The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938)

The US marine corps must battle a would-be world conqueror who uses electricity as a weapon.

Directors:

John English, William Witney

Writers:

Barry Shipman (original screenplay), Franklin Adreon (original screenplay),

Stars:

Lee Powell, Bruce Bennett, Eleanor Stewart

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Powell	...	Lieutenant Tom Grayson
Bruce Bennett	...	Lieutenant Frank Corby (as Herman Brix)
Eleanor Stewart	...	Janet Warfield
Montagu Love	...	General White
Hugh Sothern	...	Ben Warfield / The Lightning
Sam Flint	...	Colonel Grayson [Chs. 1-2, 7]
Perry Ivins	...	Crenshaw
Forrest Taylor	...	Benson
John Picorri	...	Professor Gould
Carleton Young	...	Johnson, 'Aurora' Crewman [Ch. 4]
John Davidson	...	Lin Wing [Ch. 1]
Henry Otho	...	Sam Hedges, the Gardener
Reed Howes	...	Parker, Sub Crewman [Chs. 4, 10-12]
Tom London	...	Henchman Wilson [Chs. 2-5, 9]
Edmund Cobb	...	Henchman Ellis [Chs. 2, 4-6]

Storyline

In Singapore, two US Marine Lieutenants, Tom Grayson and Frank Corby, discover the threat of a new villain called The Lightning, a masked villain who uses a powerful lightning based weapon in his bid for world conquest. Unfortunately, the battle becomes personal when The Lightning annihilates the officers' unit, and later kills Lt. Grayson's father as he was helping the investigation of the weapon. Now, those young marines have dedicated themselves to stopping The Lightning and bringing him to justice.

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Plot Keywords:

u.s. marine corps | masked villain | electricity | gyroscope | seaplane | 

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Taglines:

The Lightning Strikes! A half-crazed devil terrorizes the world with a mysterious thunderbolt that brings devastation to all it touches.

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 May 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

I maska tou satana

Filming Locations:

Beale's Cut, Newhall, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$92,569 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

204 min 204 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chapter Titles: 1. The Lightning Strikes 2. The Mill Of Disaster 3. The Silenced Witness 4. Cargo Of Mystery 5. Undersea Bandits 6. The Torpedo Of Doom 7. The Phantom Killer 8. Tides Of Trickery 9. Attack From The Skies 10.In The Camp Of The Enemy 11.The Baited Trap 12.Killer At Bay

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Quotes

Henchman: The fiend is behind a monstrous plot to control whole nations. What happened in Linchuria is but a small demonstration of his powers!

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Connections

Edited into J-Men Forever (1979)

User Reviews

Good but not great serial has everything a serial should be but never quite puts it all together

Two marines take on the evil Lightning who travels around the world in a giant wing. The lightning uses his "electrical thunderbolt" to kill those who stand in the way of world domination.

Well acted despite being full of serial character clichés, this is a good, but not particularly great tale. I know many people think this is the best serial ever made but I'm not among them. There is something too mechanical about the tale. Yes its got a great look and good cliffhangers, but for me it feels as though it was put together by a list instead of coming together organically. Don't get me wrong I like the serial. It in no way a bad serial and its certainly worth seeing, but is seems to be more what the perfect serial SHOULD be instead of simply BEING that serial.

Give it a shot if you run across it.