Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Here's a place for NON '66 Batman related subjects.

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Our Heroes Botched it!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

Josephine Weaver Allen
Josephine Weaver Allen
[attachment=1]C05420EE-02E3-4E12-A6F5-1A289DB9362F.jpeg


Flying Coffins Chapter...GH and K totally get this girl, Josephine Weaver Allen, killed! Wow....good job, guys! :cry:

First, GH confronts Josephine, gives his gun to Kato and sends them to the car alone FOR NO GOOD REASON! Second, Kato then gets taken out with one punch, the girl (who was cooperating with GH) gets kidnapped by the henchmen in their car.

Third: GH and K, give chase, the bad guys crash, escape, and that pretty little new “confidential informant” is killed! Our heroes should’ve taken the night off, instead!

My travels through this serial led me to discover her name was Ann Doran from Amarillo, Texas.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0233352/?ref_=nmls_hd
Attachments
FAIL!
FAIL!
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Observations

Post by Frenchy1939 »

Is it me or does this look familiar?

It looks like George Lucas spent some time watching this! I recall, he loved serials, but I didn’t realize how much they obviously influenced Star Wars.

I realize a lot of serials did title crawls but that along with the guy in the mask...wow.
Attachments
75E478F4-C43D-4624-BCFF-0A576A052445.jpeg
D2340A18-B5BB-425D-B450-A89FCAF8DE05.jpeg
7029B50C-EC16-4AF2-8964-5384912EE3C0.jpeg
734DB53B-2352-49E8-9FD2-CED4E1EAB051.jpeg
User avatar
SprangFan
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:34 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by SprangFan »

Lucas wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie but couldn't get the rights, so he came up with "Star Wars," which is close enough (and no need to split the profits with King Features!). Check out the "princess hair."

Image

Actually, Star Wars is a mash-up of Flash, classic Westerns and air war movies with a bit of Japanese samurai armor design thrown in for Vader. Still a great movie after all these years, despite spawning countless rotten sequels and being endlessly "tweaked" by Lucas (and retroactively named "A New Hope".)

The closest modern cousin to classic serials, though, is Indiana Jones, right down to the time-honored tradition of the hero never (well, almost never) losing his hat.
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

SprangFan wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:39 am Lucas wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie but couldn't get the rights, so he came up with "Star Wars," which is close enough (and no need to split the profits with King Features!). Check out the "princess hair."

Image

Actually, Star Wars is a mash-up of Flash, classic Westerns and air war movies with a bit of Japanese samurai armor design thrown in for Vader. Still a great movie after all these years, despite spawning countless rotten sequels and being endlessly "tweaked" by Lucas (and retroactively named "A New Hope".)

The closest modern cousin to classic serials, though, is Indiana Jones, right down to the time-honored tradition of the hero never (well, almost never) losing his hat.
Wow! More stuff I did not know! Thanks! The “princess hair”, lol. Awesome observation!


I watched the GH serials mainly because I am a Batman fan and wanted to get a feel for what things were like in ‘39 when he was created. However, I’ve learned a lot about Star Wars along the way. GH must’ve been an influence. Allegedly this is an early Ralph McQuarrie concept for Darth Vader:
GH as Darth?
GH as Darth?
User avatar
SprangFan
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:34 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by SprangFan »

There's been tons of books written about every possible aspect of Star Wars, obviously, but if you're interested in a digestible overview of the series' various inspirations, both thematically, structurally and design-wise, I'd recommend Mary Henderson's "Star Wars: The Magic Of Myth." It goes into Lucas' inspirations from classical mythology (he was a big admirer of Joseph Campbell, and I think vice-versa), old war films, Japanese cinema, etc, with asides noting how Han Solo fits the "cowboy" archetype (right down to his costume design) and how the Empire's uniforms are influenced by Nazi Germany.

I'm pretty sure the book was designed as a tie-in to an exhibit at the Smithsonian some years ago. Anyway it includes some very pretty up-close pictures of the costumes and props used in filming.

Definitely worth a look if you're interested in SW but not enough to amass a library on it (which pretty much describes me exactly). It's actually fairly brilliant how Lucas won over audiences by invoking a lot of imagery and concepts they were already cool with, but wrapped up differently enough to seem novel and fresh. Well, in 1977, anyway.
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
User avatar
AndyFish
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:42 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by AndyFish »

Vader is much more influenced by The Lightning from the serial FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS.

Image

Be interested to see what you think of the follow up, STRIKES AGAIN. I just re-watched it and I really enjoyed it.
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

SprangFan wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:31 am There's been tons of books written about every possible aspect of Star Wars, obviously, but if you're interested in a digestible overview of the series' various inspirations, both thematically, structurally and design-wise, I'd recommend Mary Henderson's "Star Wars: The Magic Of Myth." It goes into Lucas' inspirations from classical mythology (he was a big admirer of Joseph Campbell, and I think vice-versa), old war films, Japanese cinema, etc, with asides noting how Han Solo fits the "cowboy" archetype (right down to his costume design) and how the Empire's uniforms are influenced by Nazi Germany.

I'm pretty sure the book was designed as a tie-in to an exhibit at the Smithsonian some years ago. Anyway it includes some very pretty up-close pictures of the costumes and props used in filming.

Definitely worth a look if you're interested in SW but not enough to amass a library on it (which pretty much describes me exactly). It's actually fairly brilliant how Lucas won over audiences by invoking a lot of imagery and concepts they were already cool with, but wrapped up differently enough to seem novel and fresh. Well, in 1977, anyway.
Thanks for the info, on the book SprangFan! Star Wars, 1977 is the gold standard for me for what a movie should be. I came out of the theater in 1977 not knowing what hit me. That movie blew me away and no movie since then has been able to match that experience. I even read the novel when I was in 7th grade and it was good, too.

My kids and I have all the sequels on disc. My son and I are pretty disappointed in the last movie. I told him to forget anything that came out since 2005 and for the REAL Star Wars experience, watch Forbidden Planet, old serials like Flash Gordon and old Sinbad movies. I’ll research the book....sheesh, the people who made THe Last Jedi should’ve read it before making that disaster!
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

AndyFish wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:31 pm Vader is much more influenced by The Lightning from the serial FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS.

Image

Be interested to see what you think of the follow up, STRIKES AGAIN. I just re-watched it and I really enjoyed it.
Hey AndyFish!

I completed STRIKES AGAIN the other night. I agree, Warren Hull was more commanding and confident as the Green Hornet than Gordon Jones. One could tell WWII was looming. They also had the Sentinel “team” solidified with Michael Axeford, Miss Case, and Lowery.

Oh yeah, the villain, Foranti, lol! That guy was awesome! Every scene with him rocked!

It was fun. I had a good time researching the actors. Ann Doran and Anne Nagel were gorgeous...wow, is it me, or did the ladies just look better back then?

My next adventure is going to be to watch the Kirk Alyn Superman Serials...I got those for Christmas on DVD, too!
User avatar
SprangFan
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:34 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by SprangFan »

I think you'll enjoy the Superman serials, they're goofy fun. I did find the first serial's "Spider Lady" an underwhelming villain, but Lyle Talbot's Lex Luthor makes up for it in the sequel (when Talbot showed up as Commissioner Gordon in the second Batman serial, I wanted to yell, "Don't trust him, Batman, it's Luthor!" : -) )

The second Superman serial also originated the concept of a "Phantom Zone," so there's a bit of historical import, there.
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

SprangFan wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 6:55 am I think you'll enjoy the Superman serials, they're goofy fun. I did find the first serial's "Spider Lady" an underwhelming villain, but Lyle Talbot's Lex Luthor makes up for it in the sequel (when Talbot showed up as Commissioner Gordon in the second Batman serial, I wanted to yell, "Don't trust him, Batman, it's Luthor!" : -) )

The second Superman serial also originated the concept of a "Phantom Zone," so there's a bit of historical import, there.
After my boring commute and hours of work, I’m always ready for “goofy fun”!!!! I’ve seen bits and pieces of the 1948 serial on YouTube and noted the dialogue, “What’s that?”, “I dunno, you figure it out!” was identical to lines spoken by security guards from Batman and Robin 1949.

So, to get fully immersed into the Colombia serials time period, I am going to watch Superman 1948, Batman and Robin 1949, then Superman 1950! Ha! That should help me forget about work drudgery for a while!
User avatar
AndyFish
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:42 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by AndyFish »

Be sure to post your thoughts on those serials too-- or you might have to have someone writing for you-- after those three serials you might lose some major motor skills-- just temporarily.

I'm with Sprang-- Atom Man is better than Superman-- because of Luthor. Alyn made for an interesting Superman. I'll always be a George Reeves guy, in MOLE MEN I love the line where he says to the guy if he's not going to use his gun responsibly he'll just take them away. Reeves always had the Dad as Superman attitude. Alyn and Chris Reeve were more kindly uncle.
User avatar
Frenchy1939
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:29 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by Frenchy1939 »

AndyFish wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:38 am Be sure to post your thoughts on those serials too-- or you might have to have someone writing for you-- after those three serials you might lose some major motor skills-- just temporarily.

I'm with Sprang-- Atom Man is better than Superman-- because of Luthor. Alyn made for an interesting Superman. I'll always be a George Reeves guy, in MOLE MEN I love the line where he says to the guy if he's not going to use his gun responsibly he'll just take them away. Reeves always had the Dad as Superman attitude. Alyn and Chris Reeve were more kindly uncle.
AndyFish, it will be my privilege to journey through those old films and post my thoughts on them! I will start a new thread on the subject. For reasons unknown to me, I just took out my Batman Collectors Edition Blu Ray disks and am now rewatching season 1 along with the Green Hornet TV show on YouTube.

I will begin the Superman serials this Saturday.

(The real reason I am going back to the old stuff is because for me....movies and TV today STINKS!)🤮
User avatar
SprangFan
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:34 am

Re: Guess What I’m Getting for Christmas! - The Green Hornet Serials!!

Post by SprangFan »

I'm with Sprang-- Atom Man is better than Superman-- because of Luthor. Alyn made for an interesting Superman. I'll always be a George Reeves guy, in MOLE MEN I love the line where he says to the guy if he's not going to use his gun responsibly he'll just take them away. Reeves always had the Dad as Superman attitude. Alyn and Chris Reeve were more kindly uncle.
I loved the "father figure" approach taken by George, which extended to those scenes where he patiently stood there while the bad guys bounced bullets off his chest, with an attitude that said, "Here we go again." It's telling that as a kid, I didn't so much dream of being Superman as dream that there WAS a Superman. I lived in hope that someday I'd glance up and see him flying overhead on patrol. Or more importantly, that if things ever got too dire, he'd swoop in to help.

I liked the '78 film okay, but it was discomforting to see Superman played as so much younger and "sexy."

Kirk Alyn is a hoot. His Clark is somewhere between Chris' buffoonish wimp and George's two-fisted gangbuster. His Superman, though, is all energy and vigor, like a kid would be if he woke up with super-powers. When he puffs up his chest and barks out in "deep voice" mode, he sounds like Jay Leno impersonating an authority figure ( "Well, it's highly unorthodox, but..." ) Its also hilarious how he adopts Bud Collyer's mid-sentence voice change ( "This looks like a job...FOR SOOPERMAN!" ). It served a purpose in the radio, but it's ridiculous on film (especially when it's just "in his head" and not even spoken out loud).

Also Noel Neill was cute as a button, and Tommy Bond makes for the scrappiest Jimmy Olsen ever.

One of my favorite moments? Superman tells a guy in an office that he's leaving, and the guy says, "Umm...the door is that way," whereupon Superman, going the other way, smiles and says, " Yes, I know. " And flies out the window. :-)
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
Post Reply