The Fighting Devil Dogs!

While visiting my girls this past weekend, we took an outing to a local Flea Market. I love Flea Markets by and large, fun to browse and filled with interesting folks to say the least. This one proved no less interesting. As for merchandise, very little of interest to me was to be found alas.

But I did find a booth that offered up old VHS bootlegs of classic movie serials. A bunch were there, but sifted through them and found The Crimson Ghost, The Purlple Monster Strkes, and The Fighting Devil Dogs.

It's the latter that's the subject today. I watched it through yesterday, and found it to be a pretty lean and thrilling serial. It stars Lee Powell with Herman Brix performing the sidekick role. The story is pretty straightforward, as some Marines in war-torn China are killed by a mysterious villain named "The Lightning" using a dramatic and high-tech weapon. The action shifts to the West Coast of the United States and a vaguely located island filled with vaguely identified natives.

The hero is stalwart enough, brave and forthright sufficiently to fill the necessaries of the plot. Brix even gets a turn at attacking a shark in his short pants, a scene clearly intended to evoke his Tarzan past. There are the usual Republic cliffhangers, with wrecked cars careening off cliffs, airplanes crashing into countryside, and various buildings assaulted by the intense electric torpedoes of The Lightning.


The thing apparently about this movie is that The Lightning was an inspiration for the look Darth Vader. It's a clear line between the two, save that The Lightning's voice, while disguised is not modulated at all, a strange choice given the mask he wears.

One of the coolest things in this movie is The Lightning's flying wing, a vast aircraft he uses to along with his henchmen to travel around the Pacific. He keeps it in a giant hidden hanger. Little is made of it, but it's a very dramatic visual in the story.


This one keeps it moving, a great thing for a serial to do. The villain's identity is cleverly hidden most of the time with some neat twists along the way. I'll say little else on that score.

I recommend this brisk adventure if you can find a copy. Here's a peek.


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