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. ***. 

RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS

Kay, English and Castillo

RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS (1956). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"Some men are kids at thirty. Some kids are men at twenty." 

Three young ladies have their problems at home. Audrey (Marla English) has overly permissive parents, Ruth (Anna Sten of Let's Live a Little) and George (John Litel). Mary (Mary Ellen Kay) lives with her father (Jay Adler), who fears she will become like her tramp mother who left home, and objects to her wanting to marry her boyfriend, Bobby (Steven Terrell). Angela (Gloria Castillo) is ignored by her unseen mother and has to make do with her horrible brother, Tony (Lance Fuller), who has his eye on Audrey. Fed up with life and parents, the three gals take off in a stolen car and get in a wreck, then decide to go to work at a dance hall run by Tony's gal pal Dixie (Adele Jergens). But can there possibly be a happy ending for any of these young ladies?

Adele Jergens and Lance Fuller

Although her part is not huge, Adele Jergens probably gives the best and most vivid performance in the movie, and she is a lot of fun as she verbally spars with Angela in more than one sequence. English makes a better impression in this than she did in her starring role in Voodoo Woman. Mary Ellen Kay is also a bit better than usual, and Castillo is probably the best actress of the three. Lance Fuller scores as Tony, herein given one of his best roles, and John  Litel makes an amiably clueless and borderline alcoholic father. Steven Terrell, who also appeared with  Castillo in Invasion of the Saucer Men, is adept and appealing. Frank Gorshin also makes an appearance as a teen, as does Nicky Blair as dopey Joe. Edward L. Cahn directed in haste. 

Verdict: You might need to runaway from this often silly melodrama. **1/4.