DISCOVER--the Columbia serials in chronological order
One of the three main players alongside Republic and Universal, Columbia entered the serials game relatively late, moving in when the competition had thinned out a little bit. Many of their titles were taken from earlier films made in the silent era. They were the cheapest and most slapdash of the three, in a genre not known for its largesse and attention to detail in the first place, but they got lucky early by securing the rights to Superman and Batman, and many of their serials were built around comic strip characters and popular culture icons of myth and legend. Their stories are also the most ridiculous of a wild lot, but of course with hindsight that makes them more fun today. However, we shouldn't make the rookie mistake of assuming the audience was as dumb as the product; Republic and Universal were acknowledged by public and industry alike as superior. Still, we'd be worse off without most of the following...
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- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsTom TylerJeanne BatesErnie AdamsThe Phantom's clan has ruled the jungle tribes for centuries. He battles Dr. Bremmer who plans to build an airfield and gets greedy when Professor Davidson and his niece Diana arrive to search for the treasure of the lost city of Zoloz.This entry is just a place-holder so we have a picture. The list starts below...
- DirectorHarry L. FraserGeorge MelfordStarsFrank BuckSasha SiemelReginald DennyIn the Asian province of Seemang where the Bay of Bengal meets the jungle, Chandler Elliott (John St. Polis) owns a large and prosperous rubber plantation. His attractive daughter, Dorothy (Charlotte Henry), is engaged to neighboring planter Tom Banning (William Bakewell) but troubles are brewing for both plantations. When a load of rubber is put on a riverboat to be taken to port, the boat is attacked by river pirates and the crew is killed and the shipment stolen. Jim Murphy (LeRoy Mason). Elliott's plantation manager, is plotting with others to force Elliott to to sell his plantation. Adventurer Frank Hardy (Frank Buck)determines to find out who is behind the plot.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsFrank HawksDorothy SebastianEsther RalstonA 15-episode serial in which our hero, Jim Dorn helps hide Jean McNain from a man she can implicate in a murder.
- DirectorElmer CliftonStarsDon TerryGwen GazeWalter MillerIn the Prologue, pirates hide a treasure on an island off the Mexican coast. And the pirates, the map and the treasure disappear in a volcanic eruption. The legend of the island draws treasure seekers for a few centuries, but the treasure lies undetected. Cut to 1938 and Carter Collins)---The Shark---takes possession of the island and turns it into a fortress, while he systematically seeks the gold. He takes over an ancient mansion, installs a physician, Doctor "X", his nurse Zanya, his butler, Hawkins, and Grindley, who has plans of his own, since he already has a portion of the map. The possessor of the other portion soon shows up. Meanwhile, Collins has his slave diggers---The Mole Men---digging up the island looking for the treasure. Back in the states reporter Larry Kent is assigned to go to the island to investigate the disappearance of another reporter, Paul Thorndyke. A sea captain who has half of the map is killed before he can tell the daughter, Toni Morrell, of an old shipmate about the other half but is around long enough to tell her that her father, that she doesn't know, is on the island but expires before he can tell her his name. Toni and Larry decide to join forces and solve the mysteries if the island.
- DirectorSam NelsonMack V. WrightStarsBill ElliottMonte BlueCarole WayneA short plot summary finds Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott), the U.S. Marshal in Abilene, Kansas, opposing the Phantom Raiders, a gang of renegades raiding the cattle drives over the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene. Hickok organizes the boys of the town into the "Flaming Arrows" to assist him. Finally, in the 15th chapter, "Trail's End", Hickok, the "Flaming Arrows" and army scout Kit Lawson (Kermit Maynard) combine to put an end to the Phantom Raiders.
- DirectorJames W. HorneRay TaylorStarsWarren HullIris MeredithRichard FiskeA crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.Many consider this fellow to be the partial inspiration for Marvel's Spider-man character and costume and when you look at his design, it's difficult to argue...
- DirectorJames W. HorneRay TaylorStarsRobert PaigeRichard FiskeJames CraigThree government aviators called the "Flying G-Men", one of whom is disguised as "The Black Falcon", fight to protect the US and its allies from an enemy spy ring and to avenge the death of the fourth Flying G-Man.
- DirectorNorman DemingSam NelsonStarsWarren HullDoris WestonAl KikumeMandrake and his assistant Lothar are working the cruise lines and make the acquaintance of Professor Houston who has developed a radium energy machine, which is much coveted by a masked Crime Lord known as "The Wasp".An early newspaper strip character of the King Features Syndicate, this uninspired magican later turned up in comic books and cartoon shows. This is the only Columbia serial not to run to fifteen parts; it's only twelve episodes long.
- DirectorNorman DemingSam NelsonStarsBill ElliottIris MeredithRichard FiskeA mysterious outlaw known as Pegleg dreams of an empire in the vast, rich wilderness west of the Mississippi River. Army Lieurenant David Brent (Richard Fiske) is sent from Washington to persuade Kit Carson (Bill Elliott) to put an end to the reign of terror caused by Pegleg's gang called the Black Raiders. Carson agrees and, in the course of his assignment, he meets and is attracted to Caremelita Gonzales (Iris Meredith), the adopted daughter of a Spanish grandee, Don Jose Gonzales (Frrancisco Moran), who is heading west via a wagon train. Escaping an avalanche started by Perleg's henchmen, Kit captures Natchez (Dick Botiller), a Black Raider, and just as he is about to reveal the real identity of his boss, he is slain by Pegleg. As he seeks the killer, Kit narrowly escapes an Indian ambush and rides to warn the trappers and citizens at Stewart's Post that Pegleg intends to massacre them. The Black Raiders attack the post, but Pegleg, using his true identity, lures Caremelita to "safety."
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsVictor JoryVeda Ann BorgRoger MooreThe Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray.The popular radio character, brought to life by the great Victor Jory.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsWilliam TracyJeff YorkJoyce BryantDr. Herbert Lee (John Paul Jones), an archaeologist seeking to decipher ancient Mara inscriptions, is aided by his son, Terry (William Tracy), and Terry's pal, Pat Ryan (Jeff York), and Normandie Drake (Joyce Bryant). Fang (Dick Curtis), a jungle pirate and warlord, plots to kill The Dragon Lady (Sheila Darcy), Queen of the Temple of Mara, and seize the treasures of her ancestors. Both Fang and The Dragon Lady have sworn death to any foreign intruders.Another popular newspaper strip.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsDonald DouglasLorna GrayHarry HarveyDeadwood Dick, a masked and mysterious hero, is in reality Dick Stanley, editor of the Dakota Pioneer Press and a leading member of Statehood For Dakota. He is on the trail of a masked villain known as the Skull, who leads a violent, renegade band infamous for its violence against the Deadwood residents' wishes for a statehood status.Deadwood Dick was a pulp novel character from the late 19th century whose name was appropriated by several real-life individuals at that time. Needless to say, this serial is one of those fictions.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsVictor JoryIris MeredithJames CravenThe struggle over the Bellamy estate ends with Michael Bellamy accused of murder and killed on the way to prison, while his brother Abel Bellamy takes control of the estate for his own nefarious plans.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsBuck JonesRaymond HattonDorothy FayWhite Eagle is the son of a massacred army officer, who has been raised by an Indian tribe and believes himself to be the son of the tribal chief. White Eagle is working to get a peace treaty signed between the Indians and the white settlers, but "Dandy" Darnell has about a dozen different reasons for the treaty not to be signed, and keeps dispatching a small army of henchmen to keep relations between the Indians and the settlers stirred to a boiling point for most of the fifteen chapters
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsWarren HullMary AinsleeDave O'BrienThe evil and masked "Gargoyle" is sabotaging all of America's industrial plants. It is up to the Spider to save the country.More crime-fighting fun with the original webbed hero... Busy Warren Hull returns to the role...
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsCharles QuigleyJoyce BryantForrest TaylorMiserly old Anton Benson once recovered a treasure in gold from a sunken Spanish galleon, and in his greed murdered anyone who got in his way of keeping it. Now his family is gathered at his estate, Bensonhurst, and they are all searching for the treasure, which is hidden somewhere on the estate. Also looking for the gold is a masked killer called The Iron Claw, who murders one member of the family and lets the others know that they'll be next.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsJack HoltEvelyn BrentC. Montague ShawA murderous gang of counterfeiters has kidnapped the government's best engraver and is forcing him to print virtually undetectable phony money. The Secret Service sends its toughest agent, Jack Holt, and a female partner after the gang.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsDave O'BrienDorothy ShortJames CravenSecret Service Major Steel (Joseph W. Girard), is one of the few men in America aware of the fact that Captain Albright (Dave O'Brien) is also Captain Midnight, daring masked aviator dedicated to fighting gangsters and enemies of America. When murderous bombing attacks are made on West Coast munitions plants, Steel sends for Albright and asks him to track down the mysterious Ivan Shark (James Craven), the foreign agent mastermind behind the attacks. Shark has learned about an ingenious range finder, invented by John Edwards (Bryant Washburn) and makes plans to obtain a model of the invention. Edwards instructs his daughter, Joyce (Dorothy Short), to bring the model to Albright for safekeeping in his mountain laboratory. Shark takes Edwards prisoner by Albright assures Joyce that her father will be saved and an end put to Shark's reign of terror. Dressing as Captain Midnight and enlisting the aid of his friends, Chuck (Sam Edwards) and Ichabod Mudd (Guy Wilkerson), Captain Midnight delivers on his promises fourteen chapters later.Later a TV series in the 1950s.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsRobert KellardKenneth MacDonaldHerbert RawlinsonMountie sergeant and his three constables find themselves facing multiple perils at the hands of an outlaw gang which, aided by a corrupt Indian medicine man and his followers, have brought a halt to construction of a key railroad line through the Canadian Northwest.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsPaul KellyAnne NagelTrevor BardetteA police detective goes undercover and joins a gang of Nazi agents using explosive gases and artificial lightning to sabotage the war effort, whom he battles in disguise as The Black Commando.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsBill ElliottSlim SummervilleCarmen MoralesWild Bill Tolliver and Missouri Benson ride into the territory of New Mexico to search for Bill's father, Henry Tolliver, who disappeared while prospecting. They discover that a ruthless outlaw leader, Jonathan Kincaid, has joined forces with Carl Engler, a renegade European general, and Kincaid owns a giant gold mine and uses captured Mexican patriots, and others, to work as slaves on his property. Bill and Missouri become friendly with Consuelo Romeros, an agent for the Mexican government, and they learns that Bill's father is among the prisoner/slaves in the mine. After freeing his father, Bill sets out to smash both the slave-mine operation and Engler's attempts to overthrow Benito Juarez, the legal president of Mexico.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsLewis WilsonDouglas CroftJ. Carrol NaishThe very first serial to adapt the comic book character of the Batman. In it, the Batman is a secret U.S. government agent, attempting to defeat the schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operating in Los Angeles at the height of World War II.The first live-action Batman, marred by anti-Japan sentiment that was more than understandable at the time but embarrasses today.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsTom TylerJeanne BatesErnie AdamsThe Phantom's clan has ruled the jungle tribes for centuries. He battles Dr. Bremmer who plans to build an airfield and gets greedy when Professor Davidson and his niece Diana arrive to search for the treasure of the lost city of Zoloz.Another King Features comic strip hero revived for comic books and cartoons, plus a live action feature in 1996 that bombed. Lead Tom Tyler had been Captain Marvel for Republic.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsGilbert RolandMona MarisBen WeldenEvil Hassan slips back into his native land of Ahad and plots to overthrow his twin bother, Kasim, who has just been crowned the Caliph. Hassan enlists the aid of the chief Chamberlain, Faud and they send several henchmen into the royal palace, who then knock Kasim unconscious. Faud and Hassan dispatch a couple of different hirelings to take Kasim into another part of the town and murder him.Kasin comes to and gets away, but has been wounded. Omar, a beggar, takes Kasim to his home and nurses him back to health. But, it takes a few weeks for Kasin to get healthy and, by that time, Hassan has a firm grip on the duties of a Caliph. In a storeroom, Kasim finds a coat of mail with a great hawk emblazoned across the chest and promptly decides this is the costume he will wear while fighting to get his old job back. Meanwhile, the Emir of Telif shows up with his daughter, Princess Azala, with the intent of marrying her off to the local Caliph. They do not know that the current-Caliph on the royal-throne is the evil twin-brother of the man they think he is.
- DirectorLew LandersB. Reeves EasonStarsMark RobertsAdele JergensRobert B. WilliamsBuck Sherman and Jake Jackson, a couple of evil carpetbaggers, illegally enter a Navajo reservation to prospect for gold and end up killing Aranho, the Navajos chief. Black Arrow, presumed Aranho's son, refuses to kill the Indian agent, Tom Whitney, in revenge, as demanded by Navajo law. Then, he is driven off the reservation for his reluctance to kill Whitney and decides to join forces with Pancho, Mary Brent and the agent to go in search of the men who killed the chief.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsJoan WoodburyKane RichmondErnie AdamsChapter 1 finds Daily Flash newspaper reporter Brenda Starr (Joan Woodbury), and her photographer, Chuck Allen (Syd Saylor), assigned to cover a fire in an old house where they discover the wounded Joe Heller (Wheeler Oakman),a gangster suspected of stealing a quarter-million dollar payroll. The dying Heller tells Brenda that someone took his satchel of stolen money and he gives her a coded message. Kruger (Jack Ingram), the gangster who shot Heller, escapes to his gang's hideout with the bag but discovers it is filled with paper rather than money. The gang, knowing Heller gave Brenda a coded message makes many attempts on her life to get her to reveal where Heller hid the payroll money. But thanks to Chuck and Police Lieutenant Larry Farrel (Kane Richmond), she evades them for thirteen weeks/chapters, until Pesky (William 'Billy' Benedict), a Daily Flash office boy manages to decode the Heller message.Based on the popular syndicated comic strip that began in 1940, this is the first of four screen incarnations, to be followed by two unsold TV pilots in the '70s and a little-seen film in the late '80s.
- DirectorHoward BrethertonStarsRobert LoweryGeorge MacreadyRalph MorganAt the Bainbridge Research Foundation, Professor Franklin Arnold displays his creation the Metalogen Man, a robot, to Professor Ernst and three other colleagues. Shortly afterward, the three associates are killed by Thor (Ray Corrigan, in his for-rent ape suit), a huge ape trained by Ernst, and Arnold, his daughter Babs and Ken Morgan, a representative of the company for whom the robot was made, find it has been stolen. Their 15-chapter search for Thor, the robot and Ernst leads to a series of cliff-hanging adventures as Ernst strives to gain control of the robot and the supply of metalogen needed for its production.Bonkers barnstormer about a murderous scientist who has a secret tunnel from his house to a giant gorilla's cage in the local zoo and designs on a mechanical man he wants to use for evil intent. Future second Batman Robert Lowery is the hero, a very young George MacReady the villain (the raspy voice and craggy visage sadly not yet in place!).
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsKane RichmondEddie QuillanVeda Ann BorgGirl looking for father who disappeared years before in a jungle, finds herself battling greedy civilized people and savages alike.
- DirectorHoward BrethertonWallace GrissellStarsRobert KentAmelita WardTim RyanWalter Calvert calls upon his brother Henry at his eerie old house.Old dark house mystery.
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsStarsWilliam BakewellJennifer HoltRobert 'Buzz' HenryHop Harrigan (William Bakewell) and his pal "Tank" Tinker (Sumner Getchell) operate a small airport and flying service, and are hired by J. Westly Arnold (Emmett Vogan) to fly an eccentric inventor, Dr. Tabor (John Merton), to his secret laboratory where he has a revolutionary new power unit. However, a mysterious character known as the Chief Pilot is interested in the invention and uses a destroying ray to cripple Hop's airplane and kidnap Tabor. Hop and "Tank", aided by Gail Nolan (Jennifer Holt and her younger brother, Jackie (Robert 'Buzz' Henry), finally overcome the villains - and, then, Tabor goes mad and decides to blow up the world. There is still work to be done.
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsStarsLyle TalbotDouglas FowleyJulie GibsonDetective Chick Carter (Lyle Talbot)finds himself on his most exciting case when Sherry Martin (Julie Gibson), a singer at the Century Club, reports the robbery of the famous Blue Diamond, owned by Joe Carney (Charles King), the owner of the nightclub. Joe planned the theft in order to pay a debt to Nick Pollo (George Meeker)with the $100,000 insurance money he would collect. Sherry double-crossed Joe by wearing an imitation one, while she threw the real one, hidden in a cotton snowball, to Nick during the floor show. But Spud Warner (Eddie Acuff), a newspaper photographer, there with newspaper reporter Rusty Farrell (Douglas Fowley, takes a snowball from her basket and Nick receives an empty one. The Blue Diamond disappears. Aided by a private investigator, Ellen Dale(Pamela Blake), Chick finds himself pitted against the criminals searching for the missing Blue Diamond.Not a short film, a Columbia serial.
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsStarsRobert ShawDaun KennedyRobert 'Buzz' HenryEngland, 12th century. David Trent is a nobleman who forms an outlaw group to combat his evil uncle Sir Edgar Bullard. Bullard has kidnapped Louise, the daughter of his rival Lord Markham. The outlaws of Sherwood Forest are championing young Roger Mowbray too, whose right to the throne is being usurped by the evil regent Lord Hampton.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsJohn HartRosemary La PlancheClaire JamesJack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, battles the evil Dr. Grood, who has placed a death ray aboard his spaceship orbiting Earth.Future Lone Ranger John Hart stars.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsRalph ByrdRamsay AmesLyle TalbotThe Vigilante, a masked government agent, is assigned to investigate the case of the "100 Tears of Blood", a cursed string of rare blood red pearls sought by a gang led by the unknown X-1 that may have been smuggled into the country.Ralph Byrd, better known to serials fans as Dick Tracy, stars.
- DirectorW.B. EasonMack V. WrightSam NewfieldStarsBuster CrabbeJimmy LloydPamela BlakeCaptain Silver and his crew receive a distress call in the South Pacific. They rescue the crew of a yacht from modern pirates and get caught up in a search for lost treasure.Buster Crabbe of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers fame stars.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsKane RichmondRick VallinLinda LeightonAn adventurer travels to the moon to stop a madman from getting hold of the Interceptor Ray, a weapon that could destroy Earth.Insane science-fiction jumble with Spy Smasher Kane Richmond.
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsStarsRobert KellardPeggy StewartRobert 'Buzz' HenryWhen Tex Granger rides into Three Buttes, Helen Kent persuades him to buy the local newspaper. However, loan shark Rance Carson appoints the bandit Blaze Talbot as town marshal to act as his enforcer and soon the town is in chaos. With fighting between rival gangs, Tex dons a mask to become The Midnight Rider of the Plains and bring the criminals to justice.With Duke the Wonder Dog!!
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsKirk AlynNoel NeillTommy BondSuperman comes to Earth as a child and grows up to be his home's first superhero with his first major challenge being to oppose The Spider Lady.Kirk Alyn premieres as the first live-action Superman. Great stuff.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsDon McGuireCleo MooreJack IngramA girl is about to inherit a fortune, but she is missing in Africa. Only then, family charges Congo Bill, an adventurer, to find her, and bring her back to civilization. He follows a legend about some White Queen, but his path is full of difficulties, by an inhospitable jungle, and the man who will lose the fortune if the girl is found alive.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsTom NealJudy ClarkRalph HodgesFamed aviator Bruce Gentry is working with scientist Andrew Benson, setting out to uncover the origin of a deadly secret weapon---an electronically controlled flying disc which can be directed at moving or stationary targets. The disc was master-minded by an enemy agent known only as "The Recorder" because...he speaks entirely via recordings. Aided by rancher Frank Farrell and his sister Juanita "Nita" Hodges, Gentry consistently foils "The Recorders" schemes, which are carried out by "The Recorder's" henchmen, Krendon, Allen and Chandler, including an attack on the Panama Canal.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsRobert LoweryJohnny DuncanJane AdamsSecond serial featuring the comic book character Batman. In it, Batman, together with his sidekick Robin, face off against the Wizard, a hooded villain with an electronic device that remotely controls vehicles.The second live-action appearance of Batman and Robin. A great shame that the adversary couldn't have been Joker or Catwoman...
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsSpencer Gordon BennetStarsGeorge ReevesCharles KingWilliam FawcettSir Galahad, a knight of the Round Table, searches for the legendary sword Excalibur.Future second Superman George Reeves stars.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsJock MahoneyDickie MoorePeggy StewartAn Eastern syndicate, plotting to gain control of the western frontier, hires a gang led by Mort Black to drive out the settlers. Army undercover agent Lt. Jim Archer and young Pony Express rider Bill Cody join forces to combat the wide-spread outlaw attacks by Black and his gang.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsKirk AlynNoel NeillLyle TalbotSuperman battles Lex Luthor who is using a teleportation device and a new identity as Atom Man in his criminal plans.Bizarrely, the bad guy gets top billing as Kirk Alyn returns for his second and last flight as Superman.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsBuster CrabbeLois HallTommy FarrellTwo ex-Navy buddies travel to a tropical island to help search for a fugitive Nazi and a fortune in diamonds stolen by him during WWII, and encounter multiple dangers at the hand of a gang also seeking the treasure for the island's corrupt governor.With Buster Crabbe and several familiar serials names supporting.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetThomas CarrStarsJock MahoneyVirginia HerrickWilliam FawcettA railroad agent named Jim Grant opposes hard-nosed German, Karl Ulrich, called The Baron. Head of a strong ring in America, the infamous Baron was thwarted time and time again as he tried to sabotage the building of the transcontinental railroad with all the means to his scope, strategically bribing the local Indians into doing his dirty work.A Jock Mahoney western.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsRichard CraneMarshall ReedKaren RandleUnion prisoners use a balloon to escape a Southern prison camp near the end of the Civil War and end up marooned on a mysterious volcanic island with very unusual inhabitants.The Jules Verne story, with added aliens. Future Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and Commando Cody Richard Crane stars.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetWallace GrissellStarsJudd HoldrenLarry StewartGeorge EldredgeSpace hero Captain Video battles the evil Vultura on the planet Atoma.Serial version of the popular TV show, with Judd Holdren in the lead.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetWallace GrissellStarsBuster CrabbeGloria DeaLeonard PennAn Air Force captain is assigned to find some missing top-secret microfilm.With Buster Crabbe in the lead.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetFred F. SearsStarsKirk AlynCarol FormanJohn CrawfordBased on a successful comic book that began in 1941, the Blackhawks were seven flyers who banded together during WW II to fight the Nazis. After the war, they continued to fight evil where ever they find it. In this movie, they are battling a group of spies and saboteurs bent on destroying democracy. The Blackhawks foil a succession of plots, with a cliff hanger ending in each episode.Former Superman Kirk Alyn (reunited with Spider Lady Carole Foreman) as another DC Comics character. Good fun.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsClayton MooreBud OsborneTommy FarrellJim Scott attempts to bring peace between west-bound settlers and native Apaches. This task is made harder by a band of local outlaws.Serials regular and future TV Lone Ranger Clayton Moore stars.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsJudd HoldrenVivian MasonTed ThorpeTwo newspaper reporters battle a plot by the evil Dr. Grood to conquer the world.Sci-fi insanity with Judd Holdren as the hero and Michael Fox as the villain... Madness...
- DirectorDerwin AbrahamsCharles S. GouldStarsRichard CraneDavid BruceJohn CrawfordThe British Admirality assigns two officers, Richard Dale and Alan Duncan, to gather evidence to convict Captain Kidd of piracy in the English courts. They sail for New York to learn the whereabouts of Kidd, and posing as ordinary seamen, they join his crew. They learn that Kidd, the legendary swashbuckler of the seven seas, is not a a villain who scourges and plunders at will, but a man whose loyalty to England knows no bounds, a maritime adventurer who attacks only enemy French vessels and those of the pirates that sail against the British Empire. But can they keep him from being betrayed by his enemies and hanged?With Richard Crane in the lead.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetCharles S. GouldStarsJock MahoneyClayton MoorePhyllis CoatesWhite Horse Rebels, under the command of a mystery villain known only as The Leader, attempt to create an independent "White Horse Republic" in Canada's north west. Funded by gold from the Marrow Mine, they attack Canadian settlements in the area. The North-West Mounted Police, represented primarily by hero Sgt. Ward and his sidekick Constable Nevin are, work to top the rebels and discover The Leader's real identity. An added complication comes in the form of First Nations, Blackfeet driven into Canada from the United States, who attack both sides and whom the rebels attempt to use as scapegoats for their own attacks.Jock Mahoney, Clayton Moore, and Phyllis Coates...
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsMarshall ReedRick VallinJoanne RioBuffalo Bill Cody comes to aid the miner Rocky Ford and a group of ranchers in their defeat of a local crime lord, King Carney, who is trying to keep the new railroad out of the territory in order to carry on with his illegal operations. Rocky then asks Cody to don the disguise of a legendary masked man, known as ''The Ridin' Terror'', who once before smashed outlaw rule in the area. In response, Cody enlists the support of Rocky, the settler Reb Morgan and his sister Ruth, and plans offensive strategy to eradicate Carney and his outlaws.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsJohn HartRick VallinBen WeldenTrapper Nat Coleman and government agent Ted Arnold come upon a plot to take over an African nation. Its leader, Caliph Abdul el Hamid, has been exiled from his country and replaced by a look-alike usurper allied with an unnamed foreign power. The Caliph intends to return but enemy agents Boris and Greg are out to stop him. Captain Africa a masked jungle lord, appears occasionally to aid Nat and Ted.This was supposed to be another adventure with the Phantom, but when rights negotiations fell through, future Lone Ranger John Hart found himself cast as newcomer Captain Africa...
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsDennis MooreRichard EmoryEvelyn FinleyUS Deputy Marshal Dan Lawson teaming up with RCMP Sergeant Gray to go undercover and capture the nefarious smuggler Bart Randall. Lawson, posing as an outlaw called Laramie, is ready to infiltrate the gang led by Randall, a self-styled Gun Emperor of the Northwest, who is wanted for murder and bank robbery in the United States. In addition to the difficulties inherent in the mission, Lawson has other issues to deal with, including the use of a fake totem and flying a hydraplane to overawe the Native Americans and renegade whites. He also is aided in his search by Donna Blaine, who is suspected at first of giving information to Randall, but who in reality is a Canadian secret agent investigating Randall's illegal gun trading with the Indians.Only Columbia were still making serials in 1956, Universal having thrown in the towel back in 1946, and Republic the previous year in 1955. This was their penultimate offering.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsLee RobertsDennis MooreNorma BrooksRance Devlin intends to build his own empire in the American west using his Black Raiders and allied Indians. Only US Army scout Tom Bridger, allied with Pony Express rider Ed Marr and cavalry officer Captain Frank Carter, can stop him.Shed a tear for the last of the movie serials...
Obsessed with the popular culture of the 1960s and surrounding decades, Jon Abbott has been writing about film and TV for over thirty years in around two dozen different publications, trade, populist, and specialist. He is the author of several books, including
Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970,
Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots,
The Elvis Films,
Cool TV of the 1960s: Three Shows That Changed the World,
and Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s.
See his Amazon author's page, and his other lists on the IMDB, all under the pre-fix DISCOVER.