THE SPIDER'S WEB

The Spider goes into action!

THE SPIDER'S WEB (15-chapter Columbia serial/1938). Directors: James W. Horne; Ray Taylor. Colorized. 

Criminologist Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull of A Bride for Henry) leads a dual life as the Spider, a take-no-prisoners crime-fighter. His colleagues are girlfriend, Nita (Iris Meredith), Jackson (Richard Fiske of Flying G-Men), and Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan of The Crimson Ghost). He has two main opponents: the masked Octopus, who is out to take over all of the power companies for his own illicit gain and who may be a member of the board of the Bureau of Power and Light; and Commissioner Kirk (Forbes Murray), who is a friend of Wentworth's but is always out to unmask him as the vigilante Spider. 

Ram Singh and Nita in a deadly water trap!

The Spider's Web is based on a whole slew of pulp novels featuring the character, and does not make many changes to the hero in the transition from page to screen. Hull makes a convincing hero, and is particularly good when he is in disguise as low-level criminal Blinky McQuaid. The other performers play with enthusiasm, especially Marc Lawrence as the hired gun, Steve Harmon. At one point the devilish Octopus uses a deadly ray gun to knock airplanes out of the sky. Cliffhangers include a deadly water trap, a plunging elevator, a trap with hot steam, and a bit when some dangling wires are cut, almost dooming our hero. 

The Octopus!

Although Wentworth is solicitous to a paper boy who is run over by escaping gunsels, it's odd that a young man named Charlie (Dick Durrell) and who helps the Spider, is pretty much forgotten after he is murdered by a confederate of the Octopus. The Spider's Web is an exciting and fast-paced serial with lots of action, its only deficits being a kind of hokey musical score, and a disappointing climax that is much too brief. As well, it perhaps doesn't create enough suspense over the identity of the Octopus as it could have. Ann Doran, Byron Foulger, Gloria Blondell, Nestor Paiva, and Tom Steele, have smaller roles. 

Verdict: As much fun and excitement as the famous pulp novels! ***. 

GANG BUSTERS

Kent Taylor, Irene Hervey, Robert Armstrong

GANG BUSTERS (13 chapter Universal serial/1942). Directors: Noel M. Smith; Ray Taylor. Colorized.

The city is under siege by "The League of Murdered Men," a sinister group of supposedly dead criminals run by Professor Mortis (Ralph Morgan of Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.). Mortis keeps his underlings in line by telling them -- once he has revived their "corpses" after plastic surgery -- that they must take a daily pill he has concocted or they will succumb to death for real. Mortis is less interested in financial gain than he is in revenge on all city authorities, especially the chief of police (Joseph Crehan) and the dyspeptic mayor (George Watts). Fighting against Mortis and his dead men are Detective Bill Bannister (Kent Taylor of The Crimson Key), his junior partner Tom Nolan (Robert Armstrong of Exposed), reporter Vicki Logan (Irene Hervey) and shutterbug Happy Haskins (Richards Davies), one of whom is secretly working for Professor Mortis.

Ralph Morgan as "Professor Mortis"

Gang Busters, not to be confused with the later TV series of the same name, is a top-notch Universal serial that is swiftly-paced and consistently exciting. Especially good sequences include a fight on a plane in chapter one, and a thrilling battle atop a speeding train. The leads are quite adept, and there is notable work from some actors cast as gang members, including William Haade as dimwitted Mike Taboni, George J. Lewis, and John Gallaudet as Wilkinson. Morgan is excellent as the sinister and hateful "Professor Mortis." An interesting if zany touch has it that the only entrance to the professor's underground lair is through a trap door in the middle of the subway tracks. Wild!

Verdict: Fun, fast-paced serial action now in color! ***. 

FLYING G-MEN

James Craig, Robert Paige and Richard Fiske

FLYING G-MEN (15 Chapter Columbia serial/1939). Directed by James W. Horne and Ray Taylor. 

Five years ago four pilots known as the Skyhawks became famous when they flew around the world. Now saboteurs are operating in America and one of them decides to take on the identity of the Black Falcon to fight them. One of the four -- Ed McKay (William Lally), who was planning to test a new bombing device -- is killed almost immediately, leaving behind a beloved sister, Babs (Lorna Gray of Exposed) and little son, Billy (Sammy McKim). The three other men are Hal (Robert Paige), Bart (Richard Fiske) and John (James Craig), who are assisted at times by Babs and little Billy. 

James Craig as one of the G-Men

Flying G-Men is an entertaining Columbia chapterplay with no great cliffhangers as such but plenty of fast-paced action both on the ground and in the air. Not too much suspense is generated over the identity of the mastermind behind the sabotage, whose unveiling happens relatively early on. The notion of keeping the hero's identity secret was used earlier in The Lone Ranger and later on in The Masked Marvel, but there isn't much suspense worked up over that, either. No matter, the serial is still fun. Lorna Gray has little to do in the serial but would get more attention when she played the villainess in The Perils of Nyoka. Although the theme music is pretty snappy, the score in general is overdone, like something out of a silent movie with a piano playing along. Our heroes fly about in certain chapters in a "pick-a-back" plane which has one aircraft attached to the top of another. 

Verdict: Entertaining Columbia serial thriller. ***.