this has to be his masterpiece: a mystery villain whose identity turns out to be... a mystery!!! :P
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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JazzGuyy
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Yeah, it left me puzzled too. He doesn't have any mystery man name or anything. He is just Daggett.

BTW, the other thing about this serial is that all these college kinds (supposedly sophomores and juniors) are played by actors who are about 8-10 years too old but I guess that is par for Hollywood.
TANSTAAFL!
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Black Tiger
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Serials are known for the over-aged teenagers, JG. Look at Terry and the Pirates and Hop Harrigan. Stuff in the Vigilante is over-the-hill too. I guess we're lucky Republic didn't cast Smiley Burnette as Junior in the Dick Tracy serials. :o
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KanSmiley
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Now BT I think I could have handled the job of Junior quite well. Thank you.

Kan
http://www.saturday-matinee-memories.com/

intoxicated, adj.: When you feel sophisticated without being able to pronounce it.
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Laughing Gravy
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I dunno about Hop (was he s'posed to be a teenager? That's news to me!) but William Tracy was barely 22 when he played Terry in ...and the Pirates. I vote acceptable!
"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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riddlerider
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Black Tiger
Sep 3 2008, 05:02 PM
Serials are known for the over-aged teenagers, JG. Look at Terry and the Pirates and Hop Harrigan. Stuff in the Vigilante is over-the-hill too. I guess we're lucky Republic didn't cast Smiley Burnette as Junior in the Dick Tracy serials. :o

Let's not forget John Hart, who was 29 when he starred as high-school student Jack Armstrong in the 1947 serial.

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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Today I watched chapter 2 of The Three Musketeers. The copy I have is terrible, but I enjoyed this all the same. I was surprised to see the villian, El Shasta de Root Beer (see my last post about this serial), unmasked so early, unless I'm wrong about this. Tom (John) Wayne is jailed for killing Lon Chaney Jr., but the 3 amigos won't stand for that....will they?
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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marlin lee
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
Sep 8 2008, 07:24 PM
Today I watched chapter 2 of The Three Musketeers. The copy I have is terrible, but I enjoyed this all the same. I was surprised to see the villian, El Shasta de Root Beer (see my last post about this serial), unmasked so early, unless I'm wrong about this. Tom (John) Wayne is jailed for killing Lon Chaney Jr., but the 3 amigos won't stand for that....will they?

The Roan Group has a good quality copy of The Three Musketeers. It should be available at most online stores or you can get it direct from Troma who bought out The Roan Group.

https://buy.tromamovies.com/product_info.php?products_id=366
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Jeez-o-wow, only $4.95. Thanks Marlin!
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Chandu
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I just finished chapter 8 of Flying G-Men and I'm really enjoying this serial. :) I just can't figure out why it's so important to keep The Black Falcon's identity hidden. :unsure: Even the bad guys know it's one of the three FBI pals left, after the fourth one was killed early in the serial. :huh: Or maybe the fourth one wasn't killed after all? :o Hmmmmm. :P
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...
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