SOS Coast Guard

In Republic's third year of existence they certainly hit their action serial stride in this very well made exciting coast guard serial thriller. Still following the format well designed by Mascot Pictures from 1930-34 until Republic bought them, the opening recalls of each chapter are entertaining and brief and concise. The titles are exciting and the sturdy sets and model work exciting and good to look at. Also of extra interest is the amount of vacant suburban and seaside Los Angeles on show and viewers familiar with locales around LA will enjoy the sight of bare streets, dilapidated buildings and empty beaches no doubt crammed with modern buildings today. Each chapter has an extraordinary amount of location shooting in LA streets and ocean/beach locales. The DVD I have does not have a Republic logo and the chapter endings have original plain text which may have been the style for the time, but I believe from seeing serials from about 1940 there was a more stylised look for the in and out titles. The ocean model work is very well done and a treat to follow, given the Lydecker reputation.