The Phantom (1943 movie serial)

Infobox Film
name = The Phantom


image_size =
caption = DVD cover of "The Phantom"
director = B. Reeves Eason
producer = Rudolph C. Flothow
writer = Morgan Cox
Victor McLeod
Leslie Swabacker
Sherman L. Lowe
Lee Falk "(character)"
Ray Moore "(character)"
starring = Tom Tyler
Jeanne Bates
Kenneth MacDonald
Ace the Wonder Dog
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = Flagicon|USA 24 December 1943
runtime = 15 chapters (299 min)
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Adventures of Captain Africa (1955) "original intent"
website =
amg_id = 1:37913
imdb_id = 0036262|

"The Phantom" (1943) is a classic Columbia Pictures cliffhanger serial starring Tom Tyler in the title role. The serial is based on Lee Falk's comic strip "The Phantom". The serial also features Jeanne Bates as the Phantom's girlfriend Diana Palmer, and Ace the Wonder Dog as the Phantom's trusty German shepherd Devil.

Plot

Young Geoffrey Prescott takes over the mantle of The Phantom, a seemingly immortal man, from his dying father, and must thwart the evil Dr. Max Bremmer's plans to find the lost city of Zoloz, where the doctor intends to build a hidden airbase. To find Zoloz, the Phantom and Bremmer are both searching for pieces of a map that will lead them to the secret city, which is hidden deep in the jungle.

As in all serials, the hero has to fight his way through a path of many dangerous traps and set-ups. Every episode ends with an exciting cliffhanger, where the hero finds himself in great danger.

Attempted sequel

In 1955, Columbia Pictures filmed a sequel to "The Phantom" [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/148348/Adventures-of-Captain-Africa/overview Review at "New York Times"] ] , this time with John Hart in the lead role (Tom Tyler had passed away in 1954). The serial was well into production when producer Sam Katzman discovered that Columbia's rights to the character had expired, and owner King Features was unwilling to renew them. Katzman hastily transformed "Return of the Phantom" into "The Adventures of Captain Africa" ["Comic Book Marketplace" #121, May 2005, Gemstone Publishing.] (for additional details, see the Wikipedia entry for "The Adventures of Captain Africa").

Cast of "The Phantom"

*Tom Tyler as The Phantom/Geoffrey Prescott, The Ghost Who Walks
*Jeanne Bates as Diana Palmer
*Kenneth MacDonald as Dr. Max Bremmer
*Joe Devlin as Singapore Smith
*Frank Shannon as Professor Davidson
*Guy Kingsford as Byron Anderson
*Wade Crosby as Long
*John Bagni as Moku
*Sol Gorss as Andy Kriss
*Stanley Price as Chief Chota (uncredited)
*Ace the Wonder Dog as Devil

Chapter titles

#The Sign of the Skull
#The Man Who Never Dies
#A Traitor's Code
#The Seat of Judgement
#The Ghost Who Walks
#Jungle Whispers
#The Mystery Well
#In the Quest of the Keys
#The Fire Princess
#The Chamber of Death
#The Emerald Key
#The Fangs of the Beast
#The Road to Zoloz
#The Lost City
#Peace in the Jungle

Production

Like most serials, the film had a relatively low budget. In the serial, the Phantom's real name is "Geoffrey Prescott", while in the comic strip, his real name is "Kit Walker", due to the name "Kit" not having been used in the strip up to that point. Here, when covering his costume with a hat, dark glasses, and an overcoat so as to enter civilization unobtrusively, the Phantom tells Singapore Smith to call him "Walker."

Most of the serial was filmed in the Hollywood hills, which doubled as the African jungle.

DVD

The serial was released on a double-disc DVD by VCI Video in 2001 (reusing the cover box art from their previous VHS version), featuring a commentary track by writer Max Allan Collins (for Chapter One only) as well as other special features, including actor bios, photo gallery, and comic book art gallery.Much of the dialogue of one of the chapters (Chapter 11) had to be re-dubbed by new actors, because of sound damage to the original film's soundtrack negative which were damaged from ravages of time.

A different DVD- dition was released exclusively for Australia in 2005, featuring a commentary track by Frew Publications editor-in-chief Jim Shepherd.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0036262|title=The Phantom
* [http://www.serialexperience.com/showarticle.php?fldRecNum=116 The Phantom article at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Columbia Serial
before="Batman" (1943)
years="The Phantom" (1943)
after="The Desert Hawk" (1944)