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The Phantom Empire (1935), written and directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason, is a Western serial film considered the first science-fiction Western film, starring Gene Autry as himself, Frankie Darro as Frankie Baxter, and Betsy King Ross as Betsy Baxter. Writer Wallace MacDonald claimed to have dreamed up the script while under anesthesia, having a tooth extracted, according to Jim Harmon's book, The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. The story is a wild tale, where Gene Autry descends a mine shaft and discovers a futuristic and underground world that is something straight out of Flash Gordon. The film first appeared in theaters as 12 distinct chapters produced by Mascot Pictures. The first episode was a half-hour, with each subsequent episode being about 20 minutes long. In 1940, the series was edited into a 70-minute feature film titled Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces.