The Fighting Devil Dogs
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| The Fighting Devil Dogs | |
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| Directed by | William Witney John English |
| Produced by | Robert M. Beche |
| Written by | Franklin Adreon Ronald Davidson Barry Shipman Sol Shor |
| Starring | Lee Powell Herman Brix Eleanor Stewart Montagu Love Hugh Sothern Sam Flint Perry Ivins Forrest Taylor John Picorri |
| Cinematography | William Nobles |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1938 serial 1943 film |
| Running time | 12 chapters (204 min) |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $94,656 (negative cost: $92,569)[1] |
| IMDb profile | |
The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) is a 12-Chapter Republic Movie Serial starring Lee Powell and Herman Brix. It was directed by William Witney and John English. While not often considered one of the best serials ever made, as it contains a lot of stock footage and two recap chapters, it is famous for its main villain, The Lightning—the very first costumed supervillain[2].
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The Masked Mystery Villain, The Lightning, seeks to conquer the world with his arsenal of advanced electrical weaponry. Opposing him are two Marines, Lt Tom Grayson and Lt Frank Corby. Lt Grayson has a special reason to defeat The Lightning as he killed his father, but first they must discover The Lightning's true identity.
[edit] Cast
- Lee Powell as Lt Tom Grayson
- Herman Brix as Lt Frank Corby
- Eleanor Stewart as Janet Warfield
- Montagu Love as General White
- Hugh Sothern as Ben Warfield
- Sam Flint as Col Grayson
- Perry Ivins as Crenshaw
- Forrest Taylor as Benson
- John Picorri as Prof Gould
[edit] Chapter titles
- The Lightning Strikes (29 min 28s)
- The Mill of Disaster (15 min 56s)
- The Silenced Witness (15 min 50s)
- Cargo of Mystery (15 min 47s)
- Undersea Bandits (16 min 17s)
- The Torpedo of Doom (16 min 24s)
- The Phantom Killer (14 min 47s) -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Tides of Trickery (14 min 34s)
- Attack from the Skies (15 min 07s)
- In the Camp of the Enemy (14 min 29s)
- The Baited Trap (17 min 24s) -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Killer at Bay (17 min 39s)[1]
[edit] Production
The Fighting Devil Dogs was the second cheapest serial of the sixty-six produced by Republic. [3] It was originally budgetted for $94,656 but came in under budget at $92,569. It has two recap chapters rather than the usual one (or sometimes none), in which the entire plot of the serial so far is repeated, and makes extensive use of stock footage. The cheapest Republic serial[1] was The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936) at $87,655, while the next cheapest after The Fighting Devil Dogs is Undersea Kingdom (also 1936) at $99,222.
One of the directors, William Witney, believed this to be one of the worst of the serials he ever made.[4]
The Lighting's Flying Wing is stock footage taken from the earlier Dick Tracy serial. In Dick Tracy it was used by another Masked Mystery Villain, The Spider.
A feature version of the serial was edited in 1943, and was also titled The Fighting Devil Dogs.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement; Mathis, Jack, 1995, ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
- ^ World's First Supervillain at The longest list of the longest stuff at the longest domain name at long last
- ^ Images Journal
- ^ Witney, William (2005). In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase: Moviemaking Remembered by the Guy at the Door. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2258-6.
[edit] External links
- The Fighting Devil Dogs at the Internet Movie Database
- The Fighting Devil Dogs at the Internet Movie Database (1943 feature version)
| Preceded by The Lone Ranger (1938) |
Republic Serial The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) |
Succeeded by Dick Tracy Returns (1938) |
| Preceded by The Lone Ranger (1938) |
Witney-English Serial The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) |
Succeeded by Dick Tracy Returns (1938) |
