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Mandrake the Magician (serial)
Encyclopedia
Mandrake the Magician was the seventh serial
released by Columbia Pictures
.
Thieves learn that Professor Houston has been perfecting a machine which will create radium energy and plot to steal it. Daughter Betty telegraphs Mandrake for help. He is just returning from Shanghai and Tibet on the S.S.Mohawk. A lama in Tibet has told him a formula for mixing the already tough Platinite with steel to make it even tougher. However, Platinite is very rare and only found in one place, in America.
The Wasp uses the sign of a wasp on a wall as well as a buzzing sound to announce his presence to the professor, which Mandrake later reveals was simply a torch shining through an image of a wasp to project a picture. Mandrake survives two death attempts and a car chase before meeting the professor, with friends Bennett and Webster who turn up just after him. The prof reveals that his ray is far more powerful than radium and gives a demonstration of the inevitable death-ray, which at the end of the first episode is inevitably used on Mandrake.
Mandrake has convinced The Wasp's men that he has some platinite which The Wasp needs for his ray machine as it can only run a short while with a steel casing before destroying itself. The villains keep after Mandrake and fights follows kidnappings, follows car chases (all sped up for excitement) follows death traps, follows fights. There is little real storyline and action is used to drag the serial along at a hectic pace. There is also some magic thrown in, notably a very good sleight of hand show in the first episode. You do not see the performer's face but this was not done by Hull since the white cuffs of the magician can be seen throughout whereas with Hull's costume, the cuffs were hidden.
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Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
released by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
Plot
Mandrake in this serial works with conjuring tricks and sleight of hand instead of all the all-powerful hypnotism in the comics. Lothar is portrayed as an Asian with hair instead of a giant bald African. Unlike the comics where Lothar handles the fighting, Mandrake goes from fight to fight, which is just as well as Lothar is a weak imitation of the comic character. The fights are not too convincing and the music is a little too loud in the action scenes, of which there are plenty. The villain is The Wasp, a man in a cloak, mask and hat who gives orders to his gang from a movie screen.Thieves learn that Professor Houston has been perfecting a machine which will create radium energy and plot to steal it. Daughter Betty telegraphs Mandrake for help. He is just returning from Shanghai and Tibet on the S.S.Mohawk. A lama in Tibet has told him a formula for mixing the already tough Platinite with steel to make it even tougher. However, Platinite is very rare and only found in one place, in America.
The Wasp uses the sign of a wasp on a wall as well as a buzzing sound to announce his presence to the professor, which Mandrake later reveals was simply a torch shining through an image of a wasp to project a picture. Mandrake survives two death attempts and a car chase before meeting the professor, with friends Bennett and Webster who turn up just after him. The prof reveals that his ray is far more powerful than radium and gives a demonstration of the inevitable death-ray, which at the end of the first episode is inevitably used on Mandrake.
Mandrake has convinced The Wasp's men that he has some platinite which The Wasp needs for his ray machine as it can only run a short while with a steel casing before destroying itself. The villains keep after Mandrake and fights follows kidnappings, follows car chases (all sped up for excitement) follows death traps, follows fights. There is little real storyline and action is used to drag the serial along at a hectic pace. There is also some magic thrown in, notably a very good sleight of hand show in the first episode. You do not see the performer's face but this was not done by Hull since the white cuffs of the magician can be seen throughout whereas with Hull's costume, the cuffs were hidden.
Cast
- Warren HullWarren HullJohn Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in the action-adventure field....
as Mandrake the MagicianMandrake the MagicianMandrake the Magician is a syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk , which began June 11, 1934. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip's illustrator, while Falk continued to script. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.Davis worked on the strip until his death in 1964,... - Doris Weston as Betty Houston
- Al KikumeAl KikumeAl Kikume , born Elmer Kikume Gozier, was an American actor and stuntman of Hawaiian descent. He was born in either Honolulu or Kansas and died in Los Angeles...
as Lothar, Mandrake's Assistant - Rex Downing as Tommy Houston
- Edward EarleEdward EarleEdward Earle was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in almost 400 films between 1914 and 1956.He was born in Toronto and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 90.-Selected filmography:* The Purple Dress...
as Doctor Andre Bennett - Forbes Murray as Professor Houston
- Kenneth MacDonaldKenneth MacDonald (American actor)Kenneth MacDonald was an American film actor. Born in Portland, Indiana, MacDonald made more than 220 film and television appearances between 1931 and 1970.-Career:...
as James Webster - Don BeddoeDon Beddoe-Career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe made his Broadway acting debut in 1929, receiving top billing in Nigger Rich....
as Frank Raymond - Dick CurtisDick CurtisDick Curtis was an American actor who made over 230 film and television appearances during his career.-Career:Curtis was born Richard Dye in Newport, Kentucky. A tall, hulking actor, standing at 6' 3", Curtis appeared in films stretching from Charles Starrett to The Three Stooges. In most of his...
as Dorgan, a henchman - John TyrrellJohn TyrrellJohn Tyrrell may refer to:* John Tyrell, 15th century English knight, Speaker of House of Commons* John Tyrrell , English second Admiral of the East Indies...
as Dirk, the "spearpoint heavy" (chief henchman) - ?? as The Wasp
Chapter titles
- Shadow on the Wall
- Trap of the Wasp
- City of Terror
- The Secret Passage
- The Devil's Playmate
- The Fatal Crash
- Gamble for Life
- Across the Deadline
- Terror Rides the Rails
- The Unseen Monster
- At the Stroke of Eight
- The Reward of Treachery
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