Queen Of The Jungle!

Queen of the Jungle is a 1935 serial from Mascot which takes footage from an even earlier silent film and tries to bond some new scenes. It's not really a successful effort alas. As I watched this early serial unfold I was reminded of the television show Forged in Fire -- let me explain. On that show the contestants are required often to bond to different types of metal into a cohesive whole which will yield a working blade. All too often due to lapses in technique or lack of time or both the bond does hold and the metals spring apart. That seemed to happen in this movie.

We meet our hero and heroine as children when the young woman is swept away in balloon into the heart of unexplored Africa. Many years later the young man searches for her and finds her, the queen of a tribe of mostly friendly natives who worship her as well as many other fetishes. There are villains and heroes and much rambling through the jungle. The main goal though in the new sections film in 1935 Mascot serial is that it is slave to the somewhat dusty plot of the 1922 lost movie The Jungle Goddess used extensively to expand the yarn. It felt like they wanted to update the old movie and make proper for audiences adjusted for sound. But the differences between the set-bound 1935 scenes and the outdoor 1922 scenes were extensive and obvious. It didn't help either that the "Queen of the Jungle" spoke almost no English and instead the directors insisted on sort of gibberish that was later suggested to be Swahili but it didn't sound legit to me.

Ultimately, as in all these programmers, the heroes succeed and villains are put down, but the fun is always getting there. All too often the fun is absent in Queen of the Jungle. At least it does preserve in some fashion the lost 1922 film, which is one I'd really have preferred to see.

Rip Off

The Miracle Rider

The Miracle Rider is a 1935 Mascot serial starring Tom Mix, the star of countless silent westerns in his final screen role. It's one of the longest serials ever made at over five hours and offers up a blend of genres as the then modern world is mixed with classic western elements and even some science fiction tropes get tossed in as well.

I can't say this is a particularly exciting movie as it lumbers along a bit too much to build up any actual tension but it does give the viewer some decent visuals of western action along the way. Tom Mix was in his fifties when he made this movie and it shows as he seems too old to play a convincing leading man or action hero. His face and body language both undermine the sense of virile man of action.


Mix looks okay in the saddle as he gallops along, but the moment he hits the ground the illusion is shattered as he minces along on spindly legs and he looks downright girlish when he runs. He looks to be in pain most of the time, like he needs something for gas.

Opposite Mix are some decent enough actors. Joan Gale does an okay job as Ruth, the daughter of a slain Indian leader and presumed romantic lead, though their relationship seems more surrogate father and daughter than lovers truth be told.

The henchman are a sturdy lot of pros who do what they need to do with sufficient mugging and whatnot. There are a lot of faces here who would later be mainstays in the Republic serials.


But the real pleasure in this movie is Charles Middleton as Zaroff, the mastermind who is stealing minerals from the Indians and darn proud of it. This role is pre-Ming the Merciless and Middleton is in fine fettle as he grimaces and grinds his molars to sell the sheer menace of the character. It's a pleasure in the film when he shows up and things really start moving.

The Indians are a gathering of weary cliches for the most part, and it's a bit tiresome to see them so utterly passive and having to rely on the whims of benevolent white men to save them from the villains. But it's the way things were, so there's no sense beefing about it. But it's irksome that these movie makers probably thought they were doing a good job with such things.

The movie boasts some sci-fi elements, but that's mostly a few chapters featuring "The Thunderbird" a remote-controlled flying machine which soon crashes and is out of the story, and a secret explosive mineral called X-94. There is a fancy communications machine in a wall where Zaroff gets cryptic offers for his wares from foreign enemies of peace, but it's pretty tame stuff most of the time.

Mostly this is a typical modern western with cars being used as much as horses and everyone being okay with the mix. A number of the cliffhangers are outright cheats, but then some of them are decent enough. There is only a few moments in this long serial that are repeated though, so the viewer sure gets new footage, though quite a lot of it is endless riding scenes. Some of the scenery is quite nice and some quite familiar to serial fans.

The Miracle Rider is a passably decent entertainment worth checking out for the excellent Middleton performance if for no other reason.



Rip Off

King Of The Wild!

I picked up King of the Wild from Mascot Pictures several weeks ago because it advertised Boris Karloff in one of his pre-Frankenstein roles, and because I just like old serials. This offers up a lot on both counts.

Karloff plays Mustapha, a devious Arab who darts in and out of the story, especially at the beginning and end of the serial. He is instrumental to keeping this complicated clanker of a plot tumbling along, and he offers up a decent portrayal. I suspect some of his lines outdoors were dubbed, as none of the characters seem to sound like themselves. Perhaps this is repair or something Nat Levine's production crew did at the time.

The story deals with an American named Bob Grant who discovers that he looks just like a Rajah, who then wants to keep Grant around. The Rajah is killed in an accident and implores Grant to take his place to keep his evil cousin Dakah from seizing power. The Rajah writes a note to explain all of this. (This is the Maguffin in this movie.) But a "friend" of Grant's, a white hunter named Harris betrays him and Grant is put into prison for a year before escaping and seeking Harris and the note. He then finds a woman named Muriel and her brother Tom who have a diamond mine, and this is where Mustapha comes in, as he wants it. He and Harris plot to get hold of the mine and kidnapping and skullduggery of all types ensues. There is also a little old lady who seems to be a Secret Service agent, a Swedish guy and animal trainer who ain't all he seems, and a guy with dark glasses who keeps shooing people. And then there's Bimi.

Bimi is my favorite character in this magilla of a flick. Bimi is an Ape-man/Monster played to the hilt by the very buff Arthur McLaglen (Victor's Brother), and Bimi steals many a scene from his more loquacious comrades. No explanation is made about Bimi, save that he is loyal to Harris who apparently captured him at some time. But the weird relationship between Harris and Bimi slowly becomes the one you're most interested in.

This is an action-filled story, that truth told does drag a bit towards the end when some of the story lines seem to run past their due dates, and unnecessary complications seem thrown in for no good reason. The ending is a tad talky, but the final scene is worth the wait.

I highly recommend this one, and it can be had for cheap. And ignore the lousy look of the first chapter as the production improves in the later installments.

One source says this movie was intended for Trader Horn star Harry Carey and his co-star Edwina Booth, but production woes on that movie forced the leads to be given to Walter Miller and Nora Lane. Miller was as well known for playing bad guys as good. Dorothy Christie who is in the serial briefly later shows up in Gene Autry's epic serial The Phantom Empire as the haughty Queen Tika. Tom Santschi a long-time silent hero and heavy, who played the villain Harris died the same year this movie was made, which I have to admit adds a bit of poignancy to the final scene.

An especially curious note is that the guy who plays the local top cop Wainwright in the movie was Albert De Winton Jones, a real life explorer who disappeared in Brazil trying in vain to solve the Fawcett mystery soon after this movie wrapped.

The movie apparently did generate some intriguing posters, many of which are on view below. Bimi looks a little too docile in these, compared to his wildman visage on screen, but you do get a sense of the sweep of the serial. I'd love to know who the artist is on these if anyone can say.










Rip Off

The Black Coin!

I found this 1936 serial for three bucks and scooped it up. I love serials, and especially serials from the 30's. I knew nothing about this one, it not being a sci-fi serial nor featuring any big star that I recognized, though as usual the faces are familiar.

The story is a lengthy one, coming in at over five and a half hours. It begins in Tangiers with a tribe of Arabs hunting down a cloaked man and his female partner. The story shifts to a ship and becomes a nautical adventure briefly before heading to Southern California where it switches between the nautical and the western.

The story never makes all that much sense, but that's not atypical for serials. This one has a hero named Terry Navarro who is the son of a shipping magnate and they've been drawn into a smuggling scheme. This scheme is being investigated by a man and woman team of government agents. The Maguffins in this story are a dozen black coins spread among the populace which when combined with a mysterious paper can be used to find a treasure.

There is a lot of fistcuffs, each chapter featuring at least one brawl. The little gunplay in the movie is surprisingly real for the genre. There are the usual car chases and trapdoors and whatnot. The survivals are not especially clever though they can be funny. One time the hero survives crashing his car into a train and is presumed dead for a few minutes before he just gets up and dusts himself off no worse for wear.

This is a diverting serial, fast paced for the most part and the villain "Shark" Malone is a hoot, a real bad mother who at one point fights his whole crew and darn near wins.

If you can find it cheap check it out.

Rip Off

Rin Tin Tin Cinema!

Rin Tin Tin is a most famous name and at one time a powerhouse at the box office. But by the 1930's the original star was getting a bit long in the fang and soon his mantle would be taken up by Rin Tin Tin Jr.

The Legend of Rin Tin Tin features four serials starring both of these dogs. The first two star the original Rinty and the last two Rinty Jr. alongside Rex The Wonder Horse. All four of these movies are Mascot Serials, the company that would form the basis for Republic.


The Lone Defender was apparently one of the very first full-sound serial films. It's a solid story about a gold mine and the furious activity on the part of the badguys to make off with the claim. A young woman named Valdez loses her father, but the secret of the mine is etched in a watch and in the memory of Rinty her father's faithful dog. The baddies want to snatch both but are fended off by Buzz a young fellow who helps Miss Valdez and a mysterious character named Ramon, who many think is a villain named "The Cactus Kid". This serial is full of riding and Rin Tin Tin fights three other dogs in some rather intense sequences. The movie falls silent for long stretches, a common feature in early sound flicks, and there are some overly long sequences in sandstorms that are pretty difficult to follow. But overall it's an enjoyable journey with a few not-terribly-surprising twists to freshen things.


The Lightning Warrior is the second Rin Tin Tin sound serial. The plot is pretty straightforward, or at least I think so. A group of miners are being scared away from their claims by the threat of Indians stirred up by a mysterious cloaked figure called "The Wolfman" (this movie pre-dates the Universal flick by many years) and the government sends some men to investigate. A boy loses his father, the owner of the richest mine and a G-Man's brother is killed. Rin Tin Tin belongs to the dead brother but hooks up with the boy and they romp through the story escaping some pretty neat cliffhangers. Rin Tin Tin is the "Lightning Warrior" we learn about half way through, it being a nickname given to him by the Indians. It's a great title for a serial, but the explanation is pretty weak. There's other stuff, like a woman who has a father framed for murder who was raised by the sheriff. All of these guys including a few others look good to be the Wolfman. The story doesn't really make sense if you pay too close attention, but I found it had a good momentum and held my attention pretty well.


The Law of the Wild stars Rin Tin Tin Jr. and is a straightforward modern western with cars and horses chasing along the same backroads raising dust and doing damage. A wild stallion named "Rex" by our hero played by Bob Custer turns out to be a desirable racehorse and so gets stolen by veteran serial baddie Richard Alexander. Then the villains struggle with the hero for possession of a bill of sale and the horse is stolen and re-stolen over and over again as the action and the story unfold. The story frankly could use a few more maguffins to keep it fresh in the middle where it sort of bogs down a bit. Ben Turpin, a silent comedy star famous for his crossed eyes supplies the light moments and gets a lot of screen time. Rinty and Rex are a good team in this saga with Rex portraying a very convincing dangerous stallion. Rinty gets hurt a lot in this one, getting shot at least twice and thrown out of several cars and off horses. He must have some healing factor though as he keeps coming back for more.


The Adventures of Rex and Rinty stars Kane Richmond alongside Rin Tin Tin Jr. and Rex the Wonder Horse. This is a pretty good serial with a decent amount of variety in the action. Rinty is a dog possessed of "near human intelligence" who is a stray fending for himself in the world. Rex is a god-horse of Sujan a distant island kingdom who gets stolen by the badguys and ends up through a bunch of coincidences in the stables operated by Kane Richmond's girlfriend's daddy. Richmond plays an expert polo player who trains Rex in that sport. Meanwhile the baddies led by an evil polo player try to steal Rex over and over again. Often it is Rinty to the rescue and the pair have more than a few adventures on their own apart from the main plot. The save some animals and even a lost little boy from an evil human predator. Ultimately of course all is made well and the horse gets back to Sujan, but then you knew that all ready.

All in all these are a fun batch of movies. The quality of the movies is suspect, but I've come to expect that with older flicks. This is not great cinema, but it is fun cinema for sure.

Rip Off

The Phantom Empire!

This classic 1935 serial starring Gene Autry the singing cowboy in his movie lead debut is a exquisite blend of pulp elements.

The story briefly is that Autry and his band have a radio show called "Melody Ranch" which is broadcast live each day at 2 pm from the ranch of the Baxter family. It's an audience affair and folks have been showing up on the ranch to see the producton which strangely offers up live action for the radio show. Also on hand are Frankie and Betsy Baxter, two siblings who lead the Thunder Riders Club named after a mysterous troop of bizarre horsemen who sometimes "thunder" across the ranch's outlying areas. Also showing up are some scientists interested in radium deposits located on the ranch and possibly a lost underground world of Mu in which this radium can be found.


There's a lot going on and it never much stops once it kicks off, despite a four-hour length. The twelve chapter serial offers up a neat array of cliffhangers and gets everyone in the act. The action gets a bit more serious when Mr.Baxter, the owner of the ranch and the parent of the kids is murdered by the scientists. Autry is blamed for it and spends the balance of the movie running from the sheriff. He also ends up getting captured by the Thunder Riders who take him 25,000 feet below ground to the "super scientific city" of Murania which is ruled by the bitchy Queen Tika. Also on hand are some outrageous robots, possibly the worst ever filmed. These robots though apparently originally appeared in the movie Dancing Lady starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. This is apparently the movie in which Fred Astaire debuted. Sheesh! All that goodness and these robots. I'll confess they have a goofy charm, and fit right into the weirdness of this story.

Gene spends lots of time running around the ranch and Murania but ultimately with help from his comedic sidekick friends Oscar and Pete and the kids ends up not only defeating the scientists, clearing his name, but also utterly destroying Murania. There's lots more that happens, but it really needs to be seen.

This time watching it, though I had a thought about its utter weirdness. The way the story moves in and out of the radio drama and works in elements ostensibly from the real world into that drama makes me suspect at the end that the whole affair is to be understood by the audience as part of that overarching tale, part of the radio/movie story and not really what we thought happened to the real people. Like sideways bending of the fourth wall. It's a complicated notion, but the movie is really curious and this gives it an interesting tone.


I love this serial. I found it years ago I think on TV and soon after got a VHS copy. I've not yet gotten it on DVD, but since my dvd player is bust, it's a perfect time to dig out the old tapes and enjoy them again. I heartily recommend this movie to anyone who wants to have a good time watching a fun sci-fi/western/musical. It's perhaps unique in cinema, and a rollicking good time.

Rip Off

The Return Of Chandu!

After finding the first Chandu movie tucked in among some other horror flicks on a Fox collection a few months ago, I've been wanting to see Bela Lugosi in the sequel where he switches from the villainous Roxor role to become the hero himself, Chandu. There are several collections available and I even found it for free on the net (after I bought one).

It's from 1934 and the version I have is in rough shape, but maybe the best it gets. I got the best version according to some reports, so I can't imagine following this on a rougher cut. There are deletions and scratches and what you expect in old films, but I've been spoiled I guess by some really good restorations.

The story is also available in two feature-length forms and I frankly recommend those. The serial is a stylish thing but wastes a lot of time if you watch it as I did in a few sittings. Now it's not fair to judge these things like regular movies, but even at that, I did find the amount of material repeated from episode to episode a bit more than I'm accustomed to from later serials. The action is evenly split between running around first California and later someplace called Suvo. Then the second half of the story shifts to Lemuria, the island of the Black Magicians.

Bela is not really very good, as much as I like him. He's miscast here unfortunately. I want to believe him as a romantic lead, a hero, but it doesn't work. He moves so slowly that he comes across as either laconic or sneaky, neither a trait of a hero. He grimaces in that traditional way and it's not pleasant, good for villainy but hard to watch on a hero. And his co-star Maria Alba is almost as incoherent as Bela, so you have two leads who speak a somewhat leaden English. There's a lot of pointing in this movie. The threats are pretty tame, but there is a scene with a rock on a chain that slowly descends (and I do mean slowly) that's pretty clever. One scene after a ship sinks, Chandu is found floating by the other survivors (his sister and her two kids who are in the whole thing) and he reveals he knocked himself out by hitting the raft with his head. Not something I'd suspect Buster would've done.

One treat in this movie is the unexpected use of the gates from King Kong as a key visual in several scenes on the island. Those majestic gates opened slowly by many seemingly golden slaves as scores of magicians and attendants walk somberly though is the visual highlight of the movie. They do it several times with a few alterations. Later the gates are closed against a savage uprising, but little is done with them after that. As a diehard Kong fan, this was worth the price by itself, but I wish I'd enjoyed the actual movie a bit more.

It's a fun bit of stuff, but I reckon the features are the way to go. You won't miss much I suspect.

Rip Off