The Phantom Creeps, Vol. 2

 

 

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VCI Entertainment and Universal Pictures presents "THE PHANTOM CREEPS" (1939) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film --- Known as "chapter plays," they were extended motion pictures broken into a number of segments called "chapters" or "episodes." --- Each chapter (a typical serial usually had as many as 15 of them) would be screened at the same theater for one week --- The serial would end with a cliffhanger, as the hero and heroine would find themselves in the latest perilous situation from which there could be no escape --- The audience would have to return the next week (and pay admission) to find out how the hero and heroine would escape and battle the villain once again --- Serials were especially popular with children, and for many youths in the first half of the 20th century, a typical Saturday at the movies included a chapter of at least one serial, along with animated cartoons, newsreels, and two feature films.

The Movie studios of Universal, Columbia and Republic, with Republic quickly becoming the acknowledged leader in quality serial product --- Each company turned out four to five serials per year, of 12 to 15 episodes each, a pace which they all kept up until the end of World War II when, in 1946, Universal dropped its serial unit along with its B-picture unit and renamed its production department Universal-International Pictures -- (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

12 Spine Shivering Action Chapters starring Bela Lugosi in "THE PHANTOM CREEPS" (7 January 1939) (240 mins/B&W) --- A Universal Chapter Play --- Under Ford Beebe (Director), Saul A. Goodkind (Director), Wyllis Cooper (Story), George H. Plympton (Screenwriter), Basil Dickey (Screenwriter), Mildred Barish (Screenwriter), Henry MacRae (Producer), Charles Previn (Original Score) - - - - a 12 Chapter cliffhanger from a thrilling suspenseful Universal serial featuring a good cast, but Bela Lugosi is at his very best in this twist and turn original story, Lugosi keeps the adrenaline going and makes this mediocre serial a top notch flick --- story line asks these questions, what strange experiments is Dr. Alex Zorka (Bela Lugosi) performing in his very secret laboratory and to what end will this bring to the world as we know it...can assistant Monk (Jack C. Smith) keep the fine Zorka from releasing his eight foot giant robot friend upon the entire cast and crew of Universal Pictures --- is there such a thing as inivisiblity, suspended animation and weapons of mass-destruction, well only Lugosi can answer all these questions --- will our hero Captain Bob West (Robert Kent) and girl report Jean Drew (Dorothy Arnold) be able to cope will all the ins and outs of Lugosi's villianous plans --- why is Zorka planning to carry onboard deadley explosives then chart his travel log over the ocean --- doesn't sound good to me, an you're correct there's trouble afoot --- don't leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "To Destroy the World" --- don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter.

the cast includes:
Bela Lugosi ... Dr. Alex Zorka
Robert Kent ... Capt. Bob West
Dorothy Arnold ... Jean Drew
Edwin Stanley ... Dr. Fred Mallory
Regis Toomey ... Lt. Jim Daley
Jack C. Smith ... Monk
Edward Van Sloan ... Jarvis (spy chief)
Dora Clement ... Ann Zorka [Chs. 1-2] (as Dora Clemant)
Anthony Averill ... Rankin (henchman)
Hugh Huntley ... Perkins (Mallory's lab assistant)
Monte Vandergrift ... Henchman
Frank Mayo ... AMI chief [Ch. 12]
Jim Farley ... Harbornaster [Ch. 7] (as James Farley)
Eddie Acuff ... Mac (AMI agent)
Reed Howes ... Airplane mechanic [Ch. 9, 12]
Ed Wolff ... The Robot (as Edw. Wolff)
Hooper Atchley ... Experimental lab tech
Roy Barcroft ... Parker (AMI agent)
Robert Blair ... Smith (thug)
Al Bridge ... White Rose sailor
Lane Chandler ... Henchman with Rankin
Edmund Cobb ... Army sergeant
Lee J. Cobb ... Road crew foreman
Karl Hackett ... Brown (henchman-secretary)
Charles King ... Policeman
Monte Montague ... Signal tower operator
Pat O'Malley ... Train engineer
David Sharpe ... Schooner sailor
Tom Steele ... Train conductor [Ch. 10] / Radio truck driver
Forrest Taylor ... Black (henchman)

Special footnote, to many collectors this serial reunites Bela Lugosi and Edwin Stanley from their first meeting in the film "Dracula" (1931), all serial-buffs should find "The Phantom Creeps" very rewarding and entertaining --- Lugosi gained fame when he played "Count Dracula" in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, continued for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil --- meanwhile back to our Universal Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there --- all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.

BIOS:
1. Bela Lugosi (aka: Be'la Ferenc Dezso Blasko)
Birth Date: October 20, 1882 - Lugos, Hungary.
Died: August, 16 1956 - Los Angeles, California, USA. (heart attack)

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. The Menacing Power
2. Death Stalks the Highway
3. Crashing Towers
4. Invisible error
5. Thundering Rails
6. The Iron Monster
7. The Menacing Mist
8. Trapped in the Flames
9. Speeding Doom
10.Phantom Footprints
11.The Blast
12.To Destroy the World

SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES:
1. Porky Pig Cartoon - "Porky's Midnight Matinee" (1941) (Chuck Jones)
Working backstage at a theater, Porky frees a little ant he finds in a cage,
only to learn that it's a rare and valuable trained pygmy ant.
2. Other Serials Available from VCI - Trailers.

Hats off to VCI Entertainment, President Robert A. Blair and his staff -- for the wonderful restored versions featuring some of the best classic cliffhangers of the big silver screen --- order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 240 mins on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment ~ (2/05/2008)

The Phantom Creeps was Bela Lugosi's last serial. Lugosi is Dr. Zorka another mad scientist looking to take over and control the world. He tries to achieve this World domination with a number of gadgets. He has built an 8-foot robot, a belt that makes him invisible, and a gas that suspends animation, which he delivers with mechanical spiders. Through the 12 episodes an Army intelligence officer and a newspaperwoman chase him.

The 12 episodes are:

1) The menacing Power
2) Death Stalks the Highway
3) Crashing Timbers
4) Invisible Terror
5) Thundering Rails
6) The Iron Monster
7) The Menacing Mist
8) Trapped in the Flames
9) Speeding Doom
10) Phantom Footprints
11) The Blast
12) To Destroy the World

I purchased this DVD because Bela Lugosi was in it. I was not disappointed - I have really enjoyed it. The quality is not bad. There are options to play each episode or play all 12 continuously.

The Phantom Creeps, Bela Lugosi's final movie serial, holds a special place in my memories for being the first complete chapterplay I had seen. I had seen portions of others but never a complete one before this. Lugosi steals the serial as Doctor Alex Zorka, a brilliant scientist who has made a series of inventions from a meteorite he found in Africa--via footage from "The Invisible Ray" for the Africa sequence. He wants to sell his secrets to the highest bidder, but the US Government wants to stop him. What is unusual for this serial is that I feel that Zorka was initially the good guy of the story before the US and a spyring start looking for his secrets and thus hounding him into insanity. The DVD for this is painful. The print used retains the Commonwealth (TV?) logo instead of the normal Filmcraft or Universal logo. Sound is muddy at quite a few places. Picture will be dark in a few places--sometimes in a daytime scene. They use only one set of opening credits for the 12 chapters. Normally, Universal would use a opening which showed the main cast for its first 3 episodes while the remaining episodes would use an opening that merely lists who the actors were. It is this second opening that is on the DVD and is only used once for all 12 chapters. There are no extras on this disc, such as a trailer, although you can choose to play it all at once or select an individual chapter. There is an insert with information on Lugosi. There are better VHS copies out there and in my own collection at one time I had an actual film print which had the Universal logo. I can't really recommend this DVD unless you don't have a copy of this serial at all. I wouldn't buy another disc from Whirlwind Media, the releasers of the disc, unless it was an extremely rare serial that probably would not be released any other way. Now if only Universal would get off its duff and start releasing their own serials instead of letting people with Public Domain prints do it, I might be a little bit more happy.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Unfathomable phantom
I bought this DVD to replace a Beta tape version I had made several years back. I like my tape better. Read more

Published on Nov 27 2000 by Guy MacMillin

3.0 out of 5 stars Lugosi Destroys the Hindenburg!
"The Phantom Creeps" (1939) is 12 chapters of Universal serial hokum. In other words, it's a lot of fun. Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Read more

Published on Sep 6 1999 by Scott T. Rivers

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