Todd’s Serial Blog

Usually August is the dog day of summer movie wise, with little in the theaters to getting excited about as we wait for fall. Even with the release of The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), there really aren’t any new blockbusters coming out this month. That being the case, I thought I would go against tradition and highlight a serial blockbuster, Columbia’s Mandrake the Magician (1939), based on one the most popular and greatest comic strip character’s ever created, and is one of the best serials Columbia or any other studio ever made.

The serial opens with Mandrake (Warren Hull) aboard the S.S. Mohawk, as entertainment during the cruise. As his assistant and best bud Lothar (Al Kikume) is helping him prepare for the final show of the voyage, Mandrake is visited by James Webster (Kenneth MacDonald), a noted geologist. The two met on the voyage and have become friends.

Mandrake tells Webster of his friend Professor Houston (Forbes Murray) and his new Radium Machine that can produce radium rays. Though created for use in hospitals the machine also has potential as a destructive force. So much power is put off by the machine that the metal it is constructed from soon wears out. What is needed is for steel to be melded with platinite, one of the rarest of all metals. Mandrake knows where a deposit is located and needs Webster’s help in extracting it. Webster agrees to give his help.

Unknown to Mandrake a master criminal known as The Wasp is aware of the invention and wants it to cause death and destruction in a bid for world domination. He has men aboard the ship and they listen in on Mandrake’s conversation. During his performance, when Mandrake steps into his disappearing cabinet, they fire bullets into the cabinet from across the room then run. Pandemonium starts to erupt but is quickly dissipated as Mandrake appears from behind a curtain and acts like it was all part of the show. The attack impresses on Mandrake the need for speed and he decides to fly to Houston’s as soon as the ship docks. He sends a wire to Houston informing him of this.

The news of Mandrake’s arrival is met with happiness not only for Houston, but also for his daughter Betty (Doris Weston) who is enamored of the entertainer, and Houston’s son Tommy (Rex Downing), who hero worships him and wants to be a magician like Mandrake. Soon after, when Houston is alone, The Wasp projects an image of himself on Houston’s laboratory wall, taunting him that once the machine is completed he will steal it.

Once the Mohawk has docked, Mandrake grabs his personal plane while Lothar and Webster follow in a passenger plane. One of The Wasp’s men has tampered with the plane. When Mandrake gets close to the airfield where Betty is picking him up, a steering cable snaps and the plane goes out of control. Luckily Mandrake was wearing a parachute and bails out. After landing safely he and Betty get in her car and head for the Houston house. Some of The Wasp’s men chase after them, but Mandrake’s tricky maneuvering causes their pursuers to go over a cliff.

Meanwhile The Wasp’s number one guy Dirk (John Tyrell) is attacking Houston home in an attempt to kidnap the scientist. Mandrake arrives in time to break this up and chase them off. As everyone returns to Houston’s lab, Houston’s oldest and closest friend, Dr. Andre Bennett (Edward Earle), enters pushing Webster in front of him at gun point, saying he saw this man skulking around. Mandrake quickly explains about Webster helping him with the platinite problem. Bennett apologizes. Webster graciously accepts the apology but both men regard each other with suspicion.

With everyone there, Houston demonstrates his machine by destroying a metal cabinet. Bennett is impressed and quickly sets up a demonstration at Houston’s home for all the prominent scientists in the country. On the night of the demonstration Mandrake gets a message from Houston asking him to bring the platinite with him to the demonstration and take it to the lab.

Dirk and his men invade the lab again and succeed in kidnapping Houston. When Mandrake shows up with a package, Dirk is disguised in the radiation outfit Houston wears when operating the machine. Mandrake says he has the platinite. When Dirk reaches for the package Mandrake whips off the radiation hood from Dirk’s head, saying he knew it was a trick as Houston knows that Mandrake doesn’t have the platinite yet.

A fight breaks out that destroys half the lab. Finding Mandrake is a better fighter than he is, Dirk grabs the Radium Machine and fires it at Mandrake, hitting a large tank of flammable gas next to the magician. The tank explodes in a huge fireball of flame….

Those familiar with the comic strip will notice a vast difference between the serial and the source material. Gone is Mandrake’s ability to hypnotize anyone into seeing vast illusions, his true love Princess Narda of Cockaigne, his nemesis The Cobra and the exotic locales he usually ventured to. There is Lothar, but instead of an African prince in leopard skin and a fez who also just happens to be the strongest man in the world, we have a Polynesian regular guy in street clothes (though they do have an Arabic look to them). Mandrake doesn’t even wear his trademark tux except for the few times he appears on stage.

Disappointing? A little bit at first, but like Republic’s Captain America (1944), if you don’t bring along your preconceptions of the character, the serial is a slam bang extravaganza. One of the things I like about this serial is that during the fights Mandrake will use simple magician tricks like flash powder and smoke pellets to confuse his opponents. It is a clever and inexpensive way to enhance the action scenes and gives them a different look from what the other serial makers were doing.

This is one of the best paced serials Columbia put out. The only twelve chapter serial they made, it moves along at a steady clip and doesn’t have any feeling of being padded out like some fifteen chapter serials do. There isn’t the usual subplot of a henchman double crossing the villain on a solo play that spans several chapters which popped up a lot in Columbia’s serials. I have often wondered why they always made fifteen chapter serials, they certainly proved with this one that they can make a good and effective and streamlined serial with less chapters.

The relationship between Mandrake and Lothar is interesting. Though presented as an employer/ servant arrangement with Lothar continually calling him “Master”, the two men act like friends and Lothar is obviously considered an equal by Mandrake (much like the relationship between Richard Wentworth and Ram Singh in The Spider’s Web (1938)). There is an unintentional funny bit in Chapter Six when they are panning for the platinite. Lothar shows up at the creek with supplies, but since he is wearing nice clothes and Mandrake is dressed in grubby jeans, Lothar stretches out on a rock and contentedly watches Mandrake do the actual work. What makes it amusing for me is that neither comment on it, they just naturally assume that is the way it will be.

Another plus for this serial is that Mandrake actually performs magic before an audience in Chapter One and Chapter Four. Though it is obvious that someone else is doing the actual sleight of hand with Warren Hull dubbing his voice over the action, the performances are well executed and, like Jimmie Dodd’s songs in Mystery of the Riverboat (1944), provide charming interludes between action scenes. Chapter Four is a real standout as Mandrake is disguised as a magician henchman and is doing the act as a stall for time so that Lothar can escape with the real magician right under the other henchmen’s noses.

Speaking of the henchmen, they don’t seem to be very smart. A running gag has them continually tying Mandrake up and leaving him to die in an explosion or similar inescapable doom, only to have him quickly untie himself and escape. After about the third time this happens, The Wasp berates them for being stupid enough to think a trained magician can be held by ropes, and to make his point crystal clear, kills the man in charge of that particular debacle.

The villain is very well done. His costume is a little silly. Wearing a wasp emblazoned cape, matching fedora and domino mask, he could have come off as a joke. But thanks to a totally serious script, moody lighting and a menacing performance by the actor (using a distorting microphone to give his voice a rougher edge), The Wasp comes off as one of the most menacing villains to ever appear in the genre.

The acting is all top notch. Warren Hull gives another of his energetic and forceful performances. He is effortlessly charming when on stage, exuberant around his friends and more than a little cold blooded when dealing with the bad guys. Al Kikume makes an excellent sidekick. He easily handles the physicality of the action scenes and shows a nice spark of intelligence without much dialogue. Whenever Mandrake is detailing a plan to trap one of the henchmen or retrieve a valuable part for the Radium Machine, Kikume will slightly nod with quick smile. He gets it and thinks it’s a good move.

Doris Weston does well with a role that requires her to do little more than alternate between screaming and looking at Mandrake with unchecked adoration. Forbes Murray is in his element as the harried scientist. As good as he is in his scenes of dignified resistance against his kidnappers, the ones that really standout are when he is doting on Rex Downing and Weston as his children. Though stern at times he is always loving and even understanding.

Edward Earle, Kenneth MacDonald and Don Beddoe (playing Mandrake’s agent) all make excellent suspects. They are at turns friendly, suspicious of the other two, and occasionally look secretly pleased when things go bad for the good guys. MacDonald is the real standout for me, having seen him play countless villains it is nice to see him acting like a helpful nice guy for the most part (though that could just be an act to throw us off the scent of who the villain turns out to be).

All and all it is one of the most enjoyable serials ever put out and easily ranks up there with such great ones as Flash Gordon (1936), The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) and Drums of Fu Manchu (940).

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