Todd’s Serial Blog

In this day and age where celebrities complain about paparazzi invading their privacy to find out what they had for breakfast, they should all take a lesson from actress Mary Field, who had a long career in film and TV and was so able to keep her private life private that no one, not even film scholars can find out any information about her background.  All we are left with is her filmography.

She came on the scene in 1937 playing the mother of the pauper in The Prince and the Pauper (1937).  She has appeared in countless films, everything from low budget horror films like The Ape (1940) to big budget blockbusters like Cheaper by the Dozen (1950).  During the fifties and sixties she made many appearances on TV shows like Death Valley Days, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and The Swamp Fox series on Wonderful World of Disney.

Her only serial was playing Huntz Hall’s sister in Sea Raiders (1941), helping The Little Tough Guys and nominal hero William Hall track down a  dangerous gang of saboteurs targeting cargo and military ships, one of whom turns out to be their uncle (Oh, the shame!).

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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, Defender of Justice, is racing against time to prevent criminal mastermind Tarnack from destroying the Fortress of Solitude, unaware of the danger that awaits him!”

CHAPTER 15: JUSTICE TRIUMPHANT

Tarnack comes to a narrow pass that can only be crossed one at a time. Knowing Doc is behind him and will probably be at the head of his party, he has his men set up a spiked bear trap to drop on the first person to go through the pass.

Doc and his party come to the narrow pass. Doc stops and looks about him, sensing something is wrong, but can see nothing out of the ordinary. Telling everyone to stay back, Doc proceeds through the pass. He trips a cord strung low across the pass, triggering the trap, which drops down toward him.

Natalia, seeing the danger, rushes selflessly forward and pushes Doc out of the way. The trap lands on top of her. Doc’s party gather around the deadly trap and bow their heads. Doc declares that Natalia’s sacrifice will not have been in vain.

Tarnack reaches the Fortress first and uses explosives to blow open the secret entrance. Once inside, he has his men start to take any inventions they can find while he rigs a bomb to destroy what they can’t take with them. Doc and his men arrive. A fight breaks out.

Seething with rage, Tarnack pulls out a sword and screams that it is time to take care of Doc Savage once and for all. Ham sees this and tosses Doc his sword cane. Doc and Tarnack have a furious, slashing sword battle all around the front area of the Fortress. Doc eventually disarms Tarnack and demands his surrender.

Just then the bomb Tarnack planted explodes, causing a chain reaction within the Fortress and it starts to collapse in on itself. Doc yells for everyone to get out, then tries to pull Tarnack with him. Tarnack fights him off and runs deeper into the Fortress, determined to get one more invention. The roof collapses on top of him, burying him under tons of rock and ice.

Doc, the Fab Five, Pat and Tarnack’s men all make it out, then watch as the Fortress sinks out of sight. Doc declares that with his friend’s help he will rebuild the Fortress. Brown asks what’s going to happen to them. Doc blithely replies that they will all be sent to his center to be rehabilitated into law abiding and productive citizens. The leaderless henchman all blanche and look at each other with apprehension at the prospect.

THE END

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Back during the Golden Age of Hollywood, if you were a film maker and needed a Polynesian actor to play a bit part or a major supporting role, Al Kikume was your go to guy. A full blooded Hawaiian, he was born in Honolulu, but according to differing sources, grew up in Kansas. His first big break in acting came in 1933, playing a native in Principal’s jungle serial Tarzan the Fearless (1933) and then played one of John Davidson’s henchmen in Universal’s Perils of Pauline (1933) remake.

Kikume quickly became a familiar face in Fox’s Charlie Chan series, playing minor policemen in Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936), Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937), Charlie Chan in Reno (1939) and Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939). In between these films he was seen in many jungle films like The Hurricane (1937) and Wallaby Jim of the Islands (1937), usually playing a native.

His biggest role was in the Columbia serial Mandrake the Magician (1939), playing Mandrakes loyal servant and best bud Lothar, helping to track down a mystery criminal known only as The Wasp. His next biggest role was in Republic’s Jungle Girl (1941), playing Chief Lutembi , helping Nyoka fend off criminal mastermind Slick Latimer after the tribe’s diamond treasure. Kikume also had brief appearances in Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) and Perils of Nyoka (1942).

Kikume spent the rest of the decade in small roles in films like White Savage (1943), Ilse of Tabu (1945), Jungle Jim (1948) and Wake of the Red Witch (1948). His film work in the fifties included cult favorite Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Road to Bali (1952) and Tarzan and the She Devil (1953). he also appeared in TV episodes of Ramar of the Jungle and Adventures of Superman. His final film credit is as an extra in Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

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