With the official release of Dick Tracy Returns (1938) finally having arrived, VCI has set an official release date for Dick Tracy’s G-Men (1939). Mark your calendars for 7/29/08, you can pre-order through their website on 7/07/08, so start saving up now. Hopefully Dick Tracy’s Crime Inc. (1941) isn’t too far off.
I was browsing through the Internet Movie Data Base the other day and found that there are some serial titles that no one has ever commented on. I know, hard to believe. So I decided to whip some out and have begun putting comments on some overlooked serial titles on their web site. If you want to check them out without having to hunt and search just go to
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, the Scourge of the Underworld, has been arrested for the crimes being committed by master criminal Tarnack! Ham’s brilliant legal maneuverings free Doc! Doc and the Fabulous Five leave the courthouse unaware of the danger that lurks overhead!”
CHAPTER 9: THE PIT OF DOOM
Doc and his friends are leaving the courthouse all smiles congratulating both Doc and Ham. A man on a roof top aims a rifle at Doc and shoots. Doc grabs his chest and collapses on the ground.
The Fab Five gather around their fallen leader, Johnny rips open Doc’s shirt and is pleased to see that he was wearing his bullet proof vest, the bullet merely knocked the wind out of Doc. As they are helping Doc to his feet, Renny spots the man trying to escape along the roof tops. Doc has everyone separate to surround the man, while he nimble climbs a rain spout to the roof and chases the man down on foot.
After leaping several rooftops, Doc catches up to the assassin. He tries to get down a fire escape but sees Ham and Monk coming up it, the door to the roof bursts open with Renny, Johnny and Long Tom emerging from the stairs. With all routes of escape blocked the man surprisingly jumps at Doc to try and fight his way to freedom. Doc quickly subdues him.
Placing his fingers on certain spots around the man’s head, Doc paralyzes him while putting him into a hypnotic state where he is unable to lie. He says his name is Meeks and he was hired to shoot Doc when he came out of the courthouse. He doesn’t know the name of the man who hired him, but has a phone number he was to call when he completed the job.
Doc quickly makes arrangements to have Meeks shipped to his private sanitarium, where he will be rehabilitated into a law abiding citizen. Then he traces the phone number and finds that it is a phone booth at Grand Central Station. A watch on the booth proves uneventful as no one goes to it to wait for Meeks’ call.
Later Doc receives a call from Pat. Natalia is starting to frequent Pat’s beauty parlor. She gives Doc the time of her next appointment. When Natalia gets her hair done, Doc is hiding around the corner. When she leaves, he follows her. She 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.
“Tarnack is committing another robbery! Can the Fabulous Five stop him! Pat looks to be in deadly danger! Who can rescue her! Don’t fail to miss THE DEADLY BEAM! Chapter 10 of DOC SAVAGE at this theater next week!”
Copyright © 2007 Todd’s Serial Blog.
