Serial of the Month: Secret Agent X-9
Usually when we think of cops and robbers serials like Secret Agent X-9 (1937), we always think that it was Universal’s attempt to imitate the success of Republic’s Dick Tracy (1937), but actually Secret Agent X-9 came out in February, a month before Dick Tracy, which came out in March. Of course it was also likely that Universal rushed out X-9 to beat Republic to the punch. If so, it was a good try from the studio when they were making some of the best serials of the Golden Age, but like the comic strip it was based on, X-9 will always come in second to the more popular Gould detective. But don’t let that stop you from seeing it, as on it’’s own merits, X-9 is solid serial entertainment.
The serial opens with notorious international jewel thief Victor Brenda robbing a safe, killing a guard, and getting gun down himself by the Budapest police. Over in America, Justice Department operative X-9, cover name Dexter (Scott Kolk) proves the man gunned down was not in fact Brenda due to, among other things, the dead man was right handed when Brenda is known to be left handed.
Pidge (David Oliver), a taxi driver Dexter uses on his cases, phones Dexter and notifies him that Blackstone (Henry Brandon), Brenda’s right hand man, came into town and Pidge followed him but lost the man at the waterfront. With this news Dexter is taken off his current case, guarding the return of the Belgravian crown jewels, and put on tracking down Brenda. Dexter’s protoge Jimmie Tilden (Elliott Rothe) is assigned to guard the jewels. Brenda steals the jewels and kills Jimmie.
Blackstone who has set up a headquarters in the Jolly Roger pirate ship amusement museum, is contacted by Marker (Max Hoffman, Jr.) that he has arrived with the jewels. Blackstone goes to Marker’s store the Appollo Art Shop where he is told that the jewels are in a safe deposit box, an the receipt is hidden in one of the shop’s paintings. Marker gives Blackstone his travel bag and says he will meet him later at the apartment after Maroni (Lon Chaney, Jr) picks him up.
Meanwhile, Dexter had found some fibers at the scene of the crime and analysis showed them to be from a distinctive tweed suit. A quick canvas of tailor shops gets Dexter the address of the man who bought the suit. Dexter heads to the apartment building and disguises himself as a janitor when Blackstone walks in, carrying the incriminating suit in the travel bag.
Blackstone is arrested and an examination of paint found on the luggage leads Dexter to the art shop. Entering the shop, Dexter meets shop assistant Shara Graustark (Jean Rogers), immediately smitten with her, he strikes up a conversation with her, flirting a little. Marker, who is waiting for Maroni, tries to sneak out the back but is heard by Dexter who gives chase.
Marker swipes a motor boat to get away, but Dexter jumps aboard and two start fighting. just then Maroni and the rest of the gang show up in their boat, spot the fight and give chase. Marker hits Dexter in the head with a wrench, knocking him out. Seeing them heading for a pylon, Marker jumps overboard and the motor boat slams into the pylon, shattering into pieces…..
I have to admit that I had a little trepidation about approaching this serial. I have always heard bad things about it on the message boards. It was boring, it moves too slow, the plot is pedestrian, the lead isn’t dynamic enough, and on and on. Well, after seeing it I have to say the critics are wrong. This is a tightly plotted thriller with some nice twists utilized throughout to keep the viewer watching.
Author Max Allan Collins said on his commentary for the second serial version of X-9 set during WWII, that he generally prefers this one due to its adherence to the early concept of he character, in which he was an investigator instead of an espionage agent. As with most Universal properties, the serial is a fairly faithful adaptation, with him operating under the code name Dexter, but dropping Hammett’s confusing aspect of having him going undercover as a private detective.
The plot is one long chase after some stolen jewels that pass back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys, with a third party working against both groups before eventually being folded into the good guys camp. This serial laid the blueprint for most of the cops and robbers serials that would follow from Universal, including Radio Patrol (1937) and Red Barry (1938). This serial has one of the more interesting variation on this, as the bad guys work to recover the jewels, lose them to the good guys and end up re-stealing them from the Belgravian government a second time. The mystery villain’s master of disguise element adds a bit of suspense as you are never sure if who you are seeing onscreen is really that character, or Brenda in disguise.
The mystery is pretty well handled in the early chapters with both Jean Rogers and Monte Blue, who is introduced in Chapter Two, shown at odd moments sneaking off to make a phone call and then the scene cuts to Brandon receiving a call with new orders from Brenda. But then at the halfway point Brenda disguises himself as Blue for most of the rest of the serial, which is a neat twist (Red Barry would reverse this having the villain show he was really another character in disguise and discarding the disguise for the second half), but it also narrows down the mystery to the one character who all but disappears after this and makes the reveal in the last chapter a non surprise.
The acting is all pretty good. Scott Kolk give a nice solid performance as the G-Man hero who alternates between likeably charming and tough as nails. He does a great job of expressing his character’s grief and anger over the death of his protoge, putting us totally on his side from the get go. Jean Rogers, looking as lovely as ever, plays a spunkier character than usual, getting more involved with the intrigue, and even holding Brenda a prisoner at gunpoint in Chapter Nine.
I have mixed feelings about comedic sidekick David Oliver. On the one hand he gets some great one liners, in Chapter Five when he is disarming the henchmen while X-9 holds them at gunpoint, he lifts a gun the size of a howeitzer off of Lon Chaney, Jr. and quips, “How you keep from getting round shouldered?” And in Chapter Ten while in a scuffle with a henchman, knocks against a ship’s bell and stops fighting, asking “What round is this?” On the other hand his slapstick isn’t quite as good, like a scene where he burns his pants in a tailor shop and swipes a pair of pants too big for him and has trouble keeping them up in Chapter Nine.
Monte Blue is execellent in the dual role as the Baron and as Brenda in disguise. When playing the Baron in the early chapters he is mysterious, when he is revealed to be totally innocent, he becomes sympathetic and likable. Then when he is playing the villain in disguise he is both menacing and oddly charming. It is without a doubt his best performance in a serial.
Henry Brandon as the main henchman Blackstone is at his smug and smarmy best. Since Brenda is mainly off screen for first six chapters, Brandon becomes the main villain for these episodes and he is dead on as the gangster leader, barking out orders and staring down the much bigger men with just the force of his eyes and the sly baritone of his voice.
Lon Chaney, Jr. has a small but showy role as the second in command, providing the muscle to Brandon’s brains. Most of the serial he is little more than a physical presence, usually just snapping out a quick “Right boss” before heading out with the rest of the gang in tow. But in the last chapter when he is standing handcuffed in the office of Dexter’s boss, X-9 starts reading his record and with each new offence that is listed, Chaney’s beaming smile just gets bigger and bigger as he straightens his tie and literally beams with pride at the assembled G-Men in the room at the end. It is a funny moment and reminds me of a similar scene with Johnny Depp at the end of the first Pirates of the Carribean.
This is a good action packed serial that has been overlooked for a variety of reasons and shouldn’t be. After all how bad can a serial be if the bad guys have a hide out in a pirate ship? That ranks up there with a volcano lair.
