DISCOVER--the Columbia serials in chronological order
One of the three main players alongside Republic and Universal, Columbia entered the serials game relatively late, moving in when the competition had thinned out a little bit. Many of their titles were taken from earlier films made in the silent era. They were the cheapest and most slapdash of the three, in a genre not known for its largesse and attention to detail in the first place, but they got lucky early by securing the rights to Superman and Batman, and many of their serials were built around comic strip characters and popular culture icons of myth and legend. Their stories are also the most ridiculous of a wild lot, but of course with hindsight that makes them more fun today. However, we shouldn't make the rookie mistake of assuming the audience was as dumb as the product; Republic and Universal were acknowledged by public and industry alike as superior. Still, we'd be worse off without most of the following...
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- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsTom TylerJeanne BatesErnie AdamsThe Phantom's clan has ruled the jungle tribes for centuries. He battles Dr. Bremmer who plans to build an airfield and gets greedy when Professor Davidson and his niece Diana arrive to search for the treasure of the lost city of Zoloz.This entry is just a place-holder so we have a picture. The list starts below...
- DirectorHarry L. FraserGeorge MelfordStarsFrank BuckSasha SiemelReginald DennyIn the Asian province of Seemang where the Bay of Bengal meets the jungle, Chandler Elliott (John St. Polis) owns a large and prosperous rubber plantation. His attractive daughter, Dorothy (Charlotte Henry), is engaged to neighboring planter Tom Banning (William Bakewell) but troubles are brewing for both plantations. When a load of rubber is put on a riverboat to be taken to port, the boat is attacked by river pirates and the crew is killed and the shipment stolen. Jim Murphy (LeRoy Mason). Elliott's plantation manager, is plotting with others to force Elliott to to sell his plantation. Adventurer Frank Hardy (Frank Buck)determines to find out who is behind the plot.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsFrank HawksDorothy SebastianEsther RalstonA 15-episode serial in which our hero, Jim Dorn helps hide Jean McNain from a man she can implicate in a murder.
- DirectorElmer CliftonStarsDon TerryGwen GazeWalter MillerIn the Prologue, pirates hide a treasure on an island off the Mexican coast. And the pirates, the map and the treasure disappear in a volcanic eruption. The legend of the island draws treasure seekers for a few centuries, but the treasure lies undetected. Cut to 1938 and Carter Collins)---The Shark---takes possession of the island and turns it into a fortress, while he systematically seeks the gold. He takes over an ancient mansion, installs a physician, Doctor "X", his nurse Zanya, his butler, Hawkins, and Grindley, who has plans of his own, since he already has a portion of the map. The possessor of the other portion soon shows up. Meanwhile, Collins has his slave diggers---The Mole Men---digging up the island looking for the treasure. Back in the states reporter Larry Kent is assigned to go to the island to investigate the disappearance of another reporter, Paul Thorndyke. A sea captain who has half of the map is killed before he can tell the daughter, Toni Morrell, of an old shipmate about the other half but is around long enough to tell her that her father, that she doesn't know, is on the island but expires before he can tell her his name. Toni and Larry decide to join forces and solve the mysteries if the island.
- DirectorSam NelsonMack V. WrightStarsBill ElliottMonte BlueCarole WayneA short plot summary finds Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott), the U.S. Marshal in Abilene, Kansas, opposing the Phantom Raiders, a gang of renegades raiding the cattle drives over the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene. Hickok organizes the boys of the town into the "Flaming Arrows" to assist him. Finally, in the 15th chapter, "Trail's End", Hickok, the "Flaming Arrows" and army scout Kit Lawson (Kermit Maynard) combine to put an end to the Phantom Raiders.
- DirectorJames W. HorneRay TaylorStarsWarren HullIris MeredithRichard FiskeA crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.Many consider this fellow to be the partial inspiration for Marvel's Spider-man character and costume and when you look at his design, it's difficult to argue...
- DirectorJames W. HorneRay TaylorStarsRobert PaigeRichard FiskeJames CraigThree government aviators called the "Flying G-Men", one of whom is disguised as "The Black Falcon", fight to protect the US and its allies from an enemy spy ring and to avenge the death of the fourth Flying G-Man.
- DirectorNorman DemingSam NelsonStarsWarren HullDoris WestonAl KikumeMandrake and his assistant Lothar are working the cruise lines and make the acquaintance of Professor Houston who has developed a radium energy machine, which is much coveted by a masked Crime Lord known as "The Wasp".An early newspaper strip character of the King Features Syndicate, this uninspired magican later turned up in comic books and cartoon shows. This is the only Columbia serial not to run to fifteen parts; it's only twelve episodes long.
- DirectorNorman DemingSam NelsonStarsBill ElliottIris MeredithRichard FiskeA mysterious outlaw known as Pegleg dreams of an empire in the vast, rich wilderness west of the Mississippi River. Army Lieurenant David Brent (Richard Fiske) is sent from Washington to persuade Kit Carson (Bill Elliott) to put an end to the reign of terror caused by Pegleg's gang called the Black Raiders. Carson agrees and, in the course of his assignment, he meets and is attracted to Caremelita Gonzales (Iris Meredith), the adopted daughter of a Spanish grandee, Don Jose Gonzales (Frrancisco Moran), who is heading west via a wagon train. Escaping an avalanche started by Perleg's henchmen, Kit captures Natchez (Dick Botiller), a Black Raider, and just as he is about to reveal the real identity of his boss, he is slain by Pegleg. As he seeks the killer, Kit narrowly escapes an Indian ambush and rides to warn the trappers and citizens at Stewart's Post that Pegleg intends to massacre them. The Black Raiders attack the post, but Pegleg, using his true identity, lures Caremelita to "safety."
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsVictor JoryVeda Ann BorgRoger MooreThe Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray.The popular radio character, brought to life by the great Victor Jory.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsWilliam TracyJeff YorkJoyce BryantDr. Herbert Lee (John Paul Jones), an archaeologist seeking to decipher ancient Mara inscriptions, is aided by his son, Terry (William Tracy), and Terry's pal, Pat Ryan (Jeff York), and Normandie Drake (Joyce Bryant). Fang (Dick Curtis), a jungle pirate and warlord, plots to kill The Dragon Lady (Sheila Darcy), Queen of the Temple of Mara, and seize the treasures of her ancestors. Both Fang and The Dragon Lady have sworn death to any foreign intruders.Another popular newspaper strip.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsDonald DouglasLorna GrayHarry HarveyDeadwood Dick, a masked and mysterious hero, is in reality Dick Stanley, editor of the Dakota Pioneer Press and a leading member of Statehood For Dakota. He is on the trail of a masked villain known as the Skull, who leads a violent, renegade band infamous for its violence against the Deadwood residents' wishes for a statehood status.Deadwood Dick was a pulp novel character from the late 19th century whose name was appropriated by several real-life individuals at that time. Needless to say, this serial is one of those fictions.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsVictor JoryIris MeredithJames CravenThe struggle over the Bellamy estate ends with Michael Bellamy accused of murder and killed on the way to prison, while his brother Abel Bellamy takes control of the estate for his own nefarious plans.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsBuck JonesRaymond HattonDorothy FayWhite Eagle is the son of a massacred army officer, who has been raised by an Indian tribe and believes himself to be the son of the tribal chief. White Eagle is working to get a peace treaty signed between the Indians and the white settlers, but "Dandy" Darnell has about a dozen different reasons for the treaty not to be signed, and keeps dispatching a small army of henchmen to keep relations between the Indians and the settlers stirred to a boiling point for most of the fifteen chapters
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsWarren HullMary AinsleeDave O'BrienThe evil and masked "Gargoyle" is sabotaging all of America's industrial plants. It is up to the Spider to save the country.More crime-fighting fun with the original webbed hero... Busy Warren Hull returns to the role...
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsCharles QuigleyJoyce BryantForrest TaylorMiserly old Anton Benson once recovered a treasure in gold from a sunken Spanish galleon, and in his greed murdered anyone who got in his way of keeping it. Now his family is gathered at his estate, Bensonhurst, and they are all searching for the treasure, which is hidden somewhere on the estate. Also looking for the gold is a masked killer called The Iron Claw, who murders one member of the family and lets the others know that they'll be next.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsJack HoltEvelyn BrentC. Montague ShawA murderous gang of counterfeiters has kidnapped the government's best engraver and is forcing him to print virtually undetectable phony money. The Secret Service sends its toughest agent, Jack Holt, and a female partner after the gang.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsDave O'BrienDorothy ShortJames CravenSecret Service Major Steel (Joseph W. Girard), is one of the few men in America aware of the fact that Captain Albright (Dave O'Brien) is also Captain Midnight, daring masked aviator dedicated to fighting gangsters and enemies of America. When murderous bombing attacks are made on West Coast munitions plants, Steel sends for Albright and asks him to track down the mysterious Ivan Shark (James Craven), the foreign agent mastermind behind the attacks. Shark has learned about an ingenious range finder, invented by John Edwards (Bryant Washburn) and makes plans to obtain a model of the invention. Edwards instructs his daughter, Joyce (Dorothy Short), to bring the model to Albright for safekeeping in his mountain laboratory. Shark takes Edwards prisoner by Albright assures Joyce that her father will be saved and an end put to Shark's reign of terror. Dressing as Captain Midnight and enlisting the aid of his friends, Chuck (Sam Edwards) and Ichabod Mudd (Guy Wilkerson), Captain Midnight delivers on his promises fourteen chapters later.Later a TV series in the 1950s.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsRobert KellardKenneth MacDonaldHerbert RawlinsonMountie sergeant and his three constables find themselves facing multiple perils at the hands of an outlaw gang which, aided by a corrupt Indian medicine man and his followers, have brought a halt to construction of a key railroad line through the Canadian Northwest.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsPaul KellyAnne NagelTrevor BardetteA police detective goes undercover and joins a gang of Nazi agents using explosive gases and artificial lightning to sabotage the war effort, whom he battles in disguise as The Black Commando.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsBill ElliottSlim SummervilleCarmen MoralesWild Bill Tolliver and Missouri Benson ride into the territory of New Mexico to search for Bill's father, Henry Tolliver, who disappeared while prospecting. They discover that a ruthless outlaw leader, Jonathan Kincaid, has joined forces with Carl Engler, a renegade European general, and Kincaid owns a giant gold mine and uses captured Mexican patriots, and others, to work as slaves on his property. Bill and Missouri become friendly with Consuelo Romeros, an agent for the Mexican government, and they learns that Bill's father is among the prisoner/slaves in the mine. After freeing his father, Bill sets out to smash both the slave-mine operation and Engler's attempts to overthrow Benito Juarez, the legal president of Mexico.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsLewis WilsonDouglas CroftJ. Carrol NaishThe very first serial to adapt the comic book character of the Batman. In it, the Batman is a secret U.S. government agent, attempting to defeat the schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operating in Los Angeles at the height of World War II.The first live-action Batman, marred by anti-Japan sentiment that was more than understandable at the time but embarrasses today.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsTom TylerJeanne BatesErnie AdamsThe Phantom's clan has ruled the jungle tribes for centuries. He battles Dr. Bremmer who plans to build an airfield and gets greedy when Professor Davidson and his niece Diana arrive to search for the treasure of the lost city of Zoloz.Another King Features comic strip hero revived for comic books and cartoons, plus a live action feature in 1996 that bombed. Lead Tom Tyler had been Captain Marvel for Republic.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsGilbert RolandMona MarisBen WeldenEvil Hassan slips back into his native land of Ahad and plots to overthrow his twin bother, Kasim, who has just been crowned the Caliph. Hassan enlists the aid of the chief Chamberlain, Faud and they send several henchmen into the royal palace, who then knock Kasim unconscious. Faud and Hassan dispatch a couple of different hirelings to take Kasim into another part of the town and murder him.Kasin comes to and gets away, but has been wounded. Omar, a beggar, takes Kasim to his home and nurses him back to health. But, it takes a few weeks for Kasin to get healthy and, by that time, Hassan has a firm grip on the duties of a Caliph. In a storeroom, Kasim finds a coat of mail with a great hawk emblazoned across the chest and promptly decides this is the costume he will wear while fighting to get his old job back. Meanwhile, the Emir of Telif shows up with his daughter, Princess Azala, with the intent of marrying her off to the local Caliph. They do not know that the current-Caliph on the royal-throne is the evil twin-brother of the man they think he is.
- DirectorLew LandersB. Reeves EasonStarsMark RobertsAdele JergensRobert B. WilliamsBuck Sherman and Jake Jackson, a couple of evil carpetbaggers, illegally enter a Navajo reservation to prospect for gold and end up killing Aranho, the Navajos chief. Black Arrow, presumed Aranho's son, refuses to kill the Indian agent, Tom Whitney, in revenge, as demanded by Navajo law. Then, he is driven off the reservation for his reluctance to kill Whitney and decides to join forces with Pancho, Mary Brent and the agent to go in search of the men who killed the chief.