The Phantom - Serial

"The Phantom" is a 15-chapter 1943 Columbia serial directed by B. Reeves Eason, based on the newspaper feature by Lee Falk. Unlike many such adaptations, this one doesn't stray too far from the original, though it has a few of the problems often seen in serials from Columbia.The Phantom, "The Man Who Never Dies" or "The Ghost Who Walks" rules the jungle, the peace of which has recently been disrupted, and after a long absence The Phantom (Sam Flint) needs to return, calling a meeting of the tribes. The Phantom appears, but a poisoned dart hits him so he cuts his speech short, and vanishes. Knowing he is dying, The Phantom sends a message to his son, Geoffrey Prescott (Tom Tyler) who now has to take over. Geoffrey and his dog Devil (Ace, the wonder dog) have been with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon), his niece Diana Palmer (Jeanne Bates) and her fiance Byron Anderson (Guy Kingsford) on an expedition to find the lost city of the Zoloz. So far they have found the not-so-lost city of Sai Pana, where the Professor meets Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), with whom he compares segments of a map made of pieces of ivory. They find one segment is still missing, and Singapore Smith entrusts his pieces to the Professor, planning to steal all of them later. Of interest to Smith is a treasure rumored to be in the lost city. But the local doctor, Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald) works against the Professor and Smith, since he is trying to build a secret airbase at Zoloz, and is in fact responsible for the unrest in the Jungle.Some of the facts of the plot have been incorrectly stated not only in other reviews, but on VCI's package, where Diana is identified as Professor Davidson's daughter and The Phantom as her fiance. Dr. Bremmer is not in search of the segments of the map; he wouldn't be building an airbase at Zoloz if he didn't already know where it was, but he needs a labor force and plans to get it through control of the tribes.We aren't really sure where this jungle is located. The tribesmen look more South American Indian than African, except for Chief Tartar (Dick Curtis) and his men, whose fur-trimmed costumes suggest more northern climates, maybe Siberia or Mongolia. Tartar's gorilla doesn't seem to be credited even at IMDb, though he looks exactly like Ray Corrigan in his "Bonga" suit. The events in Tartar's domain are a world apart from the rest of the action, all too much like something out of a Three Stooges comedy, familiar territory to both Dick Curtis and Kenneth MacDonald. The "Fire Princess," actually a dancer hired by Bremmer named Ruby Dawn (Early Cantrell) in Chapter Nine isn't much better, though at least she is supposed to be a fake. Fortunately this tendency only lasts a couple of chapters fairly late in the serial, and director B. Reeves Eason is a decided asset to the action sequences, which are better than usual from Columbia. The studio backgrounds are a little lacking, especially those for a fight on a suspension bridge, and The Phantom's costume has a lot of wrinkles, though fortunately Tom Tyler looks believable in it. It is helpful that the emphasis is on action, though Tyler does justice to his spoken lines. Jeanne Bates' role is a little limited, only requiring rescue a couple times, but she fits into the plot fairly well. Frank Shannon as her uncle sounds a lot like Dr. Zarkov, for some reason, though he looks enough like an old archaeologist while Kenneth MacDonald is suitably menacing without the excesses often used by Columbia's villains. There are a number of well known serial-movie actors in secondary roles, including Stanley Price as Chief Chota, Ernie Adams, for once a good guy as Rusty Fenton, John Bagni as Moku, and a host of henchmen including George Chesebro, Edmund Cobb, Al Ferguson, I. Stanford Jolley and Kermit Maynard. The music by Lee Zahler is appropriate, better than in many Columbia serials, if not quite up to the "pulse-pounding" scores used by Republic.VCI's edition, # 8268 is on two discs, the image sharp with good gray scale. There are a few visible splices, brief horizontal double-lines that do not affect the sound, though in Chapter Five a different kind of horizontal line is seen, a tape wrinkle scrolling in the upper half of the picture, 10:56 into the chapter for eight frames, a very minor defect. The sound is mostly fine, low in noise, with good frequency response and low distortion by standards of films of the era. Chapter 11 had most of the soundtrack missing, and had to be restored with music from other chapters and actors speaking the lines, mostly of characters in Tartar's domain. While not too disruptive, the substitution is especially noticed in the introduction, where the voice used is not a good match for narrator Knox Manning. The Special Features include "Bios" of Tom Tyler, Jeanne Bates, Kenneth MacDonald and B. Reeves Eason. There is a "comic art" feature with 25 covers of comic books that included The Phantom, and a "photo gallery" with sixteen pictures, plus one daily comic strip that unfortunately is not sharp enough to read. And there is commentary, by Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins, presented on an alternate audio track during the first chapter, probably best heard after watching the chapter.This is a good serial with a plot that doesn't seem illogical when watched one chapter at a time, and VCI's excellent print makes it one of the better relases of its kind.

The original Phantom took place in what was apparently Africa, this serial has overtones of South America with just a nod to some African culture. Aside from that this Tom Tyler is the Man Who Never Dies. Although this is a 1943 film the material dates back to the late 1930's, that is why the gunrunners are unaffiliated and the bad guys are enemy agents instead of outright Nazis.Godffery Prescott is accompanying Professor Davidson on an expedition to find the treasure of the Lost City of Zoloz when he finds out his father, The Phantom, is dying. He leaves the party to take up the mantel of The Phantom but not before becoming involved in the machinations of a plot by Dr. Bremmer (and other enemy agents) to prevent Davidson from finding the lost city not because he wants the treasure (though he would use it to fund the cause) but because he wants to build a secret airbase there.Davidson is sure Prescott has betrayed them but is assured by The Phantom that his enemies lie elsewhere. After facing his own peril (often due to being a novitiate Phantom) and the perils of the expedition The Phantom manages to guide the party to the Lost City of Zoloz. There are gunfights and fistfights galore but no car chases. Then again, there would be no danger from wild animals in LA.The picture is good and the sound is good (although one chapter had to be redubbed because of damage to the original) and the commentary on the first chapter is quite enlightening not only about the movie but The Phantom in general. This 2 DVD set gives you 15 chapters of gripping serial action with great cliffhangers.

I was enjoying this immensely. And, as a matter of fact, the serial deserves 5 stars. The pace was good, and the story was interesting and entertaining. Captain Marvel is still my favorite though....That said, , the dubbing of chapter 11 temporarily ruined this for me. Full disclosure, I'm picky and anal retentive. Disc 1 was perfect. Though I can't figure out why 10 chapters were on 1 disc and 5 on the other. Wouldn't 7 and 8 made more sense, or 5 per disc on 3 discs? Regardless, that's neither here nor there.What I can't fathom, is why some nasally guy came on at the beginning of disc 2 (chapter 11) and did a loud obnoxious dub/recap of the previous chapter. It yanked me right out of it. Forget the fact the guy sounds foolish and the volume disproportionate, but they didn't even take care to keep it consistent. All other recaps, end with the quote "when suddenly...". Then the new chapter begins. This guy tried to sound as he assumed people sounded in the 40s. It was more of a bad 1920s flapper immitation.Once I got past that travesty, I was hit with another one. This one much worse. Once the previous cliffhanger is shown in chapter 11, the character voices are dubbed with strange voices. They're no longer the voices of the actors. I don't know what happened, but for 10 chapters this was great. Chapter 11 came and it was like I entered the Twilight Zone. How can no one else have been bothered this?I've seen some bad decisions, but this one really boggles my mind. Some people may not have a problem with it, but it really rubbed me the wrong way and tainted an otherwise enjoyable serial.[Update]: After some investigation, I discovered the audio track for this chapter couldn't be found. That said, I guess this was necessary, but they could have done a better job. Not much care was taken to make it seamless. I'd rather have this, than no serial at all, but quality needs to count for something. It's lacking here.

very old but very good

黒いアイマスクに、全身紫色のタイツに身を包み、悪と戦うヒーローとして、1936年に、リー・フォークが連載を開始した新聞連載漫画"The Phantom"。日本では馴染みの薄いヒーローだが、フォークは、亡くなる1999年まで精力的に連載を続け、彼の死後も、別の作者の手によって、その連載は続けられ(2017年現在)、世界的には、The Phantom人気が衰えるということはない。あだ名でもある”The Man Who Cannot Die”の通り、彼の存在と人気は、不死身のようだ。すでに書いたように、日本では、あまり知られていないものの、映画化もされ、1996年には、パラマウント映画が、それなりの大作として『 ザ・ファントム 』を作り、アメリカではそれなりに話題になった(日本では、その知名度の低さから劇場未公開に終わった)。もっとも映画化されたのはそれが最初ではなく、新聞連載開始から7年経った1943年にも、コロンビア映画で、全15話から成る連続活劇も作られたことも、映画ファンには知られているところだろう。本DVDは、その連続活劇版を2枚のディスクに収めたもの。アフリカのジャングルに住む多くの部族たちは、アイマスクと全身タイツに身を包んだ「ファントム」と呼ばれる人物を畏れ崇め、彼のリーダーシップのおかげで平和が保たれていた。その頃、かつてジャングルのどこかにあったといわれる幻の都市ゾロズを探すために、大学教授のデイヴィッドソン(フランク・シャノン)率いる探検隊がやって来る。同じく、ゾロズの場所に、秘密の空港を作ろうと画策しているブレマー医師(ケネス・マクドナルド)やゾロズに眠ると言われる財宝を狙うシンガポール・スミス(ジョー・デヴリン)も絡み、ジャングルには暗雲が立ち込め…。【Disc1】:・第1話”The Sign of the Skull”・第2話”The Man Who Never Dies”・第3話“A Traitor's Code”・第4話”The Seat of Judgement”・第5話”The Ghost Who Walks”・第6話”Jungle Whispers”・第7話“The Mystery Well”・第8話”In Quest of the Keys”・第9話”The Fire Princess”・第10話”The Chamber of Death”【Disc2】:・第11話”The Emerald Key”・第12話”The Fangs of the Beast”・第13話”The Road to Zoloz”・第14話”The Lost City”・第15話”Peace in the Jungle”連続活劇ということで、細かい心理描写などは一切なく、正義と悪が明確に描き分けられた、実に分かりやすい展開の作品だ。数々のA級作品の第2班監督や低予算作品の監督として腕を鳴らしたB・リーヴス・イーソン監督の演出は、メリハリのある感じで、各話20分を簡潔にまとめ、次の話数への期待を高めている。また、ジャングルが舞台ということで(ハリウッド・ヒルズをジャングルに見立て撮影したという)、ワニ、ライオン、豹、ゴリラなどの猛獣が襲い来るのに加え、底なし沼、ガス室、井戸、吊り橋、落石…、などファントムを危機に陥れる数々の状況が、いかにも連続活劇と言う感じのスリルと興奮を味わわせてくれる。ファントムを演じるトム・タイラーが、まさに適役で、すでに、同様のスーパーヒーローを”The Adventures of Captain Marvel"で演じているだけあり、本作でも、その恵まれた肉体を駆使してのアクションをこなしている。立ち回りの切れの良さ、機敏さは、さすがという感じだ。15話という長さ(4時間強！)の割に、結末があっさりし過ぎているなど、脚本の貧弱さは連続活劇の常で気になるところだが、それでも、だれることなく楽しめる一編だ。本DVDは、パブリック・ドメイン作品(連続活劇も多く含まれる)を良質の35mm素材からテレシネ、レストアして発売することで定評のある米VCIのもの。本盤は、状態の良い35mm素材からテレシネ、レストアされたマスターを使っている。もちろん、メジャー会社によってレストアされたクラシック作品などに比べると、全編に渡って、白黒諧調が良好というわけでも、ディテール表現が良好な画質というわけでもないし、ノイズも残った音声ではある(2002年のDVD黎明期のものということも関係あるだろう)。しかも、第11話の35mm音ネガの状態が悪く使えず、声質の似た声優が、新たにセリフを吹替えているので、若干の違和感もある。それでも、現状、本作を楽しむには、最上の質であることは間違いない。英語字幕は未収録。特典には、作家、マックス・アレン・コリンズのコメンタリー(1話分)、フォト・ギャラリー、コミック・ブック・アート・ギャラリー、スタッフ紹介が収録。ケースは、2枚のディスクがスッキリと収まるマルチ(エコ)・ケースを採用。本DVDは、北米盤ながら、リージョンAll仕様なので、日本製のリージョン2 プレーヤーで問題なく視聴可能だ。 ザ・ファントム

VCI Entertainment's 2001 DVD edition of the 1943 Columbia serial The Phantom is well-done.I'm not a big fan of serials, and don't collect them as a matter of course, but I heard good things about this one, and the praise was justified. This is a very entertaining serial, ranking up there with Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939) for quality of production, script and acting. Tom Tyler (who played The Mummy in the 1940 Universal film The Mummy's Hand) is great in the lead role. It's very hard for an actor to wear a comic-book hero suit without looking ridiculous, but Tom Tyler looks really good in the Phantom suit. His dialogue is also reasonably fluid and natural (compared with, say, the stiff and robotic dialogue of Clayton Moore in the Lone Ranger serial). Perennial Three Stooges villain Kenneth MacDonald is the Phantom's nemesis in the serial, and MacDonald is very good as an oily schemer. The action scenes, often cowboy-style fisticuffs, are pretty good. Some of the cliffhanger endings are good, too, though I wouldn't say brilliantly original. The film is flawed by its indefinite geographical location: the lions indicate Africa, the tigers Asia, the tailed monkeys South America, and the natives look like a cross between Indians from Hollywood Westerns and Polynesian islanders. And how a supposed Tartar warlord who resembles Attila the Hun (who figures in one episode) would still be around in the 20th century is a mystery which the screenwriters don't even pretend to explain. Suspension of historical and geographical disbelief is very much required. But once you make the concession, the story is engaging and enjoyable.The picture and sound are very good throughout. They are not flawless, but except for Chapter 11 (to be discussed momentarily), the flaws do not seriously distract, and there are many feature films from the 1940s that are in worse audio/video shape on DVD than this serial. Chapter 11 has required some tampering, because the original audio has been corrupted; the folks at VCI have supplied some modern voices to replace the damaged parts. This is openly acknowledged on the back of the DVD case. The co-ordination of new voices with the lip motions of the original actors is pretty well done. It is slightly irritating to have to listen to the wrong voices for the Phantom and the other characters, but the alternative -- a sound track which would not allow us to hear the dialogue properly -- would have been worse. I think the repairs were handled acceptably.There are 15 episodes in the serial, 10 on Disk 1 and 5 on Disk 2. The first episode, which introduces the Phantom character, is the longest, at over 28 minutes. The second episode runs for over 18 minutes. After that, the episodes average about 16 minutes 30 seconds. The total running time of all the episodes (including roughly 10-second gaps between episodes) is about 260 minutes. This is quite a bit less than the 299-minute running time indicated on the IMDb. The question is whether something is missing from the VCI version or the IMDb report is in error. The latter seems more likely. If there were 39 minutes missing from the episodes, surely there would be leaps or gaps in the story in several places, and I didn't notice any such. There is one episode that is rather short -- Episode 6 runs only about 15:19 -- but that is only a minute, and can't account for 39 missing minutes. My guess, then, is that the IMDb figure is an error (or perhaps represents a longer pre-release running time, before the serial was edited into final form for its 1943 stint in the theatres).The main special feature is a partial commentary by comic book writer Max Allan Collins. The commentary is only on Chapter 1, the longest of the chapters. It is reasonably good. I guess Collins only wanted to do the first chapter. It's too bad VCI couldn't find others to comment on the other chapters. I would like to have had some help from a film scholar in identifying the various "bit" players in the episodes. Beyond the commentary, there is a gallery of images of Phantom comic book covers (including some rare Harvey covers I had never seen before), another gallery of stills from the serial, and some brief text-format biographies of the stars and the director.Overall, this is a nice presentation of a rare film item, and VCI is to be congratulated for a good job. It probably deserves about a 4.2 out of 5 stars, but since no fractions are allowed I'll give it 5 stars. And since you can find this item for under $20 if you look around, if you have any love for serials, or even if you've never seen one and are curious to see what the serials were like, this purchase is an easy decision.

To many people, the superheroes such as Batman and Superman were the start of the genre, but here is one of the true originals. I suspect that this film was originally shown in British cinemas as the "Saturday Serial". Yes it creaks, and its not politically correct, and the African Tribesmen look remarkably familiar - but this was made in 1943, as sheer escapist enjoyment, using characters familiar from newspaper comic strips and comic-books. Its far truer to the "history" than the remake of some years ago. Don't believe me? Simple - order them BOTH, then when they arrive settle down with a cup of tea, coffee or C-C - and some crisps or popcorn - and enjoy the films. Who needs the real world!

Its a pretty simple story about a jungle safari to try and find an ancient city rumored to be filled with treasure and there are a few bad guys who want to stop the safari because they want to build a secret airfield.Luckily for the good guys the Phantom is on hand to save the dayThe acting is a little lame as is usually the case with these old shows but its still good fun to watch and the cliffhanger at the end of each episode does give you the feeling of going to the movies every week to watch the latest episode of the Phantom.