The Crimson Ghost

Originally, "The Crimson Ghost" was a movie serial that ran nearly three hours. However, somewhere along the line, someone sliced the film apart to shorten it and they colorized it. I saw this shorter colorized version. In some ways, it's a shame the serial was treated like this, but in some ways it's not too bad as most serials suffer from sluggish pacing when you see all the chapters at the same time....something that wasn't originally intended when they were made.

This story finds some goofy criminal boss trying to steal the secret to the Cyclotrode--a device designed to intercept and destroy atomic bombs! The boss is a goofy character...the Crimson Ghost. He runs about in the film dressed in a cloak and sporting a skeleton costume!! He also controls his many minions by injecting them with mind controlling drugs AND electronic collars which kill the user if they try to remove them! Can our rugged heroes manage to stop this evil genius?! What do you think?!

In many ways, "The Crimson Ghost" is like other serials. There are countless fights, countless miraculous survivals from deadly accidents and the film is short on characters but long on action and stunts.

So is it any good? Well, I'm not sure good or bad are the best ways to describe it...more like it's very typical of the genre. Additionally, it's important to point out that I am talking about the shortened version...the longer one may well totally stink. Overall, it's silly and full of inconsistencies (like other serials) but also a lot of fun to watch.

I have fallen in love with serials as of late. You begin with the lengthier first chapter and soon cannot wait - no matter how poor the budget and performers are - to find out who the masked villain is in the last chapter. Well, The Crimson Ghost is no exception except that as far as Republic serials go this one has a slightly better budget then many and slightly better performers as well. Much of this praise can be directly attributed to directors Fred C. Brannon( a regular fixture in films and serials of this ilk), and even more so to William Whitney who worked on like material including the wonderful The Adventures of Captain Marvel. The pacing is crisp, the action plentiful, and the actors right on character. The story concerns a professor of physics creating a Cyclotrode that stops electrical engines in their tracks. A villain known as The Crimson Ghost, who is also a professor at the university(we get this info very early as it is our task to find out which one of the four men is the villain), will stop at nothing to get this so he can build an even larger model and live out his evil plans of world domination/great wealth. The Crimson Ghost created necklaces that he places over people to control them to do his bidding and if one tries to remove it - the victim dies. This serial has loads of action from innumerable fights(okay, maybe too many), electrical fires, gun fights, explosions, and even a tense operation scene. The set pieces are pretty decent as are the special effects. The story meanders here and there and the whole four or five chapters devoted to getting heavy water did get a bit tiresome at moments, but overall the suspense is maintained at a high level. The acting is all workmanlike with leads Charles Quigley as the hero Duncan Richards and Linda Stirling as his devoted pretty Friday doing well enough. The Lone Ranger himself, Clayton Moore, gets to parade around as a key henchman sans mask. He is quite good. How about the ghost himself? Well, I don't think you will be overall surprised who the ghost is despite the clumsy final chapter's resolution, but I will say that his outfit and that skull mask are awesome. I think that mask is easily one of the best of its kind I have ever seen in anything and one can see the influence it had on subsequent productions. If you have not had an opportunity to sit down to a serial, The Crimson Ghost is a good first foray.

I got this for Christmas (today), and it's great. The plot doesn't make much sense, the acting is barely acceptable, and the production values are "budget", but my kids and I think that it's a hoot. The story is something about a villain in a skull mask and a ray that will disable electrical equipment, but who cares? It's really about the square-jawed scientist and his beautiful and plucky assistant dashing about risking death to bring the master criminal to justice, with constant fight scenes (filmed at a slower rate so that people move with astonishing speed onscreen) and cliffhanging endings.

There are plenty of unintentionally funny moments, too, as when the gang leader's right-hand-thug (played by Clayton Moore, eventually to be the TV version of The Lone Ranger) returns with a piece of equipment and the leader hisses that it's a "cheap decoy" (as if it looks any cheaper than anything else on the set). If you think that you might like it, you will, and if you think that you'll hate it, you're probably right about that, too.

very good serial. a lot of suspense and (for the time, hey, even now they will hold up) fast paced fight scenes, and a fast paced story. Buy this serial (but try to find your copy in black and white) and have fun with this classic.

Beginning, I believe, with their far-better serial, THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, Republic Studios had a knack for disguising their criminal masterminds and leaving them masked until the last chapter (Republic probably got the idea from Fritz Lang's THE LAST TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE). Because it worked so well with CAPTAIN MARVEL, the studo would reuse it again and again (ie, DICK TRACY vs. CRIME INC., among others) and it got old fast.

However, with this one, the criminal mastermind has got the best looking mask of the bunch. He looks like a traditional, and fearsome, grim reaper incarnate and all he seems to lack is his scythe. Even this villain's name, "the Crimson Ghost," sounds like an alternate appellation that the grim reaper would call himself.

I personally dislike the action scenes the Ghost partakes in, because it almost belittles his mystical presence. He should sit majestically in a high chair, speaking orders, like Bond's Blofeld or all the other big league bad guys. He should let his minions do all the dirty work of fighting the heroes. When he puts up his dukes, smashes chairs, or even points a forty-five, he reduces his august presence and appearance. A mastermind should never belittle himself by acting like a henchman.