Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- 1943, a Japanese spy ring threatens The US war production and the Masked Marvel and police fight to keep war production going. When a wave of sabotage masterminded by infamous Japanese agent, Sakima, threatens America's was effort, The Masked Marvel fearless enemy of spies and saboteurs leaps into action thwarting the subversives at every turn.*Special Stars- William Forrest, Louise Curie *Theme- USA wins again with right and might.*Based on- Historic and real war sabotage fears during WW2.*Trivia/location/goofs- Relying on a gambit used in the 1939 serial, The Lone Ranger, the Masked Marvel was secretly one of four insurance investigators, whose identity was not revealed until the closing minutes of serial #12. Through a clerical error sensational stuntman, Tom Steele the man actually behind the mask was never given any official billing for his effort in this film. Theater serial film release, There is some objectionable use of racial stereotypes and violence.*Emotion- An above 'par' Republic Studio WW2 espionage thriller with Japanese secret agents threatening the US war production.

dbborroughs For me this is one of the best serials Republic ever put out. It's a grand wartime serial about a group of insurance investigators, one of which is the masked marvel, battling the evil Sakima. Sakima is in cahoots with the head of the insurance company the men work for and he is giving enemy agents info on which targets to pick. Its got great action, wicked dialog and pacing that just won't quit. For me it's the point at which Republic hit their prime with balancing a fast pace with its tendency to have plots that are little more then fleshed out Cliff Notes. To be certain there are other Republic serials that may be better or more detailed or have better action, but this is the one serial where what would be the studios plan for how to make mass produced serials all came together to make something special. Where other similar serials are too plot heavy (Captain Marvel) or too action oriented (Spy Smasher) this just balances it all together for great effect. One of the best. Look for this one. (Interesting footnote, Tom Steele the stunt man who plays the Marvel through the whole serial is didn't not play one of the investigators who might be the hero. He actually gets no screen credit what so ever, despite being on screen more than most other characters. (A possible in joke has Steele in one of the chapters, sans Mask, asking someone who the Marvel is)

Cutter-2 If you have never seen a `real' serial before, they can be more fun that a true classic. By a "real" serial, I do not mean something made to fill 20 minutes of time on a Saturday afternoon like The Phantom Empire, The Brute Man or Radar Men From the Moon. The low budgets, the obvious stunt doubles (Sakima's stunt double in Episode 10 could have been any short man on earth other than Sakima) and the impossibility of the hero escaping tragedy at the end of each episode are all extremely enjoyable. In the Masked Marvel, I especially enjoyed all four investigators wearing the same suit with identically folded breast pocket handkerchiefs. Keeping track of everything that is going on can keep the viewer very busy.For an adult, serials can be particularly enjoyable because they are mindless entertainment. One does not have to interpret any metaphors. There are no words of wisdom, no dissecting the characters and no symbolism to decipher. Just sit back and let the action roll!The Masked Marvel is one of the kings of action serials. By my count there were 19 fights (four or more men fighting in two or more rooms were counted as one fight), an even 20 killings by gunshot, 15 deaths by miscellaneous means (explosions, knifes, auto accidents, to include the same shot of a car going over a cliff in Episodes 2 and 8, etc.) and 15 explosions (including cars going over a cliff and the three explosions at the beginning). Given that the killings by gunshot, the miscellaneous killings and the explosions are all divisible by 5, I may have missed a fight (I did not double count the deaths, explosions, etc. that occurred in the rehashing of the end of the previous episode at the beginning of the next episode). The entire serial runs 3 hours and 17 minutes. Subtracting 2 minutes for rehashing of the end of the previous episode at the beginning of the next episode (11 times) leaves 2 hours and 55 minutes. So on average there is a fight every nine minutes, a killing every 5 minutes and an explosion every 12 minutes. And they took The Wild, Wild West off the air because it was too violent. Parents/adults are no fun at all.The next time I watch the video, I am going to have to count the number of times they use the same staircase. In the hospital scene there was a gurney on the landing. In the warehouse scene there were boxes on the landing. And in the office building scene there was nothing on the landing. The staircase was used a few other times, but I do not remember the exact scenes.With the exception of the two bodies falling from the top of a building (the dummies could have been Raggedy Andy wearing a man's hat), the special effects were very good. The explosions were especially realistic and the stunts were top notch. There have been other comments regarding Tom Steele's excellent stunt work so I will not dwell on the subject.Please do not take my comments as criticism. Much of the enjoyment in watching a serial is paying attention to the detail, or lack thereof, and catching the irregularities one would not be able to catch if they were nine or typically would not find in a higher budget film. The Masked Marvel is a top notch serial.

crow-34 Previously, I noticed that many times they changed the ending and not too cleverly. In chapter 8 when the Marvel took the dive off the roof the action the next week was different and obviously sneaky, not a true cliffhanger! Oh yes, the agent who knifed the thug in bed after he identifies the Marvel was the Marvel technically. Tom Steele played the assassin and of course was killed again in the car crash. He is as you know the man behind the mask in all the action scenes. If you watch closely you can identify his stance, body language and physical running attitude. He was never mentioned in the credits at all. Most curious.