THE CRIMSON GHOST

The Crimson Ghost played by ?

THE CRIMSON GHOST (12 chapter Republic serial/1946). Directed by William Witney and Fred C. Brannon. 

A masked figure called the Crimson Ghost is secretly one of the board members of a scientific society. Professor Chambers (Kenne Duncan) has invented the cyclotrode, the "most powerful offensive weapon in the world" and the Ghost can't wait to get his hands on it. The cyclotrode can neutralize virtually all forms of energy. The Ghost and his associates Ashe (Clayton Moore) and Bain (Rex Lease) enact various schemes to either steal the cyclotrode or make a duplicate, doing their best to loot armored cars and purloin some heavy water. Their efforts are stymied by Duncan Richards (Charles Quigley), who is not only a physicist himself but a security man. His associate Diana (Linda Stirling) proves an able helping hand on more than one occasion.  

Linda Stirling and Charles Quigley 

The Crimson Ghost is an exciting and briskly-paced serial, with lots of Republic's trademark furious fisticuffs and furniture-smashing battles. Our hero falls from a wire he's traversing in chapter three, almost succumbs to poison gas pumped into a locked room in chapter four, and apparently falls from a high window into an alley with a thud in chapter eleven. Chapter six is especially action-packed, featuring a plane crash, a battle by cliff side, and the explosion of a bridge. The Ghost is, as usual, an  utterly ruthless, amoral and sociopathic criminal and his henchmen are little better. Quigley makes a stalwart hero in this; Linda Stirling had more to do in earlier serials such as Zorro's Black Whip and The Tiger Woman, when she was the leading lady.  Quigley was in a number of serials and B movies. 

Verdict: Punches and thrills galore. ***.