Phantom Creeps, The
Entry updated 1 April 2024. Tagged: Film.
US Serial Film (1939). Universal Pictures. Directed by Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind. Written by Basil Dickey and George Plympton, based on a story by Wyllis Cooper. Cast includes Dorothy Arnold, Robert Kent, Bela Lugosi, Jack C. Smith, Edwin Stanley Regis Toomey and Ed Wolff. Twelve circa 21-minute instalments. Black and white.
"Mad Scientist" Dr. Alex Zorka (Lugosi) intends to conquer the world with his Inventions, which include a remote-controlled Robot (Wolff); an Invisibility belt; a Ray Gun; a means to induce a temporary death-like state (arguably a kind of Suspended Animation) using an Element previously unknown to science; a device that can heal wounds (see Medicine); and a box containing something powerful enough "to seize or control the world". He has a resentful assistant, Monk (Smith), who compares himself to the robot, a slave to Zorka. When Dr Mallory (Stanley), an ex-colleague, tries to persuade Zorka to share his inventions with the US Government he refuses, boasting a foreign country has offered him millions. Mallory informs the US War Department and they send two Intelligence Officers, Bob West (Kent) and Jim Daly (Toomey), to interview him; a young reporter, Jean Drew (Arnold), attaches herself to the pair, to their initial irritation – though she provides valuable help. Zorka responds by faking his death using a lookalike, then plans to put his wife temporarily into the death-state before she can reveal the body is not his – but it goes awry and her plane crashes; Zorka mourns her passing.
When Zorka uses his invisibility belt he becomes a faint, pale silhouette; he refers to himself as a phantom. Putting someone into the death state involves planting a small disc containing the element on the victim, then setting a mechanical spider on them – when it reaches the disc there is a flash and the recipient appears to die. In episode 3 we learn his mysterious box contains a centuries-old African meteorite made of the new radioactive element (see Nuclear Energy), which is exceedingly dangerous if not handled correctly. A foreign spy ring, whose front is an organization called "The International School of Languages", steals the box three times; Zorka retrieves it with little difficulty on the first two occasions. The third time is more troublesome, with the spies attempting to get it out of the country, whilst Bob, Jim and Jean – who now realize Zorka is still alive – try to stop both parties. In the final episode Zorka has the box again; the spies have been captured and Mallory has devised a means to counter the invisibility device. However Zorka is now flying around in a plane gleefully blowing up Zeppelins (see Airships), ships and federal buildings with bombs made from the meteorite. When a squadron of fighter planes approaches he cries out, "They've trapped me, but I will take them all with me, all of them!" But pilot Monk is less keen on dying, and in the resulting struggle their plane plunges into the sea and the box explodes. Bob, Jim and Jean are congratulated by the Government.
Though Zorka eventually plans to build an army of robots, he currently only has one, controlled with an armband; it is used to threaten Monk and attack spies or the Intelligence Officers, but only leaves the laboratory in the finale – and then only gets as far as the garden; it is slow-moving and lumbering (see Clichés), but is large-headed and has a memorably fierce expression. There is much recycling of footage, including some from an earlier Lugosi film, The Invisible Ray (1936). As expected from an adventure serial, each episode has a cliffhanger ending, but these are very dull. Though the first and last episodes are moderate fun and Lugosi gives a good performance, this is a lacklustre serial. It was subsequently edited down into a 78-minute Television movie, The Phantom Creeps (1949). [SP]
links
- Internet Movie Database
- Internet Movie Database – 1949 television film
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