‘You mean the fellow who was drummed out of the army for being mixed up in that chemical warfare scandal?’
Top athlete and all-round he-man, Rip Roaring Riley also works undercover as a crack government secret agent. When rumours surface of a notorious villain experimenting on a remote island with poison gas, he’s sent in to deal with the situation…
Independent, low-budget programmer from Puritan Pictures that ticks many of the same boxes as the movie serials produced by the larger studios of the time, but with much less success. Who are our characters? The handsome square-jawed hero who is good with his fists, the naive but game female lead and the ruthless bad guy who will stop at nothing, of course. What are they all trying to do? Get hold of the secret weapon ‘that must not fall into the wrong hands.’ Unfortunately, there’s a distinct lack of production value here, and that means no significant stunts or big set pieces, even ones re-used from other films, although we do get some riveting stock footage of navy radio operators!
Disgraced military man, Major Gray (Grant Withers) has gone into business for himself; convincing top scientist Professor Baker (John Crowell) that he’s developing his lethal gas for the US government, rather than for sale to the highest bidder. The duo have set up shop on the otherwise uninhabited Diamond Island, along with Withers’ small gang of goons and Cowell’s daughter Anne (Marion Burns). She’s not keen on the whole business and finds Withers vaguely repellent, although, as far as we know, he hasn’t been making any moves on her. But he is an utter cad so I wouldn’t put it past him.
Villains were always difficult to spot in the 1930s
These shenanigans have come to the attention of American intelligence, so Chief Martin (Wilfred Lucas) calls in Rip Roaring Riley (Lloyd Hughes). Despite being fully aware of the gravity of the situation, rather than sending in a task force, the best option is to give the job to just one man and Hughes is that man. Also, there’s absolutely no point in giving him a decent cover story, a fake identity, or any detailed instructions at all. Just grab a boat, get him some fishing rods as an excuse to be out on the water and point him in the general direction of the island. He can just wing it. Hughes doesn’t seem to mind, though. It’s the 1930s, he’s a hero, and it’s all a bit of a lark really.
Leaving to get to the boat, Hughes is chased and captured by some thugs in hats who don’t shave, but he escapes, his double executing the only serious stunt work in the film; transferring from a moving car to a truck carrying planks of wood. Who these goons are is never really explained, because if they are working for Withers, then how come he doesn’t know who our hero is when he arrives at the island later on?
Diamond Island needed to rethink their tourist policy…
Yes, after faking an accident with his boat, Hughes gets plucked from the water by Burns while Withers and his cronies are less than enthusiastic about performing a rescue. Once on the island, it turns out that Hughes was once Cowell’s star pupil at college (is there anything this guy isn’t good at?) and the battle lines with Withers are drawn. The big bad isn’t buying Hughes’ (almost non-existent) cover story for a minute and instructs bumbling henchmen Bruno (Kit Guard) and Sparko (Eddie Gibbon) to keep an eye on him and do the necessary if required.
Meantime, Cowell and Withers don chemical suits and test the poison gas just off the beach. It’s not a particularly impressive scene; but it’s about the best the film has to offer. Unfortunately, there is no musical soundtrack to any of these events and, without accompaniment, a lot of the action scenes and bouts of fisticuffs come over as seriously lifeless, flat and poorly choreographed.
‘Fancy a cold one?’
Yes, this is pretty low-rent stuff, with the only spark of creativity on offer being supplied by the character of Withers’ houseboy, Lun (Joe Hirakawa). He may be a Chinese agent, but he wants to destroy Cowell’s weapon, rather than snatch it for his own government, which makes for a nice change. Unfortunately, far too much running time is allotted to the hilarious antics of Guard and Gibbon. They are onscreen almost as much as our hero! Still, their tired schtick does help to pad out the massive 53-minute running time!
Director Elmer Clifton wielded the megaphone on almost 100 films, most of them being bottom of the barrel Westerns with titles like ‘Swing, Cowboy, Swing’ (1946), ‘The Stranger from Arizona’ (1948) and several starring Tex Ritter such as ‘Raiders of the Frontier’ (1944). He did leave the saddle on occasion, though, and was behind shambolic early movie serial ‘The Secret of Treasure Island’ (1935), which also featured Withers as the villain. He returned to chapterplays almost a decade later to split duties with John English on the first screen appearance of well-known crime fighter and future Avenger ‘Captain America’ (1944).
An unremarkable, cheap programmer that shares a good deal of DNA with the movie serials of the time, but without the necessary dash or outlandish qualities which make those still an enjoyable diversion today.
Mark David Welsh 