The Phantom Empire (1935)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Otto Brower
B. Reeves Eason

Writers:

Wallace MacDonald (story) &
Gerald Geraghty (story) ...

Release Date:

23 February 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Sci-Fi | Western | Family

Tagline:

A Nation 20,000 Feet Underground

Plot:

When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea...

Plot Keywords:

Ranch | Radium | Death Ray | Contract | Radio Show

Cast

Gene Autry	...	Gene Autry
Frankie Darro	...	Frankie Baxter
Betsy King Ross	...	Betsy Baxter
Dorothy Christy	...	Queen Tika
Wheeler Oakman	...	Argo (Muranian High Chancellor)
Charles K. French	...	Mal
Warner Richmond	...	Rab
J. Frank Glendon	...	Professor Beetson (as Frank Glendon)
Smiley Burnette	...	Oscar (as Lester 'Smiley' Burnett)
Peter Potter	...	Pete (as William Moore)
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Cooper (as Edward Piel, Sr.)
Jack Carlyle	...	Saunders

Also Known As:

Gene Autry and the Phantom Empire

Runtime:

245 min (12 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Agoura Ranch, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Mascot Pictures

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: - 1. The Singing Cowboy - 2. The Thunder Riders - 3. The Lightning Chamber - 4. Phantom Broadcast - 5. Beneath the Earth - 6. Disaster From the Skies - 7. From Death to Life - 8. Jaws of Jeopardy - 9. Prisoners of the Ray - 10.The Rebellion - 11.A Queen in Chains - 12.The End of Murania

Quotes:

Queen Tika: Gene Autry! How do you like our world?
Gene Autry: I think the dampness and dead air of your land is more suited for rats and moles.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Horrible Horror (1986) (V)

Bucketheads to the rescue!

Gene Autry was already a radio star when he went to Hollywood in the early '30s. Naturally, since Autry was known as "the Singing Cowboy," his first starring role was in a sci-fi serial about an underground civilization. One might think that this was a brave example of casting against type; in fact, Autry plays exactly the same character he would continue to play on film and TV for the next twenty years: "Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy."

With a premise like this, one would expect THE PHANTOM EMPIRE to be thoroughly goofy. And one would be right. It doesn't help matters that the serial is directed exclusively to children, without even a nod or wink at the adult audience. Also, the cliffhanger cheat factor is fairly high, mostly involving added footage of the escapes which completely distorts what we saw in the previous chapter (this would, of course, have been somewhat less obvious when seeing only one chapter a week and not having a rewind button).

But if you're a connoisseur of cinematic goofiness, or if you're interested in B-Westerns and SF serials of the 30s, or if you have a burning desire to see Smiley Burnette in drag, you should check this one out. The Alpha DVD release, as others have said, is pretty poor (the worst Alpha DVDs I've seen, in fact), but if you can get through the first two chapters, the quality improves marginally (there does seem to have been some restoration work done on the print used--mainly with Scotch tape).