The Green Archer began life as a typical Edgar Wallace story about a ghost-like, masked archer who roamed the hallways of a gothic castle, protecting the interests of his human descendents. What perfect clay then to be molded by the hands of Columbia Pictures executives into a 12 part serial that combined the traditional dark hero with the futuristic crime-busting antics of DICK TRACY. In the tradition of THE SHADOW, THE PHANTOM, THE SPIDER, and other mysterious, masked prowlers, comes THE GREEN ARCHER, from the producer/director combo of Larry Darmour and James Horne, the team who brought you such stellar weekly serial thrills as THE SHADOW, THE IRON CLAW, and THE FLYING G-MEN. THE GREEN ARCHER offers up a great cast headed by Victor Jory (MAN-FISH, CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON, DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL) as a tough-guy insurance agent who acts more like a detective. Joining Jory is the beautiful and talented B Western Queen, Iris Meredith (THE SPIDER’s WEB, RIDERS OF BLACK RIVER, BLAZING SIX-SHOOTERS). Doing the bad-guy routine is James Craven, known to fans of genre fans from his performances in CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, TODAY I HANG, and THE MISSILE MONSTERS. Rounding out the cast is Robert Fiske (BEFORE I HANG, BURIED ALIVE, BLACK DRAGONS) as the evildoer’s resourceful butler. VCI Entertainment releases the entire 12 episodes of THE GREEN ARCHER on a 2 disc DVD set that ought to delight nostalgia fans everywhere.

THE GREEN ARCHER tells the story two well-to-do brothers, Michael (Kenne Duncan) and Abel (Michael Kraven) Bellamy. Michael just got married to his sweetheart Elaine (Dorothy Fay) and just wants to live a normal life in the castle his family inherited from their heirs. His evil brother Abel however is not satisfied with a normal life, and uses his half of the family fortune to build his own criminal empire on the grounds of family’s castle. Abel despises his brother because Michael married Abel’s ex-girlfriend, and uses all his power and influence to set his brother up for a crime he did not commit. Then when Michael is transported to prison via train, Abel commits the ultimate sin—he has his gang of thugs plant explosives on the tracks, thereby sending the train tumbling down into a valley and Michael to his supposed death. Michael’s apparent demise catches the attention of Police Inspector Ross (Joseph Girard) and hard-boiled Insurance Investigator Spike Holland (Victor Jory). But the Bellamy family legend says that when trouble beckons, the mysterious Green Archer shall appear to set things right. And while Abel feels unstoppable with his gang and well-protected in his castle of doom, since the Michael’s death, the Green Archer has risen again and started dispatching Abel’s henchmen. To further protect himself, Abel has his men kidnap Elaine to hold as a hostage. Meanwhile Spike Holland is on the trail of Abel and joins unknowingly becomes an ally of the Green Archer as they both have plans to take out the criminal mastermind, Abel…

THE GREEN ARCHER is a well-produced low budget serial that benefits from several factors. Though the filmmakers take a lot of liberties with Edgar Wallace’s source material, they did include the most important things such as the sprawling gothic castle, complete with Indiana Jones style deathtraps at every corner. Director James Horne incorporates numerous shots of shadowy silhouettes of the ghostly Archer (actually a very real human character), that contributes a supernatural vibe to this serial, which is actually a crime story ala DICK TRACY. Abel Bellamy is the head of a criminal organization that features high tech toys and an underground fortress. Actor James Craven suavely rogue-ish take on the over confident villain elevates the story and matches the intense charisma of Victor Jory. The narrative gets bogged down a bit with Abel’s lackey’s who don’t even trust each other. Another portion of THE GREEN ARCHER shows Victor Jory outsmarting the bad guys as he investigates for clues about Abel’s criminal gang. The fist fights come fast and furious every five minutes (say that 5 times fast). Sure, you could probably shave a couple hours off THE GREEN ARCHER, and reduce it to a very entertaining and action packed feature length motion picture.

VCI Entertainment presents THE GREEN ARCHER in the original full frame theatrical ratio of 1.37.1 They must have done some remastering here, because the Black & White image is remarkably free from nicks, scratches, and white spots that usually plague a film element of this vintage. There are some moments of softness, that occasionally creep up, but this is still leagues ahead of similar presentations by the likes of Alpha. One other weakness is a unbalanced Black & White palette, which makes the image (periodically) appear as grayish or faded. Again, not a big issue in the scope of things but you should know. On the other hand, the Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack sounds muted and muffled. You’ll hear occasional distortion and background noise. The sound effects (such as the gun shots, fist fights, and swooshing arrows come through clearly in the mix. Unfortunately, the vocals do not come through as well. From the Special Features menu, you can view the VCI Classic Cliffhanger Promo Reel which details their extensive Serial on DVD releases. Theatrical Trailers include THE IRON CLAW, BLACKHAWK, THE SHADOW, & PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS. There are also Biographies for Victor Jory, James Kraven, and others.

This nice 2 disc set that should appeal to Serial fans and nostalgic action fans in general. Sure there are some slow parts, but every Serial has pacing problems. The gothic imagery, the over-the-top fist fights, the heroic and mysterious Green Archer, and the super hot Iris Meredith make THE GREEN ARCHER worth a look. VCI’s transfer looks pretty good for its age, only be warned—the soundtrack has a few issues. You many have to strain your ears to hear the dialog.

THE GREEN ARCHER is available from DVDEmpire.com

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