GOVERNMENT AGENTS VS PHANTOM LEGION

Walter Reed goes into action

GOVERNMENT AGENTS VS PHANTOM LEGION (12 chapter Republic serial/1951). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

A board of trucking company owners is alarmed when their trucks, especially those holding important government materials that could be sold to a foreign country, are repeatedly hijacked. Hal Duncan (Walter Reed), one of the board members, is appointed a special agent to find out who is behind the hijackings. In this he is assisted by Sam Bradley (John Pickard) and their secretary Kay Roberts (Mary Ellen Kay). One of the board members is the secret mastermind behind the hijackings, and he employs persistent thugs Regan (Dick Curtis) and Cady (Fred Coby), among others, to carry out his orders. 

Mary Ellen Kay and Walter Reed

Government Agents vs Phantom Legion is full of the usual quota of thrills, fist-fights, car chases, fires, explosions and those famous cliffhangers, some of which are recycled from earlier Republic serials. A trail of fire pursues Hal in a narrow mine; he parachutes onto a train track just as an express train comes speeding along; dodges bullets fired at a boat he's on that then explosively collides with another ship; winds under an ore dump that unleashes tons of rock upon him; and plunges out of a high window. Driving along at gunpoint in chapter nine, he tells the gunsel pointing the weapon at him that "I'm a dead duck anyway, so I might as well take you with me" as he stamps down on the gas and careens towards a cliff! (Naturally, he survives).

Tom Steele

The mastermind in this speaks to his men from behind a mirror in a room adjacent to the one in which they receive their orders. Only minimal suspense is generated over his identity. Walter Reed is fine for this kind of material; he also starred in the serial Flying Disc Man from Mars. Although she amassed quite a few credits and is what they used to call a "cute trick," Mary Ellen Kay really doesn't appear to be an actress.  Stanley Wilson did the music and the Lydecker brothers provided the FX. Tom Steele is one of the stunt doubles and plays one of the bad guys. 

Verdict: Fun, fast-paced serial. ***.