Manhunt of Mystery Island

Richard Bailey is horrible,Linda Sterling as Claire is no Emma Peel! The same two guys fighting each other in every episode. Same clip of Captain Mephistopheles changing over and over. Despite all this,loved it all!

Roy Barcroft as one of the overseers of Mystery Island ,can transform himself into Captain Mephisto by the use of a transformation machine.Barcroft only appears as Mephisto,his alter ego is played by another actor.The viewer is left to guess which of the overseers is the villian.Linda Sterling,along with Richard Bailey,is looking for her missing father,who is being forced to work on the machine.Great cast,and production values make this an exciting serial.

Top of the line serial from Republic. Great cliffhanger endings, flagging only slightly in later chapters. Bailey is an effective (if slightly dorky looking) hero, Linda Stirling is lovely and gets involved in the action (although she does get knocked cold every other chapter), and Duncan is an effective henchman. Roy Barcroft, as Captain Mephisto, steals the show. Barcroft considered this role his best and personal favorite, and it's easy to see why: he obviously relishes his villainy, looks great in the costume, and throws himself into the fights. All around classic from the Republic thrill factory.

As far as Linda Stirling's cliffhangers go, this is the best of the bunch. Stirling stars along with Republic staple Roy Barcroft and Richard Bailey in the search for an evil pirate from the past. Lance (Bailey) and Claire (Stirling) head to Mystery Island to search for Claire's father, a scientist being held by the evil Captain Mephisto. Mephisto is a pirate from 200 years earlier, who is transformed into a business man who owns part of the island. The mystery lies in which one of the four owners actually is Mephisto.

Claire is a spitfire of a damsel, able to hold her own against Mephisto and his henchmen. This serial is partially directed by legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, so the chases, the fights and the explosions are all top notch. Of course, there is a level of kitsch that comes with the territory of chapterplays, but this one has its own charm, and is a example of what a cliffhanger should be.

A scientist working on a remote control invention is kidnapped and brought to an island, by a mysterious Captain Mephisto, who used to be governor of the island in days when it was a penal colony. In reality, Mephisto is one of the four ruling members of the island who uses a transformation chair which changes the enigmatic member into the evil pirate. Investigator Lance Reardon, who along with the scientist's daughter Claire Forrest, searches out the captive scientist in this thrilling chapterplay. In 1945, serials were on the way out, but this easily ranks up with any from the golden age of the genre. Co-director Yakima Canutt adds plenty of action and the far fetched plot surprisingly becomes incredibly intriguing. 15 episodes. In terms of serials, 10 out of 10.