Todd’s Serial Blog

DOC SAVAGE: A COLUMBIA SERIAL IN 15 CHAPTERS

Producer: Larry Darmour
Director: James W. Horne
Photography: James S. Brown, Jr.
Script: Basil Dickey
George H. Plympton
Wyndham Gittens
Music: Lee Zahler

Cast:

Doc Savage: Larry “Buster” Crabbe
Pat Savage: Iris Meredith
Tarnack: James Craven
Natalia: Veda Ann Borg
Renny: Roy Barcroft
Ham: Tristram Coffin
Monk: Charles King
Long Tom: Guy Wilkerson
Johnny: William Bakewell
Brown: Ray Teal
Taylor: Al Ferguson
Butch: Jack Ingram
Karl: George Magrill
Wheeler: Dick Botiller
Meeks: Kit Guard
Lyle: Lester Dorr
DA Warwick: Forbes Murray
Inspector Nolan: Robert Fiske
Judge Watkins: Selmer Jackson
Tuka: Al Kikume
Narrator: Knox Manning

Recap: “Doc Savage, Fearless Fighter for Truth and Justice, learns that Tarnack’s girl Friday Natalia has been frequenting Pat’s beauty parlor. When Natalia next visits, Doc is waiting to follow her, unaware that he is walking into a trap!”

CHAPTER 10: THE DEADLY BEAM

Natalia goes to a house out in the hills. Doc waits several minutes after she enters the house, then sneaks in through a ground floor window. When he touches the door knob to exit the empty room, an electrical shock knocks him unconscious.

Tarnack and his men enter the room. Tarnack chuckles at the ease with which they captured Doc. He has his men remove Doc’s utility vest and then carry him to another room. When Doc wakes up he hears Tarnack taunting him from a loud speaker, berating him for walking into such an obvious trap. Then the floor under Doc moves to reveal an alligator pit below. Tarnack wishes Doc a fond farewell, then a motor starts up. The wall starts moving, pushing Doc toward the gaping pit and the hungry alligators waiting below.

Suddenly a hole is blown in the side of the wall. When the dust and debris clear, Pat sticks her head through the hole and asks Doc if he’s ready to leave. Doc says yes and exits the room through the hole. He asks Pat where she got the explosive. Pat holds up his vest and says she found it lying on a table in the hall.

Just then several of the henchmen are coming down the hall and spot Doc and Pat. A fight breaks out with Doc mopping the floor with his four opponents. Drawn by the noise, Tarnack investigates. Seeing what is happening, he quickly steps up behind Pat, pulls out a gun and puts it to her head, telling Doc to not move. When Doc complies, Tarnack says he is leaving with Pat. He plans to rob the National Savings and Trust Bank. If Doc tries to stop him he will kill Pat. Then he and his men leave. Doc calls his own men and tells them what has happened and that he has a plan.

Tarnack and his men break into the bank. The crafty villain uses a special acid stolen from the Fortress to quickly eat through the vault door. He and his men are then jumped by the Fab Five who have their guns drawn. Tarnack says Pat will die for this, Ham counters that Doc is not with them, and therefore didn’t break the agreement with Tarnack. Muttering about never try arguing with a lawyer, Tarnack tosses out a smoke bomb which allows he and his men to escape.

Returning to their newest hideout, Tarnack goes to a room where Pat is tied to a chair in front of a deadly looking gun. Tarnack explains that the gun emits a ray that burns through rock, demonstrating on a large rock resting on a table. Doc had obviously intended it for mining excavations, but Tarnack thinks it will do just as well as a method to show Doc that he is not a man to be trifled with. Turning the gun on, Tarnack starts to sweep its beam toward the struggling Pat.

“Can anyone save Pat? Tarnack’s men are frantically searching the woods. Did one of them lose something? Don’t miss THE WINDOW OF DEATH! The next thrill packed episode of DOC SAVAGE, at this theater next week!”

Tags: Fiction //