The Masked Marvel

In 1966 or so during the "camp"craze, the 1943 Columbia serial of "Batman" was released to ride the publicity generated by the Batman-TV program. (As an aside, as a True Believer I quickly tired of that program, haven't watched it since) Republic edited several of its much better made serials into 2 hour or so movies, sold them in syndication. Among the ones I remember were "Fighting Devil Dogs", "The Invisible Monster", "Manhunt of Mystery Island" and of course "The Masked Marvel" My mother joked that the actors hats seemed to be stapled to their heads, I later learned that they wore elastic bands so you couldn't tell it was a stuntman and not an actor, if in a fight scene one of the performers' hat came off he was a stuntman all along. Sort of a screen convention of the time. That said, this is one of the best wartime serials, I occasionally needed an adult to explain some of the wartime reference-the gas rationing stamps that the Marvel uses to track down Mace's car, e.g.

One sad bit of trivia, in Chapter One the actor David Bacon looks at a secret message dated September 13, 1943, he was murdered on September 13, 1943.

Picture this. It's 1943, we are involved in the greatest conflict in history, namely World War II. Did we have The Senate & The House of Representatives playing games with trying to impose unrealistic deadlines and further making attempt to cut the legs out from under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration? Did we see people, other than Axis Sympathetic, 5th Column Traitors turning "debate" about policy into comfort and emotional aid for America's deadly enemies? No, of course we didn't. But, that was then, this is now. In those days, the whole nation mobilized all of our resources behind the Roosevelt Administration, to give the best support our American and Allied Forces.

Hollywood gave its full support with production of movies putting full support behind the war effort. They even extended to the Juvenile Faire as follows.

The story goes that Republic Pictures was in negotiations with Mr. Will Eisner to get the rights to do a chapter-play bringing his Comic Book/Newspaper Comic, THE SPIRIT, to the movies. For whatever reason, the deal never came to fruition, This was during the height of World War II,at a time when the outcome was very much of an unknown.

But, we must remember that because of the War, there was already a shortage of many commodities. Raw materials, once plentiful, even in surplus, were now being used up, feeding an industrial giant-now re-tooled for War. Whatever we had, it just couldn't be wasted, and in that area, Republic was most conscientious.

The screenplay that was potentially to be THE SPIRIT, became instead another secret crime fighter, THE MASKED MARVEL! The powers that be made sure that nothing was wasted.* The 1st Chapter starts really fast, even for an action packed serial. Using a quick moving montage of destruction, amplified by radio news broadcast and newspaper extras, the story is quickly set up. There has been an epidemic of sabotage directed against the insurance company of Mr. Martin Crane (William Forrest), Mr. Warren Hamilton (Howard C. Hickman), and his daughter Anne Hamilton (Louise Currie).

After suffering through all the humiliation, destruction and robberies; Senior Partner Mr. Hamilton is slain by hold up man.When it becomes known that the enemy agent they are facing is Imperial Japanese Super Spy, Mura Sakima, Anne calls a news conference to announce that the (apparently)well known espionage-agent busting 'Investigator' known only as The Masked Marvel, will be brought in to direct the investigation and secure safety for the insurance company and the War effort.

The M.M. shows a lot of spunk, hitting the ground running-foiling yet another robbery. Soon, one at a time, there are no less than four (4), (you count 'em, folks!)Investigators, all dressed alike on the case. Surely, one of these Detectives is the one who dons the mask to strike fear into wrong-doers, especially Axis spies and traitorous 5th Column, Home Grown,"American" terrorists.

During the following Chapters, there is a lot of action and even loss of life some 'Investigators', leaving us to guess which guy is the Marvel.*** One of the highlights of film is the casting of Caucasian actor,Johnny Arthur, as the ever so evil, blood thirsty Mura Sakima. Mr. Arthur had been prominently featured in Hal Roach's OUR GANG comedies, playing Spanky's Father.

Johnny Arthur's Sakima, speaks in the so slow, deliberate manner. He always feigns politeness, but to such a degree as to demonstrate his lack of sincerity.**** As this writer has stated before, Serials just do not come any better. We're sure that in addition to providing the 40's bubble gum crowd with plenty of action, THE MASKED MARVEL serial also gave good example to the kids, who were bearing witness to the greatest conflict in history.

* To be sure, Republic Pictures had never known as a studio to waste anything, be it a script, or costume, or any filmed 'cafastrophes', which could be blended into any one of a number of serials & westerns.

** The use of the multiple Investigators, and the unknown Masked Marvel was a good ploy to keep us guessing. It is similar to their adaption of THE LONE RANGER to the Serial Screen.They took Lone Ranger's origin, in which he was the only survivor of a massacre of a group of Texas Rangers to having one victim killed on a Chapter by Chapter basis.

*** Actor Johnny Arthur(a Caucasoid) did give a really fine job of creating the characterization of Sakima. Admittedly, it was exaggerated, camp and definitely not politically correct. It was meant to be all of those things (much like J. Carroll Nash's Dr. Daka in Columbia's BATMAN Serial (1943),for we must remember, there was War going on. Mr. Arthur, by the way, looked exactly like The photo of Emperor Hiro Hito, which he displayed over his desk (albeit a 'slightly' older version).

**** Mr. Arthur's characterization would probably be castigated and panned as being 'racist'. For that matter, any dialectition would be branded and banned in today's politically correct, bass-ackwards society!

Made during the height of World War II, The Masked Marvel is 12 chapters of pure stunts and thrills. Despite the poor acting of the four leading men who are the "Marvel" suspects, the action-packed fights and rousing cliffhangers, plus the marvellous stunt work by Tom Steele and his team compensates.

The special effects by the Lydecker brothers are first-rate, as good as any major studio - if not better.

I have watched this serial a dozen times and still get excited and caught up in the adventure. If anyone wanted to begin a serial collection, this could do well as an introduction. It's Republic Pictures at the top of the studio's game.

This serial has a number of good moments and will be fun and enjoyable for serial fans but is not representative of the usually high quality for Republic serials of this era. First, the good things:

1. The fights and stunts, the efforts of Republic's cadre of expert stuntmen and fight choreographers, are all up the usual high standard for this studio.

2. The action and plot are fast moving, and the WWII background and references are interesting.

3. The cliff hangers and escapes are good.

4. Louise Currie playing Alice Hamilton, the plucky heroine whose father was murdered by the Axis spy ring. Ms. Currie was a good actress who never gained the fame she deserved, but did added a lot of class to this serial, and of course, the excellent 'Adventures of Captain Marvel'(1941). She is quite appealing as well as valiant in both of these serials, especially the 'Masked Marvel,' where she puts herself in mortal peril by going undercover, holds thugs at bay with a rifle, and escapes at least 2 death traps by herself, with no help from the eponymous hero.

5. The villains and thugs are pretty good actors. Of note is veteran character actor Johnny Arthur, playing the master villain Sakima. Mr. Arthur's performance is, overall, skilled and competent, and he seems sufficiently evil (though not nearly as evil as Ming the Merciless from 'Flash Gordon' or 'Dr. Daka' from the 1943 'Batman'). Note however, that like every other U.S. portrayal of a Japanese person from this period, racism is a huge factor.

But as much as Johnny Arthur is an asset, he is also a problem. That is because Mr. Arthur is going to be immediately recognizable as the actor who played the comic foil to the Little Rascals in a couple of the funniest 'Our Gang' comedies (he played Darla's father, Mr. Hood). Once an actor has been vanquished by Buckwheat and Alfalfa, it is hard believe he is a serious menace to our heroes. Mr. Arthur specialized in playing finicky, effeminate characters, and you get this sense that underneath the evil, Sakima is really just a sissy. This impression is reinforced when Sakima finds out that the Masked Marvel has discovered his hideout: Sakima pauses to pack his things!

Other problems:

1. The running gimmick, that the audience doesn't know who the real Marvel is, means that you can't imagine the man behind the Mask. The Marvel has comparatively few lines, is never photographed in close up, and never sticks around very long, so you really don't ever start rooting for him very much.

2. The 4 insurance dicks, one of whom is secretly the Marvel, never say enough lines, do enough or have enough close ups for the audience to want to root for any of them too much. One of the insurance dicks, David Bacon, is so wooden that Howard Hughes could have built a seaplane out of him. (Unfortunately, poor Mr. Bacon was murdered about a week after shooting on this serial wrapped. The crime was never solved!)

3. The direction shows a profound lack of imagination and only the most primitive understanding of the principles of cinema. While having access to one of the best stunt and fight crews in the world, it seldom occurs to the director to try different camera positions in the fights, and there are only 2 medium close up shots of the Masked Marvel's face in any of the fight scenes. It's too bad, because the Mask has a striking dramatic effect, one that would make the Marvel appear more formidable. You know, strike terror into the hearts of evildoers. But no, that seems never to occur to director Spencer Bennett, best known for his work making lousy postwar Columbia serials. How bad a director was Mr. Bennet? Based on the 3 Bennett serials I've seen, I'd say he was about ½ step above shooting Mexican porno movies in the desert. But who knows, maybe he actually did some Mexican porn… As I said, this is worthwhile to the serial fan, but there are many other serials you should see before this.

Perplexing? It is never revealed how the Masked Marvel acquired his aura.

He doesn't possess magical powers, super brains, or any particular crime fighting skills. He does sport a mask. But what for? What's he trying to hide? He's truly not much, if all, different from the other three good guys.

One thing is clear. Men's hats must have been surgically attached. No amount of fighting, falling, leaping out of cars or boats, can dislodge the hats.

It appeared all of the serials many pugilists were in tremendous physical condition. How many blows to the chin, back flips, kicks, hurling into walls could you take? They are simply indefatigible.

The Masked Marvel serial makes Steven Segal foes seem like pre-schoolers.