Holt of the Secret Service

As far as I am concerned, Flash Gordon set the standards by which all other serials or chapter plays are measured. Having said that, "Holt" holds up pretty well.

Well, first off, you have to accept a guy that looks 60 as a robust fighting hero. Then you have to be able to believe that ANY man can knock the stuffing outta eight husky men and leave them in a pile.

Then you have to be able to believe that when our hero refuses a blindfold, when he is about to be shot by a firing squad, and states: "Are you kiddin'? this is the only thing in life I ain't seen before!" Well, you don't really have to believe all this stuff, but you can have a lot of fun laughing at it, and the rest of the 'drama' presented here.

Only if you take serials seriously (no pun intended!) would you be disappointed in "Holt of the Secret Service." This one is a lot of fun.

When they made this film, Jack Holt was 53 and Evelyn Brent 42. You might suspect they'd be a bit creaky. Anything but. This is the only serial I've seen where the leads are actually fine actors. As a result, their byplay, highly unusual in serials, is a breath of fresh air. Brent is just as tough as Holt and each does most of his/her own stunts. Not since films like The Hazards of Helen has the heroine been an equal partner of the hero, climbing rope ladders, socking bad guys with a gun, tied to a post while a real, large fire blazes behind her. She should be better known as a feminist icon. Brent and Holt run, climb, drive like maniacs and generally put persons 20 years younger to shame. If you can imagine putting your heart and soul into a piece of celluloid trash, this is it.

That said, Holt and Brent are the only reason to see this film. It is quite cheaply made, despite that Columbia could have spent a little money dressing standing sets. Locations are used repeatedly when logic would presume the bad guys would choose new locations after the old ones were discovered by the good guys. The bad guy leads are disappointing, particularly the leader of the gang. Without the leads I'd give this mess three stars.

"Holt of the Secret Service" should have been better than it was. It stars veteran action star Jack Holt in the lead role. Holt had been around in films since 1914, playing action heroes throughout the silent era. In the 1930s he became a highly respected character actor. It is therefore curious as to why he undertook the role of a dashing serial hero so late in his career. Maybe he wanted to return to his glory years.

By 1941 Holt was well past his prime and simply is not convincing as the hero. Some of the situations in the serial are laughable. Holt (or at least the stunt men) takes on 3, 4 and 5 henchmen at one time in just about every one of the 15 chapters.

The story centers around a set of counterfeit printers plates that keep changing hands between the good guys and the bad. Holt impersonates criminal Nick Farrel and is joined by Kay Drew (Evelyn Brent) who poses as his wife in an effort to infiltrate the gang.

The story moves from prison where Holt befriends Crimp Evans (Joe McGunn) a member of the gang. Holt and Kay wind up at a canyon hideout where they meet Valden (Tristram Coffin) one of the gang's top henchmen. Holt tries to learn the identity of the leader of the gang through Valden.

Next the trail leads to a gambling ship where we learn that gang's leader Arnold (John Ward) runs his operation. Arnold's no. 2 man Quist (Ted Adams) poses as the boss to mislead Holt and Kay. After a few chapters where the plates change hands back and forth the ship drops anchor off an isolated island where yet another gang led by Garrity (Stanley Blystone) with his henchmen Rankin (George Chesebro) and Dent (Stanley Price) run the show.

Competition between Garrity and Arnold results with each trying to control the other and gain possession of the elusive plates. Needless to say Fearless Fosdick ...er Jack Holt saves the day in Chapter 15.

It has been said that the square jawed comic strip detective Dick Tracy was based on Holt by cartoonist Chester Gould. Al Capp who drew the popular strip L'il Abner had a sub strip called Fearless Fosdick that was a takeoff on Dick Tracy and who looked an awful lot like Jacj Holt, complete with mustache's.

This serial was weak in the casting of the criminal masterminds. John Ward as Arnold and Stanley Blystone as Garrity are awful. Surely, Columbia could have gotten better actors such as J.Carrol Naish or Henry Brandon, both whom were working in the genre at the time. Veterans Chesebro and Price spice up the story, but they don't appear until Chapter 11.

And yes there's Holt's suit. It gets scuffed up and/or soaked in every chapter but never gets torn or cleaned. Evelyn Brent wears the same checkered suit throughout most of the serial as well. Eeeeeuuuuu!

I don't think that this picture is one for which Jack Holt would want to be remembered.

In 1941, Jack Holt was strictly a contract actor at Columbia where ten years previous, he had been one of their leading stars. I have it on good authority that Jack made the serial to fulfill his contract commitment to Columbia. He and Harry Cohn bumped heads constantly and I think this was one way Cohn was getting back at him. Holt had made some serials in the silent period, where his tight lipped histrionics probably made more sense. I have seen the serial and where it may not have been up to Columbia's standards, you got to admit old Jack went through an awful lot of fights, being dunked in the water, and general scuffling just to have his suit looking nice like that. He fared a little better in some of the westerns he did in the late Forties at Republic and in Arizona Ranger, in which he co-starred with son Tim.

Serials were the staple of production for the middle tier studios. Columbia, Republic, Universal and the poverty row independents. Universal featured competent actors, well thought out plot lines and had the Flash Gordon franchise. Republic had the best in action, special visual effects and stunt-work. So what did that leave Columbia? Not much and they did not put much into this effort. Columbia was not called at that time "the Germ of the Ocean" for nothing and this serial is a perfect example.

Fifthteen (15) chapters of drudgery and what for? To find some plates used in counterfeiting money. No super weapon to conquer the earth like in 'THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL'. No super villain from outer space like 'MING THE MERCILESS'. No Nothing! There is not SeventyNine (79) minutes worth of plot here let alone 279 MINUTES! The featured players of Jack Holt and Evelyn Brent are particularly joyless and not very attractive. Holt's glory days were long over and Brent's were over by 1930.

We can only recommend picking up this one (1) if you can find a copy for $02.00 or less. Better yet con one (1) of your friends or your library to get.