The Adventures Of The Spirit!

The Adventures of the Spirit is not a Republic serial, nor even a Columbia one. It fell to amateur filmmaker Don Glut to at long last bring Central City's protector to the screen, albeit not necessarily the big one. The movie is shot in five chapters and of course in the climax of each chapter the Spirit is seemingly killed or about to be killed. He faces a villain Glut names the "Black Avenger" who wears a hood and sends out his minions. 

The first of these is a robot played by an impressive toy, the second is a Wolfman using a Don Post mask, the third is a Mummy using props from actual films owned by superfan Bob Burns who plays many of the parts. The fourth and final menace in this silent film is Frankenstein's Monster played by Glenn Strange using a mask made especially for him to promote Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The Spirit (played by Glut of course) is pretty hapless in most of these chapters and needs saving by such classic stalwarts as the Green Hornet, Captain America, the Shadow and Superman. Even Rocketman makes an appearance. 

(Art from this cover used in title cards.)

I Was a Teenage Movie Maker - Don Glut's Amateur Films is an exceedingly strange movie package. Don Glut is well known to my generation of comic book fans as a prodigious writer of comics for most of the major publishers such as DC, Marvel and especially Gold Key. But when he was a youngster, he was apparently a relentless moviemaker. The movies he made were the stuff you'd expect from kids at first but later they became much more refined.  

The Adventures of the Spirit is only a tiny part of the overall collection of handmade films produced by Glut. There are hours and hours of homemade movies about dinosaurs, classic monsters, and even more superheroes. Glut's films even got mentions in Famous Monsters of Filmland.  The DVD also has a pretty lengthy documentary hosted by Don Glut himself explaining how his various films came to be over the course of his life. Audio commentaries accompany the films as well. 

To get a look at the documentary check out this link. 

It was when Glut finally headed off to film school in California, that he continued to make weird but fascinating films, often with the help of other film fans such as Bob Burns, notorious for his own roles as Tracy the ape in Ghost Busters. Glut also made movie serials in the tradition of the classic Republic films and even was able to attract pros like Roy Barcroft, Kenne Duncan and Glenn Strange to play roles for him. Some of those films, made on locations such as the famous Bronson Canyon (my favorite place on Earth) were even shown on local Chicago television. 

If you're a "Monster Kid" or sympathetic to the cause you might find this interesting. Watching the all the movies can be a chore, but there are many charms to be discovered. 

There is also a paperback book which enhances the documentary and the films themselves. I should also note that it has just been announced that Don Glut has won The Bill Finger Award. 

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