Dr Hermes Reviews - CLIFFHANGERS
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ACE DRUMMOND (1936)

(Sep 10, 2006) This was an okay serial, fun enough to sit through but not likely to ever be one of my favorites. I didn't care for the hero or the actor playing him, but the rest of the cast has some familiar (and welcome) faces... Lon Chaney Jr, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr and C. Montague Shaw. The chapter-ending dangers are not particularly inventive and the explanations are half-hearted (our boy just climbs nonchalantly out of the plane wreckage) or just skipped over entirely. Part of my lukewarm response to ACE DRUMMOND is that much of its appeal was intended to come from the flying scenes. In 1936, aviation was still an exciting novelty and people reacted strongly to anything showing planes. The creator of the comic strip was Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, who appears smiling at the beginning of each episode. He's described glowingly as "America's Beloved Ace of Aces -- The Inspiration of Youthful Airmen the World Over." In his day, Rickenbacker was indeed an idol because of his exploits in the Great War and his transcontinental speed record. If you love vintage planes the way many people adore classic guitars (different Rickenbacker) or motorcycles, then the extensive stock footage here will fascinate you, but I got used to it pretty quickly. It might have helped if I had been watching a new sharp print on a theatre screen instead of a mediocre DVD at home but there it is. We're off and running with the new International Airlines company, which has the grand scheme of providing accessible travel over the entire globe, uniting people and providing for a peaceful world as countries will become more interdependent. (Seventy years later, you can see how well that has worked out.) The proposed new airport being built in Mongolia keeps running into mysterious setbacks and sabotage. Some character calling himself the Dragon is getting in the way of Progress. So the execs in charge send for Ace Drummond, "G-Man of the Air" whatever that entails, to clear things up. The Dragon has (for a serial) a clear and reasonable goal. He is trying to sweat the location of a reported "mountain of jade" from Dr Trainor, the archaeologist who discovered it. The airline's proposed route would interfere with his looting the jade, that's why he's causing so much trouble. Although he appears wearing some sort of dragon-head mask in the little comic strip panels at the start of each episode, when we finally see the fiend, he just has on a leather flyer's helmet with goggles to conceal his identity. It's not explained where the Dragon gets his cool toys from. He can send an electric surge through earphones to kill pilots, very useful when you're trying to cause plane crashes. And, in some weird manner, he can cause any wheel-like object to spin and transmit his voice; an electric fan, a water wheel, you name it. There's a humming noise and then we hear his ominous tones issuing threats. I'd like to know how he pulls this off. Like a lot of the gadgets cliffhanger bad guys make use of, this sounds like it would be more potentially valuable than the object he's pursuing. Ace investigates with his goofy sidekick Jerry. Along the way, he meets and teams up with Peggy, Dr Trainor's daughter, who's on a father-rescue quest of her own. After that, it's all dogfights and fist fights and ceilings caving in right in a row until the big showdown. John King plays Ace, and he seems like a nice enough guy but way too lightweight and even delicate to be a two-fisted man of action. King seems like he would be much better suited to be the ineffective playboy in a comedy or a tragic upper-class son of the upper class with a drinking problem, some role like that. He was later known as "Dusty" King in Westerns, but he started out singing with a swing band. Sure enough, in the first episode, Ace starts belting out "Give Me a Ship and a Song" right from his seat on the aircraft as the other passengers listen tolerantly. (I personally can take or leave that 1930s male vocal style, as I associate it with the unwelcome musical numbers that turned up in Marx Brothers movies). King inflicts the same song on us several more times and then closes the final chapter with it. C'mon, fella, even singing cowboys knew more than one number! Jean Roger, at just twenty or so, was of course a major babe. Unlike the first two Flash Gordon serials, she doesn't run around semi-nekkid with her bosom heaving (too bad) but she's still nice to have around as Peggy. It's kind of strange to see Noah Beery Jr so astonishingly young; as Jerry, he's less irritating and more of a genuine help than most sidekicks. As for Lon Chaney as the Russian henchman Ivan, he really doesn't get enough vile deeds to do to make an impression; he was much more over-the-top and memorable in UNDERSEA KINGDOM. Most of the action takes place in what's meant to be Mongolia. All the scenes set in lamaseries, with most of the cast and props being Asian (lots of antique stock footage), do give this cliffhanger a different look. It's a bit crude and repetitive but worth a shot.

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941)

(Nov 19, 2001)  This is another of the top adventure serials, and again it was from Republic Studios. Unlike the classic comic book of the 1940s, which was basically light-hearted satire, the serial went for a straightforward, almost grim approach that worked perfectly. Because of the hero's powers, the usual fist fights that took up so much time in the average cliffhanger couldn't be relied on, so a little ingenuity had to be used.  Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel was a terrific choice. Tall and physically very strong in real life, Tyler had an angular face and deepset, brooding eyes that gave his portrayal real presence. Although stuntmaster David Sharpe handled the acrobatic leaps, the way Tyler manhandled the thugs showed how strong he actually was-- you can see him pick the guys up and fling them aside. Although he doesn't speak much, Tyler's Cap has a great line when he enters a room full of the villain's gunmen. One of the goons says, "Looks like a lucky day for the Scorpion," and Tyler gruffly interrupts, "The day isn't over yet." This leads into one of my favorite moments as Captain Marvel walks into gunfire, the bullets popping into puffs of dust on his chest, and then he starts getting rough.   I also smiled at the scene where a crook shoots at Marvel in a cellar, with no result, and as the intimidating figure starts for him, the guy screams and tries to run. You never see villains do that, but under the circumstances, it's quite understandable. At one point, Cap hits a thug in the head with an engine block, so criminals understandably are nervous around him.      The flying scenes still look convincing today (aside from the occasional shot of Tyler hanging from wires in front of fake clouds). As in KING OF THE ROCKETMEN, a slightly more than life-size dummy of Captain Marvel was made of papier-mache and slung on extremely long wires. Seeing the figure sliding down after a fleeing car or man on horseback (in the same shot), you can tell it's not a photographic trick. In one scene, they ran the film backwards and Cap smoothly glides up from the street to the top of a building. In 1941, this must have startling. In fact, the 1978 SUPERMAN movie (and especially the sequels) could have used this trick for some of their scenes with better results than the blue-screen process.  Aside from Tyler, the cast has Frank Coughlin Jr as a likeable Billy Batson (not fourteen as in the comic but maybe three or four years older).And I love Nigel de Brulier as the ancient wizard Shazam! What a great speaking voice. He's only onscreen long enough to give Billy the powers and to explain what the letters of the word 'Shazam' means (let's see, it was the strength of Atlas and the courage of Hercules..no, that's not right..the virility of Zeus? No, not in a family picture.) This serial has all the classic ingredients. Most of it takes place in Thailand (then called Siam), so there are fierce horse-riding rifle-shooting bandits. Found in a forbidden tomb is the Golden Scorpion itself, a large idol with movable limbs. Set in each leg is a lense, and when lined up correctly, these can cause explosions, melt stone and allegedly turn lead into gold. Trying to get his greedy mitts on this artifact is a masked villain, also called the Scorpion, with his floor-length black robe and cowl, complete with scorpion symbols. Of course, he's actually a member of the archaological expedition that started all the fuss, so there's the side bonus of trying to figure out his identity (which would be easier if the studio didn't dub in a different voice).   My one criticism of ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL is, of all things, the music. After re-viewing SPY SMASHER (which had after all Beethoven's Fifth) and KING OF THE ROCKETMEN (which had a very cool science-fiction march for a theme), Cap's score is a bit lame. The main title music seems to be harp-based, better suited for a general fantasy project. And as soon as Billy turns into Cap, there is a rapid, driving theme played under the action that is effective as first but could use some variation. One modification made from the comics is that this Captain Marvel has a specific mission, being charged by Shazam with preventing the Golden Scorpion from being misused. (He also warns Billy not to call on Captain Marvel except for good purposes, or the curse of the scorpion will be turned on him, a prudent precaution from the old wizard) After the idol is retrieved and destroyed, Cap turns back into Billy without saying the word (we hear a distant "Shazam" in the wizard's voice), and he is told his job is done. I imagine Billy would have said, "Well, that stinks!" and you have to wonder why this was written into the script. On the other hand, if Republic had started a sequel, it would be easy enough to have an image of Shazam appear and tell Billy a new menace has arisen that requires his help. (And Billy would say, "Okay, but this time I get to keep use of the magic word when this is over.") Dir: William Witney and John English - 12 Chapters

ATOM MAN VS SUPERMAN (1950)

(Aug 9, 2002)

From 1950, this sequel to Columbia's 1948 SUPERMAN is actually a lot of fun and has more spectacular challenges for our Man of Steel than most serial heroes had to deal with -- earthquakes, floods, runaway atomic missiles, collapsing bridges, death rays, as well as the usual assortment of gunmen and cliff plunging cars. Superman actually gets quite a workout here, catching a mortar shell and hurling it back, casually yanking the engine block out of a car, stopping a train head-on (although the blunt way he does it would have caused a derailment and likely killed most of the people on board), crashing through mountain walls. In a foreshadowing of the comics' Phantom Zone, he is trapped in the 'empty doom', where he's an invisible wraith helpless to return by himself. The Man of Steel has to do some creative thinking to get out of that one.

What most fans remember unhappily about this serial are the dismal flying scenes. Instead of a life sized dummy on wires or even some Peter Pan type wire work with a live stuntman, this clffhanger sadly has Superman replaced by an animated cartoon whenever he takes off. It's not even a particularly convincing cartoon, with little shading or attempt to make it look three dimensional. *sigh* Well, you just have to overlook this, and if you do, the rest of the serial is very entertaining. (Watching this, though, I had the thought that this would have been the perfect way to shoot a Human Torch cliffhanger.)

Kirk Alyn as our hero gives an energetic, enthusiastic performance. He plays Clark Kent differently enough from Superman that it's almost convincing the secret identity could fool people. As Superman, Alyn is agile and brisk (the actor's dancing background shows here). Although he can be grim and intense, most of the time, Alyn's Superman is confident and cocky, grinning as bullets bounce off his chest. (In my favorite moment, he casually deflects a bullet with his palm, so that it ricochets to knock a chandelier down on a gunman.)

Lyle Talbot as Luthor is a perfect, solid villain with real conviction. (Gene Hackman would have benefitted from a screening of this serial before appearing in the 1978 movie.) Luthor sometimes wears a clunky, glittering helmet as 'Atom Man' in a half-hearted effort to hide his identity. And it's a bit odd but also pleasant to see a very young Noel Neill as Lois Lane. Unforunately, she's more helpless than usual and Tommy Bond as a singularly thuglike Jimmy Olsen is not much help.

If you've been discouraged from renting or buying this serial because of what you've heard of the cartoon flying sequences, I would recommend giving it a try anyway. Like the cheesy gorilla suits and rear screen projection of stock footage, these are part of the era that require you just have to crank your suspension of disbelief up a notch and enjoy the ride.

Dir: Spencer G. Bennett and Derwin Abrahams - 15 Chapters