Secret Agent X-9

This Universal serial was never much discussed by fans of the genre and was thought lost. Released on DVD and VHS by VCI in 2003, it at first was overshadowed by the also-rediscovered JUNGLE JIM. Now that the dust has settled most fans seem to prefer it to JIM, and some say it's among the best Universals, on a par with the three Flash Gordons. Henry Brandon's performance as the heavy is one of the most memorable in serials, and production values are above average for a serial. Entertaining and fun, it provides absolutely no food for thought.

"Secret Agent X-9", the newspaper comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and artist Alex Raymond for Hearst's King Features Syndicate that made it's debut on January 22, 1934 received no credits when this Universal serial was released on April 12, 1937. But, by that time, both Hammett, as the scripter, and Raymond, as the artist and scripter, had departed the strip, although the newspaper comic strip's title retained "Dashiell Hammett's Secret Agent X-9" past the time he was no longer involved.

This film was Universal's 34th sound-era serial, and fell between "Jungle Jim" and "Wild West Days" in the production and release order. "Flash Gordon" was Universal's 30th serial and "Jungle Jim" was the 33rd, so artist/writer Alex Raymond's comic strip creations had been the basis for three of the last five serials Universal had made in that period of time. With two more "Flash Gordon" serials to come and another version of "Secret Agent X-9" in 1945, characters originally drawn and/or created by Raymond, one of greats of the comic strip genre, accounted for six of Universal's 69 serials. Actually, it is closer to seven since Raymond had worked on Lyman Young's "Tim Tyler's Luck" until 1934, which became Universal's 37th sound serial. Hammett left the strip in 1935, and the scenario gap was temporarily filled by an uncredited Leslie Charteris, creator of "The Saint." The actual basis credit on the serial was a line---on the film and all of the posters and ads---that read "From the Sensational Sleuth Cartoon Strip by Charles Flanders-Owned and Copyrighted by King Features Syndicate 1/22/34." The background art work, used in the film and on the posters, press book and most of the ads, came from 1936-37 dailies credited to Charles Flanders on the daily strips but still appearing in the style of Raymond, so Raymond's long-time ghoster Austin Briggs may have still been doing work on the daily panels. The press book does contain a still of Charles Flanders at work drawing a panel. "X-9" had no name during this era of the comic strip, but did tell a character who asked in the fifth day of the daily strip in January, 1934 to..."Call me Dexter. It's not my name but it'll do." Universal evidently thought "it'll do" for the serial also. He later, much, much later, acquired the name of "Corrigan" and the title of the strip was changed to "Secret Agent Corrigan" in the 70's.

In Chapter One (Modern Pirates), the G-Men learn that "Brenda", notorious jewel thief, is heading for the United States, to steal the Belgravian crown jewels currently on exhibit. The gems are placed on a ship bound for Belgravia, the guard is murdered and the jewels stolen. Secret Agent X-9 (Scott Kolk) trails Blackstone (Henry Brandon), one of the gang, who hides the gems in a safe deposit vault of a bank. He takes the bank receipt to an art shop, where Marker (Max Hoffman, Jr.), and accomplice, conceals it between an oil painting and its frame. X-9 arrests Blackstone and pursues Marker, and leaps into the speedboat Marker is getting away in. The speedboat crashes in to a buoy...see Chapter Two at this theatre next week. Jean Rogers (as Shara Graustark) and Monte Blue (as Baron Michael Karsten, embassy attaché responsible for the jewels) show up next week and the remaining chapters deal with the recovery of the jewels and the unmasking of the mysterious "Brenda". Charters 9 through 12 find Brenda masquerading as the Baron and this complicates things for X-9 and, of course, the Baron. Those in weekly attendance in 1937, if they paid attention to some of the stills and lobby cards on display, knew who Brenda was long before X-9 did.

I've always liked the spy and detective type of serials more than the westerns - and this one is a good example of why. Production standards were quite good and it had all the usual serial excitement, fights, and cliffhangers. Lon Chaney Jr. plays a small part as one of the bad guy's heavies. The crown jewels of Belgravia are worth millions, and are sought by the crooks. Secret Agent X-9 is out to stop their nefarious plans!

This particular title was unavailable until recently. The film print that was used for the DVD is extremely sharp and clear. Its refreshing to see a serial this old and realize that they all looked this good when first shown in the theaters. Its a shame that more of the cliffhangers aren't available in this quality.