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| Spy Smasher (1942); Combined threads | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 10 2005, 10:36 PM (1,460 Views) | |
| CliffClaven | Mar 26 2014, 08:32 PM Post #16 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Okay, finished. Good stuff -- good enough that the silly bits stand out more than usual. It's been a while since I watched a Republic serial. Is it just me, or are "Spy Smasher's" fights a lot more gymnastic than the traditional slugfests? SS himself is always doing neat springs over boxes and furniture; falls and tumbles seem more choreographed and artful than the usual. At moments it borders on Doug Fairbanks Senior playfulness, although nobody laughs. Stuntwork and exploding models outstanding all around. Near the end the heroine's father admits he's not much of an intelligence chief for letting a television cameraman drop in every day and often leave the camera on to eavesdrop. YA THINK? Was the identical twin business carried over from the comics? Here and there they made use of it, but it would take very little to make them work as non-identical brothers or even just sidekicks. On the Nazi submarine the periscope is permanently fixed a little too low for the actors using it. One sort of crouches; another spreads his legs way apart. Chapter 11: "A Hero's Death." How many lunch money bets were made on who bought the farm? My own guess was wrong. |
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| Pa Stark | Mar 26 2014, 09:04 PM Post #17 |
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Charter Member
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Cliff, yes SPY SMASHER's fights were more gymnastic than usual, because of Dave Sharpe's stunt work. He could leap over tables, do somersaults, etc. The twin brother angle was original to the serial. Did you notice, the brothers last name, Armstrong was never mentioned? That is because the twin brother's name would have been Jack Armstrong. Somewhere it was pointed out that Crane Whitley was one of the gang in chapter four, and is seen by Admiral Corby, and in the next episode meets with him, and claims to be spy Smasher. You are correct, Cliff, I guess he isn't much of an intelligence officer. |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| Inspector Carr | Mar 5 2016, 04:56 AM Post #18 |
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Charter Member
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Spy Smasher was the first serial I had watched back in the 1960's as one of the 100 minute edited feature versions on television (The Return of Spy Smasher) and I found it exciting (at least from a 10 year olds perspective) and though I had watched the entire serial when released on home video it always remained near and dear to me. Recently I have been on a Republic Serial kick and have watched at least a dozen over the past couple of months, Spy Smasher being one of them. however when the dust settled from my marathon I felt Spy Smasher in the big picture was not as well done as I thought. In fact it falls short on many levels as an exciting clffhanger formula. Anyone else had that impression about it or any Republic serials for that matter. |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| Barcroft | Mar 5 2016, 08:52 AM Post #19 |
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Charter Member
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Inspector Carr, When we get older we tend to be a little more subjective, but that being said Spy Smasher imho still holds up. It has a great story, location shooting and stunts courtesy of David Sharp stunting for Kane Richmond and of course the great Republic production know how. The Return of Spy Smasher is also one of the best of the Century 66 movies that were released and I have a pristine copy that I watch from time to time. Barcroft |
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| riddlerider | Mar 5 2016, 01:25 PM Post #20 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Spy Smasher is one of the sacred cows of serial fandom, Inspector; to say anything against it is usually to risk ostracism, so I admire your candor. According to inter-office memos Jack Mathis found (when he was researching Valley of the Cliffhangers), Republic brass thought Spy Smasher the finest serial the company had made to date, based on its pacing, action content, and overall production value. It was the first and best of the serials dominated by fistfights in warehouses and exploding miniatures, but the initial success of that formula found producer W. J. O'Sullivan trying to duplicate it for the rest of his tenure as serial unit producer. Only Perils of Nyoka departs from the formula; the remaining O'Sullivan-produced serials all attempt to match or better Spy Smasher. King of the Mounties, G-Men vs. the Black Dragon, Secret Service in Darkest Africa, The Masked Marvel, Captain America — all cut from the same bolt of cloth. Even Daredevils of the West, although it's a Western, follows the fights-and-explosions formula. Significantly, none of those serials has a mystery villain (that is, one whose identity is unknown to the viewer) or a central objective. Their plots are modular, not linear. (Again, the exception is Nyoka, which revolves around the quest for the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates. To miss more than two episodes is to miss the discovery of clues critical to locating the Tablets.) Spy Smasher also has a modular plot: There's no central caper, only a series of sabotage schemes that Spy Smasher foils. There's no mystery element to the villainy; half the time the Mask can't even be bothered to wear his face-covering disguise, which is pointless anyway because his real name is never revealed and he doesn't interact with anybody except Drake. You have to go back to Zorro Rides Again's Noah Beery to find a villain more detached from a serial's day-to-day events. So I can understand why someone watching the serial today could find it a little disappointing. Personally, I love Spy Smasher, and while I can recognize its shortcomings I'm willing to overlook them because the action sequences are so satisfying. I'm less forgiving when it comes to the follow-up serials produced by O'Sullivan: Spy Smasher is one of my Top Ten Favorite Serials, Perils of Nyoka follows behind very closely, but most of the others don't even make it into my Top Twenty. |
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| Jerry Blake | Mar 5 2016, 03:43 PM Post #21 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Those are some excellent "historical" comments on Spy Smasher, RiddleRider. However, I'd add that the serial can be seen as the culmination of Republic's pre-war crime-fighting serials, as well as the prototype of their wartime serials; the "modular" plots you mention, structured around a series of action scenes, are also to be found in all four of the Dick Tracy serials, King of the Texas Rangers, and (to a lesser extent, since its "revenge" plot serves as a stronger unifier) Daredevils of the Red Circle. Two factors, for me, place Spy Smasher closer to its predecessors than to its successors. The first is the location shooting in and around urban locations (plants, factories, etc.), one of the strongest points of the Tracy outings and the other pre-war crime serials, and an aspect that's sadly lacking (due to wartime restrictions) in later serials. The other factor is Spy Smasher's occasional but genuine moments of character drama; the deaths of Durand and Jack are played for real emotional effect, like the similar fates of Gordon Tracy, Ron Merton, Sammy Townley, Tom King Sr., and other sympathetic figures in the earlier serials. Within a few years, assistant heroes in serials like Haunted Harbor and The Masked Marvel would be biting the dust with a bare minimum of emphasis from the director or comment from the other characters. To my mind, Spy Smasher and Perils of Nyoka represent Republic at its peak, the climax of the Mascot/Republic years; everything that followed from Republic, good as it often was, was a falling off from that peak |
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| Inspector Carr | Mar 5 2016, 04:21 PM Post #22 |
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Charter Member
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That is probably why it was throwing me a bit..was too overloaded on many of the the other serials I was watching have to sit down again and watch it....to this day (from back in the viewing in the 60's ) I always found the cliffhanger from chapter 1 in the tunnel with explosions the fire rolling down the tracks in the cart still the most exciting sequence in any serial to this day..... |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| riddlerider | Mar 5 2016, 05:15 PM Post #23 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Jerry, your points are well taken and I don't disagree with any of them. I forgot to express my belief that Spy Smasher represents the pivotal moment in Republic serial history. It bifurcates the studio's chapter-play output, ending the era of extensive location shooting while simultaneously ushering in the era of wartime production limitations that forced a greater reliance on shooting in and around the plant. I visit the Republic lot every October when I go to California for the Lone Pine Film Festival; a friend of mine still works there. Last year — or maybe it was the year before — she took me to the old Lydecker workshop (which still has work benches dating back to the Thirties). In looking around I was instantly reminded that the shop was used to shoot numerous fight scenes in '40s serials, including Spy Smasher. The miniatures workshop, along with the carpenter shop and the studio garage, can be seen lots in the wartime (and later) serials, whereas in the '30s they were rarely used. In light of what I've since learned about those wartime economy measures, I'm even more surprised that the front office okayed O'Sullivan's request to shoot exteriors in Lone Pine for Daredevils of the West. My best guess is that the brass figured a little extra production value could only improve something made from such a routine script. I'll add that while Bill Witney was flattered by all the praise he got for Spy Smasher, he didn't think it anything special. In fact, he thought the character was childish, even for serial audiences, and he didn't care for the script. Since it was the first serial he directed solo, a lot was riding on it and he was concerned all during shooting that it would be a flop. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Mar 5 2016, 05:26 PM Post #24 |
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Other than the first Flash Gordon, Spy Smasher is the most popular serial we've ever shown on FNF. It's everything a serial should be. |
| "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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| Jerry Blake | Mar 5 2016, 05:49 PM Post #25 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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"Pivotal" about sums it up for me too; the war, in my opinion, really whammied Republic's serials by almost simultaneously depriving them of William Witney, David Sharpe, and the outdoor urban/industrial locations. |
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| turan38 | Mar 7 2016, 11:50 AM Post #26 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I bought the video tape some years ago, based upon a dim but positive memory of the feature version. I couldn't get past questioning why would the hero wear a mask and cape? Not too effective for blending in, but it was obviously designed to appeal to the comic-book reading ten-year-olds in the audience. I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Republic serials in general, but especially those that consist of a protracted fist-fight in each chapter. I find myself more interested in the wonderful miniature work, and even the location shoots around foundries and such. |
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| Barcroft | Mar 7 2016, 01:07 PM Post #27 |
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Charter Member
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Turan38, If you say you're more interested in miniature work and locations, then why wouldn't you like the Republics. They had the best special effects department in the industry with Howard and Theodore Lydecker at the helm plus Republic did a lot of location shooting in and around the LA area until World War II forced the industry to curb the practice due to rationing of gasoline etc.. Special Effects at Columbia and Universal couldn't hold a candle to Republic, case in point, just look at the naval ship miniatures Universal used in the Don Winslow serials then you can really appreciate how good Republic was. Also, even though you didn't like the "protracted fist-fights" they to were the best in the Industry as they were choreographed rather then those slug fest melees you saw from other studios. Don't get me wrong as I like serials, westerns etc. from all studios but I have a certain fondness for anything Republic. Barcroft |
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| turan38 | Mar 7 2016, 01:40 PM Post #28 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I should have been more specific and stated "I find myself more interested in their wonderful miniature work..." That said, the serials that I'm fond of are the mid-late thirties' Universals, and that mostly for the stock music and repurposed sets. |
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| Tarzan | Apr 30 2018, 04:08 PM Post #29 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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It looks like Spy Smasher is getting a new release, courtesy of the Squadron: https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialsquadron/permalink/10155779814312955/
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| Don't sweat the small stuff kid, or you'll go bald early! | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Apr 30 2018, 07:14 PM Post #30 |
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Again, I'll be happy to burn a copy for anybody if someone wants to send me one. |
| "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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