Daredevils of the Red Circle

In looking over previous comments of Daredevils of the Red Circle, many of you comment on the ending of Chapter One where Charles Quigley is trying to outrace a torrent of water riding on a motorcyle. I had the privilege of knowing Barry Shipman, the scriptwriter for "Daredevils." He would pen many of the famous Republic serials, including the Lone Ranger, before going over to Columbia to write the Durango Kid features. Bill Witney relays the story of how the chapter came to be written in his autobiography. First, they found a real tunnel in downtown Los Angeles. At that time, the L.A. traffic had not grown to the proportion it is today and Republic got permission from the city to block traffic while they shot footage inside the tunnel. A miniature replica of the tunnel was designed and a process screen was used to show the water seemingly coming from behind Quigley. It was Barry's suggestion that the hero narrowly escapes downing by getting to the end of the tunnel where he turns the wheel to close the watertight doors. This conclusion was known as the take-out or the solution to the cliffhanger.

This is a serial that has it all! The leads,Herman Brix[Bruce Bennett],Charles Quigley,and David Sharpe are top notch.Carole Landis is fine as the herione,and Charles Middleton does his usual fne work as the master villian.Sharpe shows that he can act as well as perform those great stunts!Location filming adds to the scenic values,good story line,music score,and special effects from the Lydecker brothers. It all adds up to 12 chapters of non-stop action.One of my top ten serials from Republic.

In looking over previous comments of Daredevils of the Red Circle, many of you comment on the ending of Chapter One where Charles Quigley is trying to outrace a torrent of water riding on a motorcyle. I had the privilege of knowing Barry Shipman, the scriptwriter for "Daredevils." He would pen many of the famous Republic serials, including the Lone Ranger, before going over to Columbia to write the Durango Kid features. Bill Witney relays the story of how the chapter came to be written in his autobiography. First, they found a real tunnel in downtown Los Angeles. At that time, the L.A. traffic had not grown to the proportion it is today and Republic got permission from the city to block traffic while they shot footage inside the tunnel. A miniature replica of the tunnel was designed and a process screen was used to show the water seemingly coming from behind Quigley. It was Barry's suggestion that the hero narrowly escapes downing by getting to the end of the tunnel where he turns the wheel to close the watertight doors. This conclusion was known as the take-out or the solution to the cliffhanger.

Now this serial had a lot of hype to live up to...I had heard or read that it was one of the best serials ever made from every source I encountered. It was spoken of in the same awed tones as The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Zorro's Fighting Legion, Fighting Devil Dogs, and Drums of Fu Manchu. And it lived up to all the hype.

Charles Quigley, David Sharpe and Bruce Bennett are great as the three circus daredevils who join the police in their efforts to stop the escaped convict who is known by the name 39013. The action and thrills are easily on a par with most of the SFX blockbusters today...and these old time SFX are pretty believable too. Just watch the motorcycle racing ahead of the water in the flooding tunnel!

This chapter play doesn't really fall into the ruts of many of the genre. The cliffhanger resolutions are all very believable, and there is only about a half a chapter of recap. The acting, beyond the three principals, is excellent. Carole Landis has a minor though pivotal role that really doesn't use her comic talents, but Charles Middleton plays the archtypical villain role that he became known for...especially after he took on the role of Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon.

There are few serials that I can recommend wholeheartedly. But Daredevils of the Red Circle has definitely joined that list!

This is a good example of what old movie serials were all about. This had plenty of action, outdoor locations and original storylines. This was better than most "B" movies of it's time. Republic made the best serials and this was one of the best.