For those of you youngsters out there who may be unaware of what a ‘serial’ is, let us explain. Serials are short films, that played in theaters from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. These serials preceded the feature attraction, and the genres included horror, sci-fi, adventure, superhero, and western. These serials were strung-out over 10-15 episodes to entice the audience back to the theater the next week. Serials were also known as ‘cliffhangers’, because each episode would leave the viewer hanging in suspense, always ‘to be continued’ until the serial’s conclusion months later. Remember, this was before the days of television (which played a big role in the demise of the form). One of the most memorable serials of the 1930’s was THE PHANTOM CREEPS (1939). Universal produced this serial and hired their horror star, Bela Lugosi, to take the title role of the Phantom. Now you can relive the thrill of the Saturday afternoon matinee once again, because Whirlwind Media and Rykodisc have teamed up to release the entire 12 episodes of THE PHANTOM CREEPS uncut on a single DVD.

This campy Universal serial features Bela Lugosi in one of his most famous roles, the brilliant megalomaniac, Dr. Alex Zorka. Jack (BURIED ALIVE) Smith is his not-so-faithful servant, Monk. Dora Clement plays his wife, Ann, who is unaware of his nefarious schemes. Dr. Zorka’s professional rival is Dr. Fred Mallory, essayed by Edwin (THE MYSTERIOUS DR. SATAN) Stanley. Robert (SHOOT TO KILL) Kent plays military intelligence officer Capt. Bob West. Regis (MIGHT JOE YOUNG) Toomey plays his partner Lt. Jim Daley. Dorothy (HOUSE OF FEAR) Arnold is Jean Drew, a slippery, gung-ho reporter who won’t take no for an answer. Edward Van Sloan is the leader of a spy ring who attempts to covet Dr. Zorka’s scientific discoveries. Ed Wolff portrays Dr. Zorka’s giant robot, a role he repeated in other monster films like THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK and INVADERS FROM MARS.

Dr. Alex Zorka (Lugosi) is an insane scientist who wants nothing less than world domination. In society, he is a well-respected scientist, and even his own beloved wife, Ann (Dora Clement) knows nothing of his twisted ambitions. He uses his unmatched intellect to create a superhuman robot, mechanical spiders, and an invisibility belt. Dr. Zorka has a scientific adversary in Dr. Mallory (Edwin Stanley), who confronts Dr. Zorka one evening, and tryies to convince him to give up his dark agenda. When Dr. Zorka rebuffs Dr. Mallory, the scientist rushes to inform the authorities of the threat Dr. Zorka may pose. The government responds by sending two military intelligence officers, Capt. Bob West (Robert Kent) and Lt. Jim Daley (Regis Toomey) to investigate Dr. Zorka’s activities. Dr. Zorka and his henchman, Monk (Jack Smith) flee Zorka’s mammoth home (and secret laboratory) before the military intelligence officers arrive. They capture a hitchhiker, kill him, and use his body to stage a fake death for Dr. Zorka. Now the world will believe that Dr. Zorka is dead, and he is free to begin his reign of terror as the invisible Phantom!

Capt. Bob and Lt. Daley go to Zorka’s home to talk to his wife and search for clues. Once there, they meet snoopy reporter, Jean Drew (Dorothy Arnold). Capt. Bob questions Dr. Zorka’s unsuspecting wife, and asks that she accompanies them to headquarters for questioning. Dr. Zorka plants one of his exploding mechanical spiders inside the cockpit of the government airplane that the military agents arrived on, confident that it will end the life of Capt. Bob and Lt. Daley, and the investigation as well. Dr. Zorka never realized his wife would be inside said airplane. When the explosive goes off, Dr. Zorka’s wife is killed, and Capt. Bob manages to escape at the last second via parachute. When Dr. Zorka discovers that his wife is dead, he is devastated and swears vengeance against Dr. Mallory, who bought the government down on him. But Dr. Mallory has joined Capt. Bob’s team, and he proves to be of great value to the ongoing investigation.

In their secret underground lab, Dr. Zorka reveals the secret of his powers to his assistant Monk. Years ago in Africa, Dr. Zorka led an expedition which retrieved a radioactive meteorite that fell from the sky. Dr. Zorka was able to apply the meteorites radioactive properties to his inventions, thereby powering his assemblage of gadgets, like his invisibility belt. However, a spy ring has discovered Dr. Zorka’s power source, and they plan to usurp his hidden meteorite for their own sinister use. Now, Dr. Zorka must use all the powers and resources at his command to fight off not only the combined team of Dr. Mallory, Capt. Bob, and resourceful reporter Jean Drew, but the threat of the evil spy ring, who will stop at nothing to get Dr. Zorka’s power source.

THE PHANTOM CREEPS is a goofy, fast-paced affair with a decent script and some interesting ideas. As far as cliffhangers go, this is pretty good, unlike some repetitive and boring serials (like COMMANDO CODY). Bela Lugosi steals the show with his comic-book delivery, and makes the other leads seem boring and unappealing. One of Lugosi’s best moments is when he discovers his wife is dead--he chokes back his emotion and pronounces her dead, being careful not to reveal his identity to the military intelligence people on the scene. Edwin Stanley as Dr. Mallory is adequate, as is Edward Van Sloan as the head spy. But the youthful leads of Robert Kent, Regis Toomey, and Dorothy Arnold are particularly painful in their execution (though Dorothy Arnold is a looker). Jack Smith is funny as Dr. Zorka’s incompetent assistant.

Like a James Bond movie, some of the best things about THE PHANTOM CREEPS are the inventions and gadgets. First, Dr. Zorka develops a robot as a prototype for an army of mechanical warriors that will help him rule the world. Most of the time the robot stands behind a panel in the scientist’s home. But when Bela presses a button on the control box strapped to his wrist, a panel slides open, and the robot (which resembles a walking Indian Totem pole) comes forth to do his master’s bidding, whether its to intimidate the cops or to menace the spy ring. Dr. Zorka is too versatile a scientist to rely solely upon a robot. By the end of the first chapter, He places a G-man in a state of suspended animation, then unveils his highly-explosive mechanical spiders, which causes the death of Dr. Zorka’s wife in the plane crash. When the heat from the G-men or the spies becomes too much, Dr. Zorka merely presses a button on his chest and he becomes invisible. His mastery of invisibility power allows him to escape his pursuers and recover his most prized secret, the meteor fragment that he discovered in Africa. Dr. Mallory produces some neat inventions, too. For every menacing gadget Dr. Zorka produced, Dr. Mallory would come up with something to counteract it. Dr. Mallory concocts an antidote for suspended animation, and later uses his anti-dematerialization ray on Dr. Zorka, which causes his invisibility belt to malfunction.

The footage of Dr. Zorka salvaging the meteorite in Africa was stolen from the 1936 Universal film, THE INVISIBLE RAY, which also featured Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Much of the weaponry and props were also lifted from that film. It was a common practice for studios to craft their serials around the leftovers and stock footage from their motion pictures. THE PHANTOM CREEPS features music lifted from the FRANKENSTEIN films and FLASH GORDON serials. Also included are several poorly integrated stock shots of airports, speeding trains, and rural locations. Some of this contributed to continuity errors such as the cars on the set not matching those in the crash scenes ( taken from the stock-film library). Universal’s special effects department used the tricks to simulate invisibility that were used in the Invisible Man pictures (although the techniques here were not nearly as convincing as in those films).

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-  Darren Collette