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#410 – Hop Harrigan (1946)
Hop Harrigan (1946)
Film review #410
Director: Derwin Abrahams
SYNOPSIS: Hop Harrigan, a pilot along with his buddy “Tank” Tinker, are hired to escort a scientist to his secret laboratory hidden in the mountains, where he is working on a powerful new source of energy. Meanwhile, a man known only as the “Chief Pilot” is after the invention for himself to use as a deadly weapon. Hop and his friends are caught up in the schemes of all of these players, and they must stop them before disaster befalls the world…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Hop Harrigan is a 1947 movie serial based on the Hop Harrigan character from the All-American Comics series, as well as the radio plays. Harrigan became quite popular during the course of the second World War, probably due to his heroic piloting antics which would have resonated with the population. However, his population waned after the war ended along with many of the similar characters, with people rather turning their attention to costumed superheroes and the villains being spies rather than soldiers. The serial starts off with Hop performing a mid-air rescue, then returning back to the airfield where he works. he is offered a job by a man named Arnold to fly a scientist named Dr. Tobor to his secret laboratory. Tobor has been working on an invention that runs on a powerful new energy, and has to keep Hop and Tank blindfolded while in the air so they do not see where the lab is. Meanwhile, an unknown person calling himself “The Chief Pilot” is intent on getting a hold of Tobor’s invention for himself, and sends his goons to kidnap him. The plot of the serial as always follows the standard format of each chapter having a different scheme or plot to foil, with it ending on a cliffhanger for the next chapter. I imagine the serial format isn’t the best one to adapt Hop Harrigan in, as he is probably more used to dealing with soldiers and villains rather than engaging in thwarting espionage, but again that’s like a lot of the serials, which used the name of a comic book character and didn’t really adapt anything else about them.
On the heroes side, you have the standard All-American heroics of Hop Harrigan, his sidekick and comic relief “Tank”, who offers some decent interactions with his goofiness playing off against other characters. Gail is the token female character who runs the airfield (though she doesn’t really do much), and her younger brother Jackie, whose book-smarts often clash with Tank’s brute-force approach. Jackie provides a good example of a younger characters which the kids in the audience can relate too, and he has a decent amount to do, which helps in that regard. Other than that though, the heroes are pretty unremarkable. There are quite a few villains in this serial, ranging from the mysterious Chief Pilot, whose identity isn’t revealed until the end (a typical serial trope), and an array of henchman, some of whom are working with the Chief Pilot, and some who are working for Hop’s employer Arnold and secretly working against him. There’s also Dr. Tobor (’Robot’ spelled backwards in case you hadn’t noticed; I’m pretty sure I’ve watched another serial or film which uses the same name, but I can’t remember which), who essentially plays the eccentric scientist who becomes more and more erratic as the serial progresses. He is sought by both heroes and villains, and constantly tricks them and plays them for fools, which shakes up the dynamic. Tobor as the wildcard element helps to give a bit of an original edge to the story, and that is welcome.
If you’re going to watch a Hop Harrigan serial, then no doubt you’ll be expecting plenty of scenes in the sky and plane fights. The serial more or less delivers what it promises with plenty of scenes taking place in the air, and shot reasonably well for the time, but most of the action does take place on the ground, and the plane scenes are just to travel from place to place, or to follow a car from the air.
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#408 – Jack Armstrong (1947)
Jack Armstrong (1947)
Film review #408
Director: Wallace Fox
SYNOPSIS: When a valuable shipment and scientist Vic Hardy are kidnapped, young Jack Armstrong along with his friend Billie, his Sister Betty, and their Uncle Jim Fairfield, all attempt to find and rescue him. They eventually track him to an island in the Pacific, where an evil scientist has hidden Hardy away in a secret laboratory where he is building a weapon that could enslave the world. Jack and his friends must deal with the native islanders and the scientist’s henchman before the weapon is completed and the world is at their mercy…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Jack Armstrong is a 1947 movie serial based on the radio play of the same name.The serial opens up with young Jack Armstrong and his friend Billie along with his sister Bettie working on a car at the Fairfield aviation company, which Billie and Bettie’s Uncle Jim owns. Almost as soon as the serial starts, a hit and run takes place outside the Fairfield office, so Jack and Billie jump in their car and give chase. This car of theirs is a huge beast that just looks like a big steel box put over a normal car. Nevertheless, it gives the opportunity for the serial to open on an action-based note, and to entice viewers to stay and come back for the rest of the serial’s chapters. After Jack and Billie catch the driver, their car is never seen or mentioned again, which is a bit naughty opening with it and thus giving the impression you will see more of it in the next chapters.
One of Jim’s employees, Hardy, is monitoring some strange signals in the ionosphere. One of Jim’s customers named Pearce overhears this, who is working for the gang making those signals for some evil scheme, and has Hardy kidnapped so he can be forced to help with their plan. Jack and the gang track Hardy down to an island in the Pacific Ocean, which they travel to, but their plane is shot down on approach. The rest of the serial takes place on the island, where they meet the owner of a trading outpost named Grood, who is secretly the mastermind of the evil scheme to rule the world through building a weapon and deploying it in the atmosphere. The story involves Jack and the gang dealing with Grood’s henchman, as well as the native tribes that inhabit the island, and later on Pearce when he shows up on the island still pretending to be our heroes friends.
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#407 – The End of the World (1916)
The End of the World (1916)
Film review #407
Director: August Blom
SYNOPSIS: When it is discovered that a comet is due to pass by Earth, panic and uncertainty over whether the comet will actually strike the planet. Stoll, a stock broker, sees an opportunity to make some easy money preying on people’s fears, but when the danger becomes too real, he and his wife must return to the small mining town which she fled in order to marry Stoll…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The End of the World (Verdens Undergang, also sometimes titled The Flaming Sword) is a 1916 Danish science-fiction film. The film starts off with the inhabitants of a small mining town visited by the mine’s owner, Stoll. When Stoll meets Dina, the daughter of the mine foreman at a dance, he suggests that she run away with him back to the city. Following a chastising from her Father about being a “harlot” for staying out late on her own (such as it was in 1916 I guess), Dina decides to run away with Stoll, leaving behind her Sister, Father and her friend Flint, who had hopes of marrying her himself. Fast forward a few years and we see that Stoll is a successful financier whose stock market dealings have left him very rich, and his now wife Dina has everything she could ideally want. The beginning of the film really takes some time to establish the characters and their relations. Stoll is the focal point of much of the film, and while he is marked as the villain throughout much of what is going on, he is still portrayed as having some humanity in his faithfulness and dedication to his wife. Ultimately, his manipulation of the stock market and his treatment of the mine’s workers leave him as very much an enemy to many of the other characters. Being perhaps one of the first disaster movies ever, it does the job of portraying how the end of the world impacts a number of different people from different walks of life.
When Professor Wisemann sees a new comet through his telescope coming towards Earth, the discovery generates a lot of uncertainty and panic across the world, as no one seems to know if the comet will hit the Earth or not. Stoll learns from his brother that the comet will probably hit the Earth in northwest Europe and cause significant devastation, and devises a scheme to buy a large number of stocks while there is panic, and have his friend at a newspaper print the (false headline) that the comet will not hit, leading Stoll to sell his stocks at a higher price and become even more wealthy. Even when Stoll learns of the comet’s impact, he insists the newspaper print the misleading story that it will pass by Earth so he can fulfil his scheme. Again, Stoll is made out to be the villain because profiteering over the end of the world is hardly going to go down well is it? Meanwhile, events in the mining town are moving along as Dina’s sister says farewell to her sweetheart Reymers, who has just graduated as a sailor and is leaving on board a ship.
In the third act, with the comet looming ever closer to Earth, Stoll realises the only place he can take shelter is the mine in the town where he met Dina: however, the populace are less than happy at Stoll over the way he has treated their town, and when they learn he is coming to town, Flint organises an attack on Stoll. Dina is also reluctant to return to the town, but is finally convinced. As the comet gets closer, Stoll organises a party for the end of the world, while the workers decide they are going to storm the party, setting the conflict for the final part of the film. As the comet enters the atmosphere, fragments start to rain down over the town causing mass destruction. The special effects are quite remarkable for their time, even if they’re typically just sparks flying over model buildings. Also the image of a comet overlaid into the sky of some scenes gives a feeling of impending doom. The film enjoyed a fair amount of success when it was released; in part capitalising on the fear and uncertainty surrounding Halley’s comet passing Earth a few years before, and the ongoing war in Europe which alerted people to a level of destruction they had never considered before. The film’s showing of mass destruction from meteors, houses being shaken and destroyed, and huge tidal waves gives a fair variety to the devastation and gives the feeling that nowhere is safe in these situations.
The film ends with most of the characters dying: Stoll and his wife are killed in the mine they are hiding in, Flint chases them, but the release of deadly gas kills him too. Dina’s Father passes away, and at the end we see Edith, Dina’s sister alone as she has miraculously survived. She goes up to the top of the church and rings the bell in the hope of alerting other survivors. Coincidentally, it turns out Reymers has managed to return to shore from the ship he was on, and on hearing the bell, the two are reunited to end the film on a somewhat happy note, that even through all the destruction, a sliver of hope has survived. Overall, The End of the World is a well-written spectacle that offers effects and a speculative scenario that film-goers would probably have not seen before. It’s relevance to the time is clear in regards to the amount of destruction the world was experiencing through war. The film does a good job of establishing a variety of characters and connecting them to each other, as we see how the disaster will affect people of different class and occupation, which has become one of the foundations for disaster movies. The spectacle would have engrossed movie-goers of the time, but there’s enough substance in the characters to appreciate the story underneath the spectacle too.
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#406 – Officer 444 (1926)
Officer 444 (1926)
Film review #406
Director: Francis Ford
SYNOPSIS: When a new miracle chemical called “Haverlyite” is discovered by Professor Haverly, he intends it for the good of humanity. When he is killed by the criminal known only as “The Frog,” who wants the chemical for his own evil ends, Officer 444 of the flying squadron must stop The Frog and find Haverly’s son: the only other person who knows the secret formula for Haverlyite…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Officer 444 is a 1925 silent movie serial comprised of ten chapters. In the opening chapter, we see a building on fire, as the police and firefighters rush to get the situation under control. Officer 444, a member of the flying squadron revered by the community, heads into the burning building to rescue people trapped inside, and also to apprehend some dangerous criminals within. As is typical with these serials, the first chapter opens up with an ambitious scene involving lots of people and action in order to entice people in to coming back to the theatre for succeeding chapters, and doesn’t particularly tie in to the rest of the story. The plot itself centres around the discovery of a miracle chemical called Haverlyite, named after its discoverer Professor Haverly. The criminal known only as “The Frog” wants the formula for his own purposes, but when Haverly is killed, the secret formula dies with him…until that is, Haverly’s son appears on the scene. However he has lost his memory of the formula following his attempted abduction and his Father’s death, and so Officer 444 and The Frog do battle over young Haverly as Officer 44 tries to chase him down through the various chapters. The plot is easy enough to follow, and while nothing too special, is kept entertaining with a balance of action and investigation. The miracle formula of Haverlyite is left rather vague as to its applications: it has the power to heal people, but also to be a weapon of some form that The Frog wants to use to take over the world. The vagueness is, I think, part of the message of the film that any scientific discovery may be used for either good or evil, as evidenced by the foreword at the beginning of each chapter.
The cast of characters is fairly large, and adds some variety to proceedings: Officer 444 is the typical lead, and nurse Gloria Grey provides the typical female role, although I suppose it is a bit more involved than the glorified secretarial role most female roles have in these serials, as her nursing profession gives her purpose in scenes such as where she is working to restore young Haverly’s memories. Patrick Casey is Officer 444′s sidekick in the police force, and helps out with the more physical scenes. As you might be able to tell from the name, he fits the stereotypical Irish policeman role, but it will be a long time before cinema moved away from stereotypes. The Frog is presented as a clever criminal who disguises himself as a disfigured man. He sends a woman known only as “The Vulture” to stop 444 and interrupt his plans. While it is rare to find a second woman in a serial such as this, she does fit the role of an ambitious or clever woman that is always on the side of the villains, a role also seen in The Power God released a year earlier with the main villain’s wife. One of the more noteworthy characters is the chief of police played by August Vollmer, who was an actual police chief and one of the most influential in defining policing in the U.S. for better or worse. Dr. Blakely is a mysterious doctor whose purpose and identity provide an ongoing mystery that is only resolved in the final scenes, again providing incentive to get viewers coming back each week.
The serial does a good job of balancing the action and investigation scenes. There’s plenty of car chases filmed ambitiously, and some daring stunts such as a train switching tracks at the last second to avoid Officer 444. The fist fights aren’t as well executed, but it wasn’t until a few years later that fight choreography seemed to be more considered on film. Of particular note on the investigative side is the use of a polygraph or lie detector machine (called a “lieing machine” in the serial). This would have been a fairly recent invention and is probably the first time the device was featured on film. I wonder if Vollmer’s involvement allowed them to get their hands on one, since he would have been using them in his own police force at the time I suppose…
Overall, Officer 444 is a fairly standard serial, but at the time it garnered quite a lot of popularity from what I can tell. It’s story is easy enough to follow, but has a decent sized and varied cast who play a clear role in events. The action scenes showcase car chases and fights that are imaginatively and dramatically shot to emphasise the heroics of the heroes, and there’s enough mystery surrounding certain characters to keep viewers coming back. It’s not too noteworthy from a historical perspective, but it gives a somewhat interesting look at policing in the 1920′s if that interests you.
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#404 – The Power God (1925)
The Power God (1925)
Film review #404
Directors: Francis Ford, Ben F. Wilson
SYNOPSIS: Professor Sturgess, with his assistant Jim Thorpe, has invented a machine that can draw infinite power from the air, which will be sure to revolutionise the way energy is produced. However, this invention has drawn the attention of the coal and oil companies, who have agreed that the invention is a threat to their monopolies, and must be destroyed. They hire career criminal Weston Dore to deal with Sturgess, but Dore has other plans to steal the invention for himself and become the new “power God”…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Power God is a 1925 movie serial comprised of fifteen chapters, and one of the few serials that has sadly survived from that time. The story opens up with Professor Sturgess and his assistant Jim Thorpe finishing development on a machine described as “the marvel of the radio-electric age,” which can draw power directly from the air, providing a nearly infinite source of energy. This machine has drawn unwanted attention from the traditional energy businesses, who fear the collapse of their industry, hire criminal Weston Dore to get a hold of the machine by any means necessary. When Dore tries to buy the machine from Sturgess with the aim of suppressing it, Sturgess refuses. Dore then has to change plan and has Sturgess killed. With enemies closing in, Thorpe and Strugess’ daughter Aileen have to hide the machine and protect the invention from falling into Dore’s hands, who decides to try and keep the invention for himself to become the new “power God” of the modern world. The story has a familiar setup as with most serials, but this is one of the serials that defined the format for twenty years, and provided a ready-made template for companies like Republic and Universal to pump out similar serials in around a month or so.
At the time it was released, The Power God would have been something many people had not seen before, particularly in the science-fiction genre. Compared to those other serials, The Power God is a strong example of the potential of the format’s storytelling potential. Following Jim asking Professor Sturgess’ approval to marry Aileen and being refused, the two decide to elope and marry in secret. However, a car accident involving her and Dore in another car leads to her losing her memory, and when their rescuers believe Dore to be Aileen’s wife due to the wedding ring they found (which was for Jim), Dore capitalises on this for his schemes and tries to convince Aileen she is his wife while her memory is gone. This is quite a complex situation, and takes up the first few episodes as Jim tries to rescue Aileen and stop her from signing over her Father’s estate to Dore, as well as trying to get her to recover her memory. There’s definitely plenty going on in this story, and each chapter feels a bit different and pushes the story forward, instead of other serials where each chapter is just the foiling of another scheme, a fist fight, and a cliffhanger. The Power God goes through a number of plans and schemes, fleshing them out in depth, and advancing the story in a structured way, as well as introducing new characters that add something new along the way.
The characters themselves are the typical cast of serials: you have the broad-shouldered white male for the lead who does most of the action, a female secondary character who gets captured a lot, a scientist, a criminal villain…they’re all here in some capacity. However, the characters are given plenty of development to make them feel unique. Dore is intent on getting the machine for himself, and his interactions with his calculating wife Carrie give him a bit more of a human dimension. We are also introduced to Carrie’s brother later on, who again changes up the dynamic and keeps things interesting. A mysterious man who aids Thorpe and Aileen from time to time without explaining his motives adds an element of intrigue as to what his role is. He is often just called “the Hindu,” which I’m sure would have been appropriate for the time. He at least is not played by a white actor in ‘blackface,’ but his actor, a native American, does seem to have a bit of makeup on to darken his skin. There are also two black men who are characterised as ‘simple minded,’ which is sadly how every black person on film was depicted in this time. These are certainly problematic, and a product of their time.
The serial is well produced and shot, with plenty of consideration into camera angles and scene-setting. Some of the action scenes, such as on the train near the end, would no doubt taken some effort to pull off. The fight scenes are less well done, and they mostly feel like a chaotic scrap. I don’t think choreography for fight scenes had really been established or developed at the time. The most peculiar aspect of the film for me is the ending: after Dore is stopped and the machine recovered, Aileen and Thorpe realise this machine that will revolutionise how energy is produced will have the consequence of putting thousands of people out of work. In realisation of this, they simply decide to destroy the machine to preserve the status quo. This is a bit of an anti-climax since the viewer will have watched this serial for five hours to see them recover the device, only for it to be willingly destroyed. Also it seems to have the message that invention, science and progress should only be allowed as long as they don’t upset the status quo, or put people in poor working conditions out of a job. The messaging that progress and change is bad does not feel natural, it feels forced and tacked onto the end. It is highly reminiscent of early Soviet cinema where such an ending would be stuck on the end to fit certain propaganda and messaging: the hero would realise his foolishness at independent thought, and would heroically take his place in the system. The example that comes to mind is the Russian film Gold in particular. I wonder if this ending was intentionally made to not upset big business, or they could not figure out any other ending. Either way, it’s not a satisfying payoff, and is rather suspect. Overall though, The Power God is a good serial that has plenty of content, as well as twists and turns that keep things fresh and interesting. The characters are well defined and undergo enough development throughout. There’s some problems around its racial characterisations and the questionable ending, but it certainly provides a template for the format as it was used in the years after it until its demise.
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#402 – The Monster and the Ape (1945)
The Monster and the Ape (1945)
Film review #402
Director: Howard Bretherton
SYNOPSIS: Professor Arnold at the Bainbridge Research Laboratory have completed construction on a revolutionary new robot called the “Metalogen Man” that they believe will be able to accomplish all manual labour. However, after a demonstration to Professor Ernst and three other colleagues, Ernst arranges the deaths of the other three and steals the robot for himself using a trained ape. Ken Morgan, a representative for the company who ordered the robot, teams up with Professor Arnold and his daughter Babs to stop Ernst and recover the robot, before Ernst can find more of the valuable mineral Metalogen and create an army of unstoppable robots…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Monster and the Ape is a 1945 movie serial composed of fifteen chapters. The opening chapter sees Professor Arnold give a demonstration at the Bainbridge research Laboratory to Professor Ernst and three other colleagues of “The Metalogen Man”, a human-like robot that will be able to handle all kinds of manual labour. After the demonstration, Professor Ernst arranges the deaths of his colleagues and steals the robot for himself using a giant trained ape named Thor. Ken Morgan, the representative of the company who was going to buy the robot, arrives but finding the robot has been stolen, teams up with Professor Arnold and his daughter Babs to attempt to recover the robot. The story follows Morgan, Arnold and Babs as they try to thwart Ernst’s various schemes to unearth more of the valuable mineral Metalogen to create more robots. The story follows the usual serial format rules, with a lot of back-and-forth between the heroes and villains as the robot and it’s control unit are stolen and re-stolen throughout the fifteen chapters. There are less action scenes and very few chase scenes in vehicles which are typically a staple of the format. The cliffhangers are fairly varied and contain some elaborate traps, but you know how they’re going to end up most of the time.
The “monster” and the “ape” of the title are the robot and Thor. The robot is controlled by a control unit and looks fairly strong and menacing, with its light up eyes and bulky body. Thor is brought out of the zoo by its trainer to carry out the orders of Professor Ernst, and handles jobs such as carrying the robot, which is too heavy for any person to lift. Thor himself is played by Hollywood stuntman Ray Corrigan, who owned the ape-suit and would rent himself and the suit out to movies that required it, and he does a convincing job with it. However, we don’t see nearly enough of the two of them, and most of the action doesn’t involve them. The worst part is we never get to see the two of them fight one another, which is a hugely missed opportunity (and being shown on the posters). Thor dies by being shot in the thirteenth chapter, which is a hugely underwhelming end for the titular character. The rest of the characters follow the usual format, with the lead male doing the action and fight scenes, the sole female character who acts as an assistant or secretary, and the ‘good’ scientist who helps them. There’s also Flash, who plays a comic relief character (I’m not sure what his role in the laboratory actually is), and is played by a non-white actor, which is very rare in 1945. He is played as having a low intelligence and being a coward, which results in him being very much a racist caricature, and is quite problematic to say the least. Professor Ernst as the villain has plenty of schemes, and while he has no special powers, inventions, nor is he hidden behind a disguise like many serial villains, he still has quite an aura of menace about him.
Overall, The Monster and the Ape is a typical serial adventure with few stand outs. It has some elaborate cliffhangers and scenarios that replace the well-worn vehicle chases of other serials, but it’s titular “monsters” are vastly under-utilised, and you can’t help feel a little disappointed with the potential of a robot versus an ape, and what we actually get, which is the sparse use of both and the lack of any confrontation between them.
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#401 – Sonic the Hedgehog (1996)
Sonic the Hedgehog (1996)
Film review #401
Director: Kazunori Ikegami
SYNOPSIS: Sonic the Hedgehog is visited with an urgent message from the President of Planet Freedom. When he goes to visit him, Sonic finds none other than his arch nemesis Dr. Robotnik, who actually wants Sonic’s help in destroying Metal Robotnik, a robot who has taken over the city of Robotropolis, where the generator for the city is about to go critical and endanger the whole planet unless Sonic can go and defeat Metal Robotnik and shut the generator down. Meanwhile, Robotnik has his own schemes at work, including one for a certain “Hyper Metal Sonic”…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Sonic the Hedgehog is a 1997 animated film made from a two-part Original Video Animation (commonly known as OVA) released in Japan. The story opens up with Sonic and Tails relaxing on a beach when they are visited by an owl who is only referred to as “the old man.” He tells them that the President of Planet Freedom wishes to see them urgently. When they arrive, Sonic and Tails find their nemesis Dr. Robotnik there, who actually wants their help. Robotnik has been forced out of his home of Robotropolis by Metal Robotnik, and the generator in the city will overload and destroy the planet soon if it is not shut down. Sonic and Tails agree to do it, and travel to Robotropolis. The story throws you into the middle of this world with little explanation of what is going on (with the brief exception of the world being divided between an upper world of floating islands, and a lower world of darkness where Robotropolis is). That’s not necessary a problem though, as a blue hedgehog that runs really fast doesn’t need too much of a backstory or exposition to engage the viewer. The characters are recognisable and act more or less how you would expect them too, so you get what you would want in that respect in a movie about the video game character.
Sonic and Tails arrive in the lower world of darkness and encounter Metal Robotnik, and battle takes place in the ruins of what seems to be New York City, suggesting planet Freedom is actually Earth in the distant future. The action is fast-paced and delivers what you’d expect, with lots of running and jumping all over the place. Sonic and Tails are saved by Knuckles, who again is more or less the character you would expect him to be. The second part of the film sees Sonic facing off against “Hyper Metal Sonic,” a robot version of Sonic created by Robotnik. There’s not too much to say about this part of the movie, as it is more or less a straight-up fight between Sonic and Metal Sonic, with the other characters sometimes interjecting. Again, this isn’t so bad in terms of the characters and world themselves don’t need to have a comprehensive story mapped out for you. I think it more or less delivers what it needs to, but since it clocks in at under an hour, it feels like there’s a lot more that could have been done.
As mentioned, this movie was composed of a two-part Japanese animation, and re-edited into a single movie for an English release. The dubbing industry at the time was not particularly great, but the English voices are all pretty terrible. Sonic sounds very nasally, but has a bit of the attitude you would expect him to. Tails sounds awful and always sounds like he has a cold. Robotnik’s voice is fairly decent, and sounds fairly similar to the voice he has in the video games that preceded this movie. The animation as well often feels cheap and fragmentary with a lack of frames making the animation feel rough, which destroys any sense of speed and fluidity that the movie really needs to show off Sonic’s speed. A lot of the expressions of the characters and their style or reactions are those that are typical of Japanese animation, and don’t really translate too well. This is again an issue around the early dubbing industry still finding its feet with how to approach the Japanese animation style.
Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog is a brief foray into the world of the titular character. It doesn’t establish any deep story elements or incorporate any of the stories from the games, but relies on the recognisable characters doing what you would expect them to, and leaves the detail of the world to the imagination. The quality of animation and voices really hampers the feel of the film at points, and the style of animation is awkwardly interpreted at times, but there’s some decent action scenes, and portrays the characters in a way that one would more or less expect.
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#398 – Flying Disc Man from Mars (1950)
Flying Disc Man from Mars (1950)
Film review #398
Director: Fred C. Brannon
SYNOPSIS: Scientist Dr. Bryant goes to investigate a strange aircraft that has has crashed to Earth. There, he finds that a Man named Mato who has come from Mars with the aim of placing the Earth under Mars’ absolute dictatorship. He blackmails Dr. Bryant in this scheme, knowing about his secret past as a Nazi scientist during the war, into using his scientific knowledge and resources to construct weapons to achieve this task. Meanwhile, Kent Fowler, who owns a security company that uses planes, and who was also hired by Bryant to act as security around his factory before the ship crashed, must find a way to the criminal’s plans to steal the components necessary to build atomic weaponry.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Flying Disc Man from Mars is a 1950 movie serial composed of twelve chapters. The first chapter opens up strongly (as they all do in order to get viewers into the theatre and subsequently back for the remaining chapters), as Dr. Bryant, a scientist and owner of a manufacturing company, hires Kent Fowler, the owner of security company that patrols in a fleet of aeroplanes, to patrol the grounds of his factory, as there have been sightings of strange ships in the sky recently. Bryant sees a ship fall out of the sky and crash nearby, prompting him to go and investigate. When he arrives, he finds a man emerge from the plane called Mato, who claims to be from Mars and has been sent on a mission to conquer Earth to be ruled by the Mars dictatorship, as the Earth’s experimentation with atomic weapons has been found too dangerous to continue, and would have severe repercussions on the solar system. Mato knows about Dr. Bryant’s past of being a Nazi scientist during the war (having intercepted radio communications from Mars), and blackmails him into helping him conquer the earth (and appealing to his inner Nazi by explaining how reasonable it would be to have the use of atomic weapons controlled by an absolute dictatorship I guess).
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#392 – The Purple Monster Strikes (1945)
The Purple Monster Strikes (1945)
Film review #392
Directors: Spencer Benet, Fred Bannon
SYNOPSIS: A rocket ship from the planet Mars makes a landing on Earth, and the astronomer Professor Layton goes to investigate. he finds a man from Mars as the only passenger on the ship and takes him to his observatory, where he learns the man is actually the first part of an invasion force come to conquer the Earth. After killing Layton, he has the ability to possess his dead body and attempt to get his prototype rocket ship design finish so he can use it to return to Mars and lead the invasion. The only person that can stop him is Layton’s assistant Craig Foster, accompanied by Layton’s niece Sheila.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Purple Monster Strikes is a 1945 movie serial. The opening chapter sees a rocket ship crashing to Earth and Professor Layton going to the impact site. There he finds a man from Mars who it turns out to be the first of an invasion force sent to conquer the Earth. The Martian kills Layton and through the use of gas from the Martian atmosphere, is able to possess Layton’s dead body whenever he wants, which he does in order to get Layton’s rocket ship prototype finished, which is the final key to the invasion, as the Martian rocket ships are unable to return to Mars. Learning of the plans of the “Purple Monster”, Layton’s assistant Craig Foster and Layton’s niece Sheila must find a way to foil the Purple Monster’s plan to steal the rocket ship plans. The story unfolds in keeping with almost every other film in the serial format, with each chapter presenting a new scheme from the Purple Monster and Craig and Sheila attempting to foil it. The ability of the Purple Monster to possess Professor Layton’s dead body is a little dark, but it keeps it family-friendly by not dwelling on the details too much. The back-and-forth between the Purple Monster and Layton also adds an interesting dynamic between the characters. The cliffhangers at the end of each chapter are quite ambitious too, and full of high speed chases and explosions. You always know that they’ll result in someone escaping death at the last second, but it still puts some effort into pulling it off.
The characters themselves are a pretty dull bunch. The usual archetypes are all here: the main young white cowboy-esque hero, the token woman, the scientist, the mysterious villain and his henchman: there is nothing inspiring about any of them. We sometimes see the Martian emperor being contacted by the Purple Monster, and his assistant shows up near the end, but neither of them really offer anything exciting or interesting. The whole business with the Purple Monster being able to possess Layton really ties in with one of the main tropes of these serials of the enemy spy hiding in plain sight, and who could be anyone, which really ties into the paranoia around enemy spies in the U.S. during wartime. Other than that though, the cast is rather forgettable.
Overall, while The Purple Monster Strikes has some good special effects and fast-paced action scenes, its characters are dull and bland, and fail to stand out in the format. I think it sits comfortably in the middle of these serials: nothing special, but nothing catastrophically bad either. Being directed by two of the most prolific serial directors, Spencer Bennet and Fred Bannon, they certainly knew what they are doing, but they’re obviously doing it to create a stable source of income rather than trying to innovate at this point into the format’s history.
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#390 – S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937)
S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937)
Film review #390
SYNOPSIS: The renegade scientist Boroff has invented a disintegrator gas that unsurprisingly disintegrates everything around it when released. Boroff’s ship gets in trouble at sea, leading the coast guard to mount a rescue. However, he is recognised by some reporters along for the ride as a wanted criminal and they give chase as Boroff tries to escape. When one of the coast guards is killed as Boroff escapes, his brother Lt. Terry Kent, also a member of the coast guard, swears revenge and he and the reporters Jean Norton and Snapper McGee attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding Boroff and to put a stop to his evil schemes.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: S.O.S. Coast Guard is a 1937 movie serial by Republic Pictures. The serial starts off with a ship in distress off the coast and the coast guard being deployed. Jean Norman, a newspaper reporter and Snappy McGee, a photographer for the newspaper, recognise the man rescued from the ship as Boroff, a wanted scientist who has been developing deadly weapons to sell to foreign powers. The coast guard give chase, which ends up in the death of one of them, Ensign Jim Kent. His brother, Lt. Terry Kent, who is also a member of the coast guard, swears revenge, and attempts to track down Boroff with the help of Jane and Snapper. The serial unfolds very much like every other serial, so there shouldn’t be no surprise with the cliffhangers, chases and fist fights that fill the chapters. The setting of the coast guard does make it stand out a little, with the scenes at sea and on the ships being well executed. There’s enough variety and a tangible thread of story all the way throughout to make it a watchable serial, but again the format does show its age, and if you’ve seen one you’ve more or less seen them all. The format meant that a lot of content could be produced quickly and at a small cost, but nothing original or innovative was attempted outside of those original constraints.
The characters are one of the noteworthy aspects of the serial, with some recognisable faces amongst the cast. The character themselves are pretty typical: you have the young, courageous American male for the lead, one female character, a mad scientist villain, and a comic relief character. Lt. Terry Kent is the typical lead, this time played by Ralph Byrd, who would be recognisable from the successful Dick Tracy serial that was released earlier in the same year. His character wears a hat most of the time so he distinguishes himself from Tracy enough that you wouldn’t be distracted by the similarities, but Byrd’s appearance in this serial definitely rides the success that Dick Tracy had. The villain is played by famous horror actor Bela Lugosi, who is not in a horror film role because of the ban on making horror movies that was put into effect between 1936 and 1938. The name of his character Boroff is more than likely a reference to fellow horror movie actor and Lugosi’s somewhat rival Boris Karloff. The character of Snappy McGee is very similar to the character of Mike McGurk in the Dick Tracy serial, and I was quite surprised to see it wasn’t the same actor, as they are very similar in terms of looks and mannerisms. Jean Norman’s actress Maxine Doyle also went on to marry the director of this serial (William Witney), so all round an interesting bit of trivia from the casting, even though their characters aren’t as stand-out.
Being set at sea for a decent amount of the runtime, there’s a lot of scenes on the ocean which are all executed fairly well. In the opening chapter we see Boroff’s ship the Carfax caught in a storm, and the set definitely looks like a boat in a storm, with huge waves soaking the set and the actors. There’s some decent effects and props which also breathe some life into the predictable storyline. While setting a serial in the coast guards might not sound as thrilling as a Flash Gordon serial or the like, it still manages a decent story with a good cast. If you liked the Dick Tracy serial, no doubt you would have sought this serial out as well.
