The Spider's Web

I love the original pulp stories, the best of which were scribed by Norvell Page. In the pulps, Wentworth was a grim, brutal (and borderline deranged) killer of criminals, and Nita was almost as steely as her fiance. The menaces were epic (crooks poisoning canned food, for example) and Wentworth's revenge swift and terrible, making for one of the most violent pulps of the period.

There's none of that darkness in this serial. As other reviewers have noted, the music is a bit too upbeat, and Warren Hull's portrayal of Wentworth is a bit too cheery. And Iris Meredith is a bit too wholesome for an accurate reading of society girl turned vigilante Nita Van Sloan.

But there's much to recommend The Spider's Web. The pace is breakneck, The Octopus is a great villain and there's a wonderful Death Ray used by the baddies to down aircraft.

If you've never seen a movie serial from the 1930s or 1940s, you may well watch the first episode then give up, thinking, "What the blue blazes am I watching?" But if, like me, you grew up watching these chapterplays at the Saturday morning matinees, then give this one a chance ... it's one of the best.

This serial is as action packed a serial you will ever find from start to finish with wonderful performances all around especially Warren Hull who essays three roles brilliantly. Add Keene Duncan's turn as Ram Singh one has a hall of fame serial. The music adds to the excitement. The Octopus is a masked villain set on destruction and Richard Wentworth sceretly The Spider and Blinky McQuade leads a loyal group in an effort to stop him. For 15 pulse pounding episodes The forces of evil are attacked by a hero who shoots first and asks questions later, The Spider.

I hope one day Sony sees fit to release this serial because it matches Republic's best. It was ranked by The Serial Squadron 10th best out of 266 sound serials.

This is an early serialized movie series. I only watched parts 1-5, but I feel sorry for a movie that, in all probability, no one has seen, much less commented on.

Apparently the best part of this movie is the getaway car, because my roommate would occasionally look up while I was watching this and next to, ÒAre you actually going to watch that all the way through?Ó her most common comment was, ÒWhat a cool car.Ó The car has an external step, so in getaways the crooks can jump on and keep shooting. They do this fairly often, and they also laugh maniacally, and leave loose ends in their evil plans for the Spider to pick up on. If the Spider needs a rope to swing from there is a rope there, as happens when he foils the bank heist. This is comic book style action for the twelve year old market of viewers, who now wonÕt be interested because the film is in black and white.

The other cool thing is that the Octopus has a fake arm to make people feel that they know what he is doing, while he keeps a gun trained on them. His evil minions dress like klansmen, not so much to make them look evil as because this was a cheap costume. The Spider wears a black over sized sock with holes cut in it, and a silver painted spider web on it.

If you do come across this my advice is not to bother watching it. Instead read a comic book. This should have a similar feel to the movie only portable.

Full review on my blog max4movies: The Spider's Web is an action movie serial about Richard Wentworth, a rich criminologist, who fights crime as the masked vigilante The Spider. In 15 episodes, Wentworth's fight against the criminal mastermind The Octopus is shown, who plans attacks on the country's transportation systems to gain control over the most important industries. While the basic premise is intriguing and some action sequences are still enjoyable, the movie's entertainment value is largely due to nostalgic reasons. By modern standards, there are many drawbacks, like the jumbled narrative, the redundant cliffhangers, and the poor performances of side characters. Considering its runtime of about 5 hours, the movie serial never quite accomplishes to tell a coherent story with genuinely interesting characters - although some episodes are fun to watch.

To truly understand and appreciate this serial, you'll have to be familiar w/ the Spider's pulp history. Action is plentiful, from intense shootouts, to realistic fistfights, to dramatic car chases, this serial has it all. The storyline/plot was brilliantly written and easy to follow. Warren Hull portrays the Spider as if he was in the pulp magazines. He was fearless, as both Richard Wentworth and the Spider, when confronting the enemy, especially during shootouts, where he would stand wide open as an easy target and using his double colt automatics. That I found true to the character, for he was not a stable man. This serial is on par w/ Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and most of John Woo's movies. There are scenes, where it seems that there is a rope waiting for the Spider to climb on or swing on from every building, that is not a coincidence, for in the pulp magazines, the Spider does carry a (thin) rope w/ him for those purposes. My only disappointment, is w/ Columbia Pictures low quality visuals, and brutal editing jobs. (i.e. The Spider cold-bloodedly gunned down two men, as they were waking up from a beating-Chapter 5. The Spider's Hindu Mercenary friend, throwing a knife at an intruder-Chapter 14). You will see the intent of the actions, but not the following, only the end result is shown. Just use your imagination for those scenes, otherwise, this is a great serial. The Spider's webbed mask and cape, was the inspiration for the creation of the Amazing Spiderman, by comic books Great, Stan Lee. For more info on the Spider, I recommend Tim Truman's graphic adaption, "The Spider: Master of Men" Chapters 1-6, from Eclipse Books(1991-1992).