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| Watching Any Good Serials? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,328 Views) | |
| George Kaplan | May 3 2009, 02:06 PM Post #1441 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Just finished Radio Patrol, not a top notch serial but one I recalled as gripping when I saw it on TV in the '50s. I was curious to see Grant Withers in the lead; I had just watched Other Men's Women from 1931 (Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 3) and thought he did well in a quirky role opposite Mary Astor. Six years later, in Radio Patrol, he rarely rouses himself to anything resembling enthusiasm. Frank Lackteen steals the show as the nefarious Tahata, an "Iranian" who wears a fez and has an Egyptian sarcophagus in his office off the marketplace, a kind of mini-Marrakech in downtown Culver City. Rodney's print isn't great, but it is passable and may be the best that's out there. His Mysterious Doctor Satan, which I'm watching now, is from a very good print. William Witney dismisses this serial in his book, regarding it as a last-minute salvage job on the scrapped Superman script, but it's a fun, well-paced chapterplay with (so far) inventive cliffhangers.
Edited by George Kaplan, May 4 2009, 06:33 AM.
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| Pa Stark | May 3 2009, 04:48 PM Post #1442 |
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Charter Member
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Witney admitted that DRUMS OF FU MANCHU was his favorite serial, but completely dismissed the other three serials of that year (1940) ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER, KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED, and MYSTERIOUS DR. SATAN. All three are real winners, and I put DR. SATAN in my top five. I also saw RADIO PATROL as a kid in the 50's The two scenes I remember are Withers fighting on the balcony of a burned out mansion, and falling off and having a giant pillar knocked over on top of him, and fighting on the girders high up in a steel mill, and falling off into a vat of molten steel. There are two cliffhangers like that, but my memories are a bit different than either cliffhanger. When I looked closely at the fights, I was surprised to see Tom Steele doubling for Withers. About half way through, they become plainclothes police, but every photo I have seen from it shows them in uniform. |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| George Kaplan | May 4 2009, 06:33 AM Post #1443 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Those 1940 serials are among my favorite Republics, including King of the Royal Mounted, which is a snoozer for some but which I like for the exceptional location shooting around Big Bear Lake. Allan Lane is fine, if bland, as the lead (helped considerably by Dave Sharpe). Witney says he and John English privately sneered at Lane because he "had a fat ass" (in Witneyspeak: was unmanly), but if there was friction between Lane and his directors during shooting it doesn't show in Lane's performance. Dave Sharpe also gets a workout in The Mysterious Doctor Satan, where the fistfights are pretty ferocious. I'm surprised to read that was Tom Steele in Radio Patrol, as the fight scenes overall seem a bit ragged. Can't blame him, of course. For all the actioners that Ford Beebe directed, he never shot serial fights with the attention to detail shown by Witney and English. Radio Patrol is an engaging serial even so, with a full complement of supporting characters in Kay Hughes, Mickey Rentschler, and Earl Dwire--and the German shepherd Silver Wolf, who gets something like fifth billing! |
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| JazzGuyy | May 4 2009, 09:59 AM Post #1444 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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As to "Radio Patrol", I still can't get past a policeman letting a kid drive his police car. I don't think even a 1930s cop would do that. That just pushed my "suspension of disbelief" past its breaking point. |
| TANSTAAFL! | |
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| CliffClaven | May 4 2009, 10:21 AM Post #1445 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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After Flash Gordon brushed off the heavy-breathing Princess Aura, I learned to accept pretty much anything that happened in a serial. |
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| Pa Stark | May 5 2009, 04:06 PM Post #1446 |
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Charter Member
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How about gangsters agreeing to work for a black cat head sitting on a desk with flashing red eyes?
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| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | May 6 2009, 12:45 PM Post #1447 |
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Mouth Breather
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Or agreeing to work for "Fumin' Frank" Craven. Pa, Mysterious Dr. Satan's in my top five too -- some days, it's my favorite of all serials. Cianelli was so perfect as the villain -- don't know of a better serial performance. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| cquigley | May 6 2009, 01:16 PM Post #1448 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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My vote goes to Norman Willies as Spider Webb in Tim Tyler's Luck. |
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| witneyenglish | May 8 2009, 09:15 PM Post #1449 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Started Zorro's Black Whip. This seems pretty pedestrian, and I have a lousy print on top of it. It is interested to see George J Lewis as a good guy. The only other time I remember him as one of the good guys was in Fighting Marines. |
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| Pa Stark | May 9 2009, 07:37 AM Post #1450 |
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Charter Member
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George was also the full hero in WOLF DOG. (Mascot 1933) |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| witneyenglish | May 9 2009, 07:04 PM Post #1451 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I've never seen that one. |
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| rodney | May 10 2009, 07:11 AM Post #1452 |
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Charter Member
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I'm three chapters into this one, and think it's okay, but pretty standard. I think it's hilarious that all of these guys seem to mistake Linda Sterling for a man! I'd never, ever do that..... |
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| Pa Stark | May 10 2009, 09:02 AM Post #1453 |
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Charter Member
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WOLF DOG is Mascot's hardest serial to find in decent shape. Sinister Cinema offers it, but does anyone know what condition the print was in, or who else has a good copy? I have only seen one chapter of it so far. |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| Colorist | May 11 2009, 12:20 PM Post #1454 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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To answer to George Kaplan's post re Allan Lane, I've often wondered about Lane after watching some scenes in King of the Royal Mounted: when he was running through the woods, he looked a little effeminate. Could it be that the reason he seemed so universally disliked by his directors and co-workers was that he could have been gay? In the forties, with all the macho cowboy wranglers and stuntmen, a shall we say, flamboyant personality could have rubbed those guys the wrong way.If you look at some of his later films, especially his Red Ryder and Rocky Lane films, he seems to have butched up, and come across as much more masculine in his image. Just curious. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | May 11 2009, 07:26 PM Post #1455 |
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Mouth Breather
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I don't think he utilized heckholes, he just was one. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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6:53 AM Jul 11