The Crimson Ghost!

I dug into that short stack of VHS serials I picked up this weekend and spent my election day watching a flick I've long wanted to lens, the famous serial The Crimson Ghost.


This one is pretty infamous as serials go, having been colorized at some point back in the 80's or 90's. And the mug of the main villain, "the Crimson Ghost" himself is used as an iconic image for the band The Misfits. So the iconography of the movie is out there, but the movie isn't.


The serial itself is pretty fundamental, a classic Republic adventure with relatively few twists. But what is on the screen is handled skillfully and with aplomb. The serial-making engine at Republic had it down to the essentials by the time they made this one.


The Crimson Ghost is of course the villain and he along with his henchmen, especially one named "Ashe" played by Clayton Moore, chased after a device called a "Cyclotrode" that will target and destroy electrical systems. A typical assembly of scientists (one of whom is of course the Ghost himself) empower one of their number (usually the younger and handsomer one) to battle and outwit the enemy who seeks to get the device. The hero here is played by Charles Quigley who is up to the task but doesn't really take it over. Linda Stirling as his helper is quite beautiful and quite capable, more physical than most serial-chicks and she adds a lot of charisma to the good guys.


The action has the usual display of air and land threats with numerous car crashes and quite a few explosions. Few of the cliffhangers are memorable really save for the one for the second chapter which has a captured scientist set a death-ray trap that our hero unwittingly walks into. The solution requires a real plot twist.

There are lots of gadgets, aside from the main maguffin, the Crimson Ghost uses electronic collars to control some of his agents, collars that kill if they are removed incorrectly. There is also use of a fancy wire recorder for some later sequences.

The Crimson Ghost though is the most striking thing about this serial, his look is distinctive and relatively creepy, though little is made of this because of the extensive outdoor shooting in broad daylight.

This one is a worthy effort and entertaining, though it's not the best serial I've seen by any means. It keeps its plot sleek and that helps. Here's a peek at the trailer for this classic.


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