The Fighting Devil Dogs

This is one of the serials dedicated to the military by Republic Pictures, SOS Coastguard being another.Though providing serial fans with plenty of action, this 1938 chapter play is composed of excessive stock footage, unusual for a serial made in the late thirties. Robinson Carusoe of Clipper Island and the first Dick Tracy are two serials that provide scenes and cliffhangers for Fighting Devildogs. Adding to that ,news reel footage, the viewer can easily see that the studio really cut corners. That being said, it remains a fast moving 12 chapters with Lee Powell and Herman Brix,aka Bruce Bennett, doing good work as the leads. William Witney and John English provide stellar direction, along with Alberto Columbo's atmospheric musical score. This serial also provides a memorable super nemesis known as The Lightning.The stunts are excellent and up to Republic standards, but the pace of the serial is often erratic. Should have been better considering the personnel involved. Still , this serial deserves a place in a serial fans collection.

This serial turned out to be a bit better than many, despite the constraints of a low budget. (Something almost all serials needed to deal with.) Yes, it uses lots of stock footage, but pieced together to good effect. There are all the standard serial tropes - lots of climatic cliff-hangers from the which the heroes are revealed to have walked/rolled/jumped away from at the start of the next chapter. Some of these are above average, in that it is not always obvious how they will have avoided that one. This serial is one of the type where the true identity of the villain is unknown until the end. In this case, the villain is not only masked but in a full-length supervillain outfit which is speculated to have inspired Darth Vader's wardrobe. His look seems out of place among all the standard 1930's suits and uniforms, but it is all in campy fun.

For the most part I thought the story was quite good. My only real disappointment with the serial was the final chapter. The final reveal opened up plot holes and relied on rather unrealistic behaviour by some of the characters. In my opinion, the red herrings were all better thought out. Either the writers didn't agree on the end until the last minute, or someone stepped in and imposed an ending, unsupported by the rest of the story. Still, most of the prior three hours plus had been good enough that I could shrug off the weak ending as part of the camp of serials The serial is 12 chapters, mostly around 15 minutes each. The first chapter is twice as long and seems to combine several situations in what may have originally been intended as a couple of additional chapters. It serves to help get you into the story if you are not watching the episodes all at once. There is also a recap episode part way through.

If you are into serials, this one is worth a watch.

The famed serial that is often said to have a "pre-Darth Vader" character called The Lighting.

Being a massive science fiction fan, I turned to this serial for one reason and for one reason only - to see the masked villain who has often been reported as being the roots of Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977).

As revealed on the main IMDb page for this title, in the photos he looks so much like Vader! But here is the problem - he sure as hell does not sound like him! In fact, when they finally cut to The Lighting actually talking, I found myself laughing, because his simple-Simon-sounding voice just did not fit the look! But considering this serial was made all the way back in 1938, please don't confuse this as an attack on the serial - Hollywood was still in the early days of sorting out what goes with what. So all is cool with The Fighting Devil Dogs.

Eleven years later, another old time B&W movie serial - Columbia's Batman and Robin (1949) - did a much better job with a masked villain who resembles Darth Vader - The Wizard. Granted, The Wizard looks less like Vader than The Lightning does, but The Wizard has a deep commanding voice that has a touch of James Earl Jones - so the creepy nature of the guy comes together better.

In regards to the whole Fighting Devil Dogs serial as a whole, I did not like it, but as stated above I am a science fiction fan first. So perhaps I am just the wrong viewer for this serial. I am sure many others will love it.

In Singapore, two naval lieutenants, Tom and Frank, discover the threat of a sinister and dangerous criminal, The Lighting. The arch villain, who has developed a weapon of unheard-of power, threatens humanity. But our two brave young heroes won't let him achieve his nefarious goals as easily as that.

In the face of the enemy (a poverty budget), Witney and English behave just like Tom and Frank, their two heroes: they fight valiantly. And win the battle ! A modest victory in fact (a fair12-episode serial) but a true one given the circumstances. All right, there are some clichés, naiveties, implausibilities and stock shots (but aren't they part of the guilty pleasure we get from such chapter plays) but there are redeeming qualities: a convincing duo of actors (virile without Stallonian excesses), ok fight stunts and a galloping rhythm, whether the scenes are on land (in a car), in the air (in an airship or a flying wing) or under the sea (in a submarine). Plus some clever finds, including the final revelation of the identity of the big bad guy. To be consumed without moderation... provided you have kept your child's soul.

Two marines take on the evil Lightning who travels around the world in a giant wing. The lightning uses his "electrical thunderbolt" to kill those who stand in the way of world domination.

Well acted despite being full of serial character clichés, this is a good, but not particularly great tale. I know many people think this is the best serial ever made but I'm not among them. There is something too mechanical about the tale. Yes its got a great look and good cliffhangers, but for me it feels as though it was put together by a list instead of coming together organically. Don't get me wrong I like the serial. It in no way a bad serial and its certainly worth seeing, but is seems to be more what the perfect serial SHOULD be instead of simply BEING that serial.

Give it a shot if you run across it.