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The Phantom Creeps (1939)

 -  Sci-Fi  -  17 October 1939 (USA)
4.3
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Ratings: 4.3/10 from 479 users  
Reviews: 21 user | 12 critic

A military intelligence officer and a pretty reporter try to find a scientist whose inventions can destroy the world.

Writers:

(story), (screenplay), 2 more credits »
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Title: The Phantom Creeps (1939)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Dr. Alex Zorka / Dr. Zane
Robert Kent ...
Dorothy Arnold ...
Edwin Stanley ...
...
Lt. Jim Daly
Jack C. Smith ...
Edward Van Sloan ...
Dora Clement ...
Ann Zorka [Chs. 1-2] (as Dora Clemant)
Anthony Averill ...
Hugh Huntley ...
Monte Vandergrift ...
Al - Guard [Ch. 5]
Frank Mayo ...
Train Engineer [Ch. 6]
Jim Farley ...
Skipper [Ch. 9] (as James Farley)
Eddie Acuff ...
Mac - AMI Agent [Chs. 2-12]
Reed Howes ...
Signalman [Ch. 10]
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Storyline

"The Phantom Creeps" was Universal's 44th sound-era serial (between "The Oregon Trail" and "The Green Hornet") and was re-issued to theaters in 1949 by Commonwealth Pictures Corporation, a distribution set-up handling primarily Universal re-issues. Commonwealth had no hand at all in the production of this serial (as incorrectly shown on site) as they were a distribution company only. Some sources mistakenly identify them as the serial producer because all of the 1949 re-issue prints (and the 16mm prints sold to television circa 1952) show "Commonwealth Pictures Corp. Presents" above the title.There is a whole lot of difference between "presenting" and "producing", a fact that some sources appear to not know or don't care. The serial is of interest to some collectors as it re-unites Bela Lugosi and Edwin Stanley from 1931's "Dracula", and the crater-discovery of the meteorite fragment by Zorka in the serial is stock footage from Universal's 1936 "The Invisible Ray." The stock footage ... Written by Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

12 SPINE-SHIVERING ACTION THUNDERBOLTS! Sinister scientists...foreign spies...federal agents...and a pretty girl...crashing through amazing adventures! See more »

Genres:

Sci-Fi

Certificate:

Approved
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

17 October 1939 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Shadow Creeps  »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (12 episodes) | (edited feature film)

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The explosion and avalanche footage from Universal's 1934 serial 'The Vanishing Shadow' (1934) is used in Chapter 11 of this serial as stock footage. See more »

Goofs

Anthony Averill and his two co-henchmen wear heavy mustaches that appear and disappear from one chapter to another, and even from one scene to another in the same chapter, #7, for example. See more »

Quotes

[after surviving a car crash, Zorka notices the hitch hiker they picked up, who looks like him, is dead.]
Dr. Alex Zorka: How fortunate, this will simplify everything!
See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) See more »

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User Reviews

As a modest collector....
12 May 1999 | by (Quispamsis, New Brunswick) – See all my reviews

Another original serial with a different theme and another best because of Bela Lugosi who made it work. Plots in serials tended to be stale later on. This was an exceptionally good plot and well written for the cliffhanger serial age. Invisibility and one of the robot theme scripts added to the thrills. I always thought it emulated Joe Louis.


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