Scouts to the Rescue (1939)

Filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Sonora, California, this Universal serial (made in that short two-year span of time when they chose to be identified as The New Universal) is ... See full summary »

Directors:

Alan James, Ray Taylor

Writers:

Irving Crump (original story), Wyndham Gittens (screenplay),

Stars:

Jackie Cooper, Vondell Darr, Edwin Stanley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Cooper	...	Bruce Scott
Vondell Darr	...	Mary Scanlon
Edwin Stanley	...	Pat Scanlon
William Ruhl	...	G- Man Hal Marvin
Bill Cody Jr.	...	'Skeets' Scanlon
David Durand	...	'Rip' Dawson
Ralph Dunn	...	Henchman Pug O'Toole
Frank Coghlan Jr.	...	Ken - a Boy Scout
Ivan Miller	...	Turk Mortensen
Victor Adams	...	Henchman Hurst
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Henchman 'Doc' (as Jason Robards)
Sidney Miller	...	Hermie - a Boy Scout
Dick Botiller	...	Leeka - Leader of Warriors (as Richard Botiller)
George Regas	...	Lokola -Indian Tribe High Priest
Jack Mulhall	...	Scoutmaster Hale [Ch. 1]

Storyline

Filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Sonora, California, this Universal serial (made in that short two-year span of time when they chose to be identified as The New Universal) is Universal's 40th sound-era serial, made and released between "Red Barry" and "Buck Rogers", and has Eagle Scout Bruce Scott, leader of Martinsville Troop Number One, and his pack setting off in search of lost treasure, using a map provided by Tenderfoot scout Skeets Scanlon Scoutmaster Hale leaves the expedition to rush home to an ailing wife, but Bruce and the scouts push on and the map leads them to "Ghost Town", where the treasure turns out to be a large cache of counterfeit $20 bills and the plates used to print them. The troop also discover a lost branch of Inca Indians living in the mountains and still undetected in 1939. The tribe gives ferocious efforts to keep the scouts from discovering their Temple cave because it contains a huge radium deposit known to them only for its ability to heal ...

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Plot Keywords:

serial | troop | gangster | ghost town | temple | 

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Taglines:

ADVENTURE! THRILL! SUSPENSE! ACTION!..as Eagle Scout Jackie Cooper leads his hardy troop through breath-taking exploits!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Cidade Fantasma

Filming Locations:

Sonora, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

231 min 231 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chapter Titles:

• 1. Death Rides the Air
• 2. Avalanche of Doom
• 3. Trapped By the Indians
• 4. River of Doom
• 5. Descending Doom
• 6. Ghost Town Menace
• 7. Destroyed by Dynamite
• 8. Thundering Hoofs
• 9. The Firs God Strikes
• 10.Battle of Ghost Town
• 11.Hurtling Through Space
• 12. The Boy Scouts Triumph

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Connections

Featured in Action Heroes of the Cliffhanger Serials (1992)

User Reviews

Scouts could have arrived sooner

Skeets Scanlon discovers a treasure map and has his scoutmaster Bruce Scott assemble his scout troop to search for it. Skeets' father has a slight connection with the map since his brother Denny was involved with a group of counterfeiters and the map leads to the location where the crooks hid the fake cash. Turk Mortenson, leader of the counterfeiters, abducts Scanlon to force him to make plates for their operations. G-Man Hal Marvin would also like to know the whereabouts of Scanlon, since he believes that Scanlon is a part of Mortenson's gang. While battling the crooks, the Scouts also have to encounter a renegade teen Rip Rawson as well as an undiscovered tribe of Indians, who have a store of radium on their reservation. This is another example of a Universal serial that must have originally conceived as a B movie, but stretched unnecessarily to a chapterplay. The serial does have the decent amount of action, good heroes & villains, and a continuous storyline to keep a kid coming back for 12 weeks, but I doubt that a kid would have gone out of his way to come back. I think the serial could have been improved if the treasure angle and Indian tribe played a bigger role, rather than focus on the counterfeiters angle again & again. Rating, based on serials, 5.