Zorro l'homme-araignée

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.

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.

Posing as a "Spider," the terror of the underworld, as well as Blinky McQuade, the underworld, Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), Is this the end for Spider and will Octopus succeed in its goal of gaining dominance over the country by taking control of its transportation, communications, banking and utilities?

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).

A couple minor directorial changes in this serial would have made this a close to perfect example of the genre, putting it in the same league as Spy Smasher or Capt. Marvel. The musical score is often quite unsuitable, sounding too upbeat and heroic like Roy Rogers or Rin Tin Tin music, when instead there should have been something more mysterioso, ala film noir. Also, Warren Hull's speech is just a bit too fast and his affect just a bit too bright for a deadly vigilante such as The Spider.

And deadly the Spider is! This film is a fine relic of the pulp magazines, masked vigilantes, and of the 1930's, when duly deputized G-Men summarily executed real-life criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger. The Spider outdraws and dispatches criminals without the slightest qualms. (Do not think that flapdoodle64 personally approves of such things...he is instead fascinated by these windows into the mores of the past!) Despite the flaws, this is a very enjoyable serial, and while it takes some liberties with the source material, it is true to the spirit of the Spider and true to the spirit of 1930's pulp magazines as well. It is quite fun to see the Spider and his cadre of assistants seek to break the tyrannical hand of a predatory monopolist who seeks to control the country. In the 21st century, predatory plutocrats are considered admirable, but in the 1930's they were seen as criminal thugs.

Of the Spider's assistants, I particularly liked the Sikh guy...the turban and the beard are cool fashion accessories for crime fighters. Speaking of fashion, the Spider's cape is made out of some thin silk-like fabric, which tends to billow when the Spider runs and swings on ropes...this is a good effect.

There are plenty of fights and the stunts are pretty good by Columbia standards. There is a better than average believability factor overall, except for one of the later chapters, in which the Spider is shot several times by the thugs but in the next scene is shown to be undamaged. In a Columbia serial, however, such a flaw should be considered minor.

I recommend this serial to any serial fan, to fans of the pulps, and to fans of old-time escapist cinema as well. These fans should be able to overlook the awkwardness and enjoy the bloodthirsty vigilante action.