Its hard for me to know just how these things were made up. Even the worst of them is a cool adventure. I like the earlier ones better. They are more adventurous, generally and therefore more influential. And there's no mistake that some of those early ones were very big influences.
This is late in the genre for me, but it surely the apogee of a certain type of serial. The idea of having two different actors play the two identities, the mystical Arabian context, the almost perfect cliffhangers...
The sexual content is lower than usual for these things.
One thing that's striking is how inventive the production is in how it is conceived. The trick in these things is explaining the superpowers and then showing them. Superman was cursed by being a comicbook character first, so his superpowers even today don't translate well to the screen. And his origin and the explanation of his powers was bit tortured.
This is the exact opposite; The explanation of powers is succinct and even makes a sort of sense. The powers themselves are cleverly designed around the limits of the camera.
If you are going to watch any of these old serials for fun and you don't have any particular fetish, this may be the best you will find.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
This is late in the genre for me, but it surely the apogee of a certain type of serial. The idea of having two different actors play the two identities, the mystical Arabian context, the almost perfect cliffhangers...
The sexual content is lower than usual for these things.
One thing that's striking is how inventive the production is in how it is conceived. The trick in these things is explaining the superpowers and then showing them. Superman was cursed by being a comicbook character first, so his superpowers even today don't translate well to the screen. And his origin and the explanation of his powers was bit tortured.
This is the exact opposite; The explanation of powers is succinct and even makes a sort of sense. The powers themselves are cleverly designed around the limits of the camera.
If you are going to watch any of these old serials for fun and you don't have any particular fetish, this may be the best you will find.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.