The Last Chapter: Reflections on 30 Years of Watching Cliffhanger Serials

The serial that started it all for me

Back in December of 1988, I walked into a Movies Unlimited store, went over to the section marked serials and decided to rent one out called Nyoka and the Tigermen. I had heard about serials during the decade as a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, which I was told were modeled on the old cliffhangers. But I had never watched one. This particular serial was a jungle adventure, which was something I dug back in the day, so I figured why not? Over the course of the next 3 days, I watched all 15 chapters. It was, I had decided, a pleasant diversion and I finally got to see where the idea for my favorite movie series came from.

A month or so later I was in Movies Unlimited again and decided to check out another serial. I picked one called Mysterious Doctor Satan. Besides having a great title, it had a guy in a goofy mask on it's cover and an even goofier looking robot so I thought it might be fun. Oh, it was. When I picked a third serial a couple of months after that it was because it was considered one of the best of all time. That serial, Daredevils of the Red Circle, was the serial that hooked me on the format for good. By the summer of 1989 I was trying to write my own serial. That script, a 12 chapter affair called The Dark Avenger, has yet to be made by me. Next summer is 30 years since the commencement of that script, so maybe.

A little history lesson for the uninitiated.

The cliffhanger serial began as a format with a long lost serial called What Happened to Mary? in 1912.Some of the early silent serials, including arguably the most famous one of all The Perils of Pauline, didn't have cliffhangers but instead each episode was complete. But audiences enjoyed the peril part and producers quickly learned that the best way to bring them back was to leave your hero or heroine facing certain death. By the time the serials started to talk, there were over 400 silent serials made. Sadly, only a small handful survive to this day.

The first part talking serial was released in 1929 from Mascot Pictures. King of the Kongo starred Boris Karloff as it's villain and had two sound sequences per chapter. Recorded on a special disc that played in synchronization with the film, most of the sound discs are gone now, though you can find two scenes on YouTube with the sound intact. Universal was the only other hold over from the silent era to continue to make serials and they in fact released their first all talking serial in 1930, a not very good western called The Indians Are Coming. There were some fairly bad independent serials released in the early 1930s as well. Then Mascot became part of a merger to form Republic Pictures in 1936 and serial history was changed.

While the first four Republics are pretty rough around the edges--as a matter of fact I happen to hate their second serial Undersea Kingdom--they picked up the pace with their fifth serial, 1937's Dick Tracy. Director William Witney started later that year with The Painted Stallion and began to turn the serial into a true art form. Witney's style of filming fight scenes where one move was a single camera shot influenced many other directors over the years. You can even see the Witney style in the fight between OO7 and Red Grant in From Russia, With Love.

Columbia entered serial production in 1937 with Jungle Menace starring famous wild animal trainer Frank Buck. Why not? Republic's first serial was also a jungle serial with Buck's rival Clyde Beatty. Serials got better as the 30s wore on until some incredible stuff came along during the war years. All three major serial producing serials were at the top of their game in the early 1940s, even if some of the wartime serials may make the PC crowd cringe today with their depictions of Japanese agents. But that's a discussion for another time.

Still considered the greatest serial ever

The end of the Second World War saw budgets being slashed. Universal jumped ship in 1947. Republic and Columbia toughed it out into the 1950s but by then most of the really good serial actors had either retired, gotten too old, or died. Instead audiences were treated to stock footage laden chapters with actors who were hired more for their resemblance to a stuntman than any actual acting ability. TV had caught fire around this time, too, with youngsters able to watch shows like The Lone Ranger every week for free. And so between TV, the non-existent budgets, and a general refusal to evolve--no serials were ever made in color at a time that movies were moving more into color--the serial died a sad and depressing death. The last couple of years, it was as if nobody even tried anymore. Republic called it quits in 1955 with lousy mystery serial that forgot to have any suspects called King of the Carnival. Columbia, the last one in, was the last one out with an equally forgettable western called Blazing the Overland Trail. You can tell how bad this one is by the fact that even the villain sounds bored with it.

There were a few jabs after that. The most famous is a four chapter silent spoof known as Captain Celluloid Vs. the Film Pirates. The Return of the Copperhead was a 12 chapter serial allegedly shot in the 1970s but never released or edited, though a pretty unimpressive trailer exists. I entered the fray with a 12 chapter serial in 2001 that I called King of the Park Rangers. I wrote it over a few days in 1999, initially as a joke. Since there were quite a few Republics with the title King of the... where the lead male was named King, I said I was going to do the same, but make King a woman! 17 months of filming later, King of the Park Rangers was released. It still sells a few copies here and there all these years later, too! 2006 saw another spoof serial made, Monarch of the Moon. A second serial from the same company was announced but never made. I gave serials a second shot in 2008 with a mystery serial that I called The Dangers of Deborah. There was another low budget four chapter serial being made called Thirty Second Doom, but to the best of my knowledge, it was never completed.

Flash Gordon

When I started watching serials 30 years back, I had no idea what type of influence they would have on me. I certainly never planned to watch them all. But for a few silent serials, I have watched them all. Or at least all that exist. The good, the bad, and the what the hell did I just watch? I had read about them before watching them and foolishly allowed the opinions of others to influence my thoughts on the format early on. Indeed, to hear some writers and fans talk, there's only 66 good serials, those being the 66 that Republic released. Stuff and nonsense says I. Republic had plenty of stinkers and the other studios had plenty of good ones. Flash Gordon wasn't made by Republic. It was an Universal serial and remains one of the best serials ever made. Batman was made by Columbia in 1943 and it's one of the Caped Crusader's better screen efforts actually.

If I'm being honest, I think the company who made the best adaptations from other sources was probably Universal. The majority of their adaptions are pretty faithful to the source material, Buck Rogers notwithstanding. Then again, had they actually adapted the Buck Rogers strip as it was written, that serial would be banned right about now.

He's no Captain America, but she's better than Bucky!

Republic had a habit of taking the title and then making up whatever they wanted. For instance, their Captain America serial has absolutely nothing to do with Captain America. They changed the character from Army sad sack Steve Rogers and kid sidekick Bucky Barnes to fighting D.A. Grant Gardner and his secretary Gail Richards. Okay, Lorna Gray as Gail was an improvement over Bucky but it still has nothing to do with the strip. As for their Dick Tracy adaptions, well...I'm not convinced Chester Gould actually watched any of them since they tend to be Dick Tracy in name only. Serial fans often moan about Columbia's Superman serials, but at least in those serials, Superman is still Clark Kent and Lois Lane still works for the Daily Planet. Had Republic actually made their Superman serial in 1940, it's anyone's guess what we would have got. Yeah, it might have been good, but it probably wouldn't have really been Superman. Anyway, I like the two Columbia Superman serials even if the flying cartoon Superman is pretty silly. They're fun and that's all that should be required of any serial.

Ironically, the last of the sound serials I had to watch was one of the Republic Dick Tracy serials. The third in the series, Dick Tracy's G-Men, was an entertaining way to go out. Ralph Byrd was playing Tracy for the third time (you could tell when he was playing the character in the 1950s TV show he was sick of it) and he was always a good serial hero. There were a few of the serial regulars popping up in it and Jennifer Jones, at the start of her career, played the thankless role of Tracy's secretary Gwen. There was the usual amount of action and thrilling cliffhangers and William Witney and John English were directing at the top of their game. It seemed appropriate to go out on a Witney serial since he had directed Nyoka.

In between Nyoka and Dick Tracy's G-Men, there were many, many chapter viewings. For a time there was a message board called The Serial Squadron that I would go to and serial fans would gather on to discuss serials until the site owner decided he was more interested in selling serials than allowing discussion of them. There was even a yearly festival called SerialFest where fans would gather to watch serials on the big screen, discuss them, drink, and share a camaraderie. But SerialFest is dead and the Squadron is pretty much non-existent. Then again, a number of fans--some of whom I got to call friend--have died over the years. My best friend, who acted in both my serials, passed away in 2011 when we only had about 10 left to watch. It took me seven years, but I kept my promise to finish them.

And so, 30 years of watching serials has culminated in seeing the last of them. There's a little something bittersweet about the whole experience. 30 years, 219 serials, 2,913 chapters, and more hours than I want to consider. A lot of it was a good time. While it is true that some of it wasn't, I can't say that I regret watching them all. Perhaps one day the missing sound serials will resurface or someone who isn't me will make another serial. Should that day come, I'll be happy to watch. But until then, it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Serial Saturday: Captain America (1944)

For those of you who aren't yet sick of reading about Captain America, here's one more review for you. If you are sick of reading about Captain America, that's okay, too. This is the last one of his movies I'll be reviewing for quite a while. It also happens to be his first screen appearance.

"That's what you get for saying I'm not Captain America!"

If you are intimately familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe Captain America movies and manage to seek out this 15 chapter Republic serial, you may be a little confused watching it. In this version, Captain America is two-fisted District Attorney Grant Gardner, out to stop the evil machinations of The Scarab, who has no connection to Adolf Hitler but is a scientist out for revenge against the members of an expedition that cheated him out of millions. Gardner's assisted by his secretary Gail Richards. He also has no shield or super powers but he does have a gun. He also doesn't really look like Captain America. He has a sweater with a star on it that he wears under his suit (either the city is really cold or he sweats something fierce) and a hood with an A on it. He also wears sensible shoes instead of boots. In short, there's no Army, no Bucky, no Super Soldier formula, and no Nazis.

You may have read the above and thought "wait! What?". I get that. There seems to be two theories as to why the serial is that way. One is that it was planned for a different character, quite possibly Fawcett's Mr. Scarlet. When that comic was cancelled, Republic just rewrote the serial and substituted Captain America. The proof of this some say is a chapter called The Scarlet Clue which has nothing Scarlet in it.

The other, just as likely theory, is that Republic read the sample pages provided to them by Timely Comics (Marvel before they were called Marvel) and decided to do their own thing anyway. There's plenty of precedent for this as just about all of Republic's adaptations pretty well ignored the source material, going right back to Dick Tracy in 1937. The four Dick Tracy serials may be good but they have as much to do with Dick Tracy as I do.

Just another Tuesday in this serial

That said, the question remains of whether or not this is any good. It is, all things considered. Dick Purcell plays the title character and while he's no Buster Crabbe, he's no Myron Healey either. He's acceptable if unexceptional, a decent middle of the road serial hero who fares slightly better than most of the stiffs Republic hired after. As his gal Friday Richards, Lorna Gray is an admitted step up from the ten year old Bucky of the comics. At the least, she's easier on the eyes even if she doesn't get to do much beyond getting captured and tied up.

Sidebar: why did so many superheroes in that era have 10 year old sidekicks? In particular Cap, taking a child into an active war zone seems wildly reckless. I get that it was a different time and the publishers wanted to appeal to children, in particular in the wake of the popularity of Robin the Boy Wonder but still...

Back to the serial.

No snide comment: just a great villain

On the malcontent side, we have screen veteran Lionel Atwill as Dr. Maldor aka The Scarab. Atwill terrorized Fay Wray onscreen and played opposite Erol Flynn in the 1930s but found himself relegated to serials and B movies towards the end of his career. But like fellow villain Bela Lugosi, Atwill was professional enough to give it his best and is just menacing enough to be fun. Serial regulars George J. Lewis and Jon Davidson are his henchmen. They were always worth watching in these things and this is no exception.

A few other character actors pop up during the course of the serial. Serial regulars like Kenne Duncan, Tom London, LeRoy Mason, and Stanley Price do their customary one chapter and done appearances. John Hamilton, Perry White on the George Reeves Superman TV show, is one of Maldor's victims. Also on Maldor's hit list was Hugh Sothern from the serial The Fighting Devil Dogs. But the best supporting part belongs to Edward Van Sloan, best remembered today as Van Helsing in the 1931 Dracula. Here he's a scientist demonstrating a thermodynamic vibration machine or the Dynamic Vibrator for short. This leads to what may be the greatest line in serial history when Gail says "Mr. Merit and Mr. Norton are here to witness your demonstration of the vibrator."

For you prudish people thinking "it's a shame he felt the need to write that", let this be a lesson to you. This is what happens when you apply present-mindedness to 1940s serials. On the other hand, some of you are gonna howl when you think about that line.

"Dr. Scarab I presume?"

In fairness, the Dynamic Vibrator wasn't the only machine in the serial. The serial also gives us such devices as an Electronic Firebolt, a gas that can make someone look like a 3,000 year old mummy, and a device that can--and is--used to raise a dead man. That the dead man turns out to be the head henchman is unfortunate for the heroes, but not for us.

Captain America was Republic's most expensive serial. It came out the same year as Haunted Harbor, Zorro's Black Whip, and The Tiger Woman. As such, it was one of the last of the all original cliffhangers serials. That alone, as well as being technically the first Marvel adaptation. It's also the only Captain America worth watching until the recent trilogy with Chris Evans. It's directed with typical gusto by William Witney's old serial directing partner, John English. English had proven he could do serials on his own quite nicely the year before with Daredevils of the West. This time he gets a bit of an assist from Elmer Clifton, who in the 1930s had directed what is arguably the best of the 3 Stage and Screen Serials released by the Weiss Brothers. That, by the way, says nothing considering the other two were The Clutching Hand and The Black Coin.

"Nope. No War here"

It does seem strange to see a serial about Captain America released in 1944 and not see him doing what he was known for at the time: punching Nazis. Then again, Republic seemed to have decided to stop fighting the war in 1943 as none of their serials from 44 or 45 even make mention of World War II. Columbia and Universal, on the other hand, fought the war right up to the bitter end.

Other bloggers have commented that they are surprised serial fans actually like this. I'm not. Most serial fans, especially the ones who rabidly attest that only Republic made good ones, are willing to take most of these things as they get them. They especially recognize that it does little good to rage against Republic for their lack of fidelity to the comics since that was just what the company did. Maybe in another universe or dimension Republic put out faithful adaptations of comic books with Dick Tracy as a cop battling Big Boy Caprice and rescuing Tess Trueheart and Captain America and a 10 year old Bucky punching Adolf Hitler in the face. But not in our universe. We can choose to accept it or give ourselves coronaries at what we're watching.

I choose to accept it. This is an entertaining serial even if it doesn't have anything to do with Captain America. If you can get past that lack of fidelity, you too may find yourselves enjoying it. Lorna Gray and the villains make it worth spending a rainy Saturday afternoon watching it. There are better adaptations of these characters after all. If I want to watch the real Captain America, I'll slip in one of the MCU movies. But if I want to spend a few hours with fun and familiar character actors, henchmen coming back from the dead, and Dynamic Vibrators, I'll pop this one in.