Spy Smasher

10-year-old boys must have really gobbled this up when it was a brand-new serial back in 1942. Even now it has the power to involve and entertain with its narrative flow, frequent spurts of action, and that pounding musical introduction from Beethoven's Fifth. Best of all it has Kane Richmond, (born in Minneapolis in 1906), who has all the looks and manner you want in a serial hero. He also has amazingly tough skin. In Chapter One he's captured by the Nazis, bound against the wall of a Gestapo dungeon, and given a vigorous whipping across his bare chest -- but hardly seems to suffer so much as a paper-cut! Actually, this is one of those floggings where the whip is never shown touching its victim. Instead, the impression of a flogging is given by means of editing together various visual elements. In any case, this scene ranks 18th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies."

This action-packed serial never fails to amaze me--first-rate work by Kane Richmond in the lead and some of the best-choreographed action scenes to be found in any serial; the stunts are sometimes astonishing. Spy Smasher is as convincingly agile a serial good guy as I've seen; his falls from balconies during fights are truly breathtaking. Sure, none of the bad guys lose their fedoras during the intense fight scenes; but if you can't suspend disbelief during a serial, you shouldn't bother watching them in the first place. Several very clever cliffhangers are impossible to explain until their subsequent resolution in the succeeding chapter. The whole serial is stylish, exciting, fun, and even ends, notably, with the tragic death of a beloved favorite good-guy character. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Movie Serial, at least since the advent of sound, has always been considered a sort of poor relative of the feature, if not an out and out bastard cousin. They were always sort of viewed with the cartoons as being strictly made for the Matinée, the juvenile trade. As a result, there really is no "CITIZEN KANE" of Serials. SPY SMASHER comes close.

To be sure,it is a product of Republic Pictures' "thrill factory"*, and has plenty of stock footage of explosions, fires, floods and other assorted calamities through out.All of these are skillfully woven into the final product. It still has a bright, vital out of doors look;as well as convincing indoor sets. It also has an excellent cast which is headed by energetic,athletic Kane Richmond. Next to Buster Crabbe, Mr. Richmond is probably the best leading man in the Sound Serials. He was also prolific,having been in several other serials.

We have over 100 Serials in VHS or DVD formats in our household.This one is a top notch film,period. See it, but don't expect any 'Camp Humor". It's just not there.**

NOTE* Republic adapted it from the popular comic book feature appearing in WHIZ COMICS. It was property of Fawcett Publications, whose CAPTAIN MARVEL was previously brought to the screen by Republc, in 1941.

NOTE **See also SPY SMASHER RETURNS (1966), the edited-down feature version made for Television.

The score for Spy Smasher, a variation on Beethoven's fifth symphony, is a fabulous reminder of the era in which this classic serial was made.

While Spy Smasher is certainly one of the top 5 adventure serials ever made at Republic, it also is a rousing WW2 propaganda film. Check out the title sequence -- three dots and a dash appear on the screen, coinciding with the first four notes of Beethoven's fifth. Three dots and a dash are Morse code for the letter "V," made famous by Churchill's hand sign as a determination to defeat the Nazis and their cronies. Twin searchlights in the title sequence freeze into another V. The coded messages abound in Spy Smasher--even on Spy Smasher's belt buckle.

The action here is top notch, the cast capable, the stunt work great (as always at Republic) and the special effects likewise. If you like Republic serials (Zorro's Fighting Legion, Adventures of Captain Marvel, etc.) you MUST take a look at this one. It is one of the very best. Kane Richmond later went on to play the Shadow in a couple of films, one of which featured a killer who pulled his victims to their deaths off of balconies using a bullwhip, a stunt which was first seen in Spy Smasher. One thing I love about this chapterplay is the acknowledgment that we would not win the war without suffering losses. Great pacing, great action, great serial!

Spy Smasher is a rather good chapterplay. It features a rather obscure character from Whiz Comics (the same book that spawned Captain Marvel). From an adaptation point of view, it isn't very good, but then very few comic book-to-screen adaptations are all that true to the source material.

The cliffhangers are all acceptable and explainable from chapter to chapter (using the "they-don't-show-us-all-the-action" angle)...and the storyline is action-packed. The villain, The Mask, is a typical one spawned of both serials and comics of the times. There also doesn't seem to be a lot of stock footage use (though there is a bit of footage reuse in later chapters).

Kane Richmond isn't too much of an actor, but he is quite adequate here as the dashing identical twins and Spy Smasher. The rest of the cast isn't too noteworthy...nor do they have performances of any real note.

This is definitely a good example of a good movie serial...12 chapters that are worth the time to watch.