High-Voltage Action! Thunderbolt Drama!
A series of violent natural disasters puts the future of mankind in jeopardy. A brilliant young scientist uses some electrical gizmo to track the source to an unexplored part of Africa. Despite scepticism from colleagues, he mounts an expedition to the region, where he finds giant zombies and a secret underground city inhabited by about half a dozen people.
This is a very primitive 12-episode Science Fiction serial directed by Harry Revier that boasts a somewhat dubious reputation in these more enlightened times. Many small independent studios turned their hands to chapter plays in the early 1930s, but few had the resources or expertise to create anything of even passing merit. This serial is no exception but its shortcomings also give rise to a wider field of discussion.
The production itself is very limited. The ‘Lost City’ itself consists of a couple of rooms and a corridor, although Ken Strickfaden had brought along some of the wonderful fizzing do-dads he designed for the laboratory in ‘Frankenstein’ (1931). The city’s population is limited to chief nutbar Zolok, his lieutenant Appollyn and diminutive hunchback Gorzo. Also in attendance are a bunch of giant zombies created by Professor Manyus, who is being held captive with his daughter Natcha. She’s beautiful, in case you were wondering. Zolok is given to a lot of fist clenching and wobbly finger-pointing as he plans world conquest using the Prof’s electromagnetic gadgets.
Into the breach steps our handsome young research boffin Kane Richmond (‘Brick Bradford’ (1947) himself!) with his crack team that includes a generic sidekick and a couple of duplicitous colleagues. However, the expedition are crossed up right from the opening whistle by trader George ‘Gabby’ Hayes (the comic ‘old man’ in countless Westerns) and the native tribe that he controls. Our heroes are taken to the Lost City, they escape, they’re recaptured, Kane falls for Natcha, Natcha falls for him, they escape, they’re recaptured, they escape, they’re recaptured, they escape and so on…
Her trip to the dentist hadn’t turned out as planned…
After a few chapters, the screenplay even delivers a new bad guy in the form of an Arabian slave trader so that we can do it all again! Then, when that gets old, we get an Arabian Queen, so we can do it all one more time! All of this sidelines William ‘Stage’ Boyd, whose histrionics as Zolok are the most entertaining thing on offer. His unusual middle name was because there was another actor called William Boyd (who went on to find fame as ‘Hopalong’ Cassidy).
And that brings us neatly to the acting. Yes, it was 1935 and yes, sound pictures were less than a decade old, but is that really any excuse for the consistently dreadful performances on display? Cast members suddenly stare off into the distance as they deliver important dialogue, gesticulate wildly and pull very strange faces. The only one not desperately over-acting is Richmond. Everyone else is truly, truly terrible.
So why the controversy? Well, there are plenty of native tribesmen so plenty of roles for black actors. Unfortunately, their dialogue consists of nothing more than a handful of lines in pidgin English and a lot of mindless grunting. Even worse, the Prof has ‘supersized’ some of them in one of his machines. These giant zombies have fuzzy fright wigs, gurning faces and walk stiff-legged like a comedy version of Frankenstein’s monster. Ok, not pleasant. But, wait for it, the Prof has another invention; a serum that turns black men into white! And they eagerly volunteer for the process! Fortunately, this only gets limited screen time but, in a way, the ‘throwaway’ aspect of this development only serves to make it more offensive.
Leaving aside the casual racism, we still have to contend with a product that is poorly staged, filmed, acted and written. The plot is often ridiculous with characters changing sides for no real reason and the old Prof telling everyone who’ll listen that he created the giants, even though it inevitably gets him captured or almost sacrificed. Somehow he never learns to keep his trap shut even though it keeps happening!
The repetitious action and silly posturing make for very little entertainment. A pretty wretched enterprise.
Mark David Welsh 