From it's beginnings in 1936 (and after a title change from "G-Men") "Gang Busters" enjoyed a healthy 21 year run on radio. Starting with a host of special effects - police whistles, sirens, prisoner's marching, guns firing and tyres screeching, followed by a loud voice booming through a megaphone "Tonight Gang Busters ...." etc, it was finally serialized for the cinema in 1942.
Robert Armstrong had a tremendously long and varied career... dumb buddies, crooked lawyers, boxing managers (to Lew Ayres in "Iron Man") even an occasional leading man role where he got the girl ("Danger Lights"(1930)) but mostly where he didn't ("Fast Workers" (1933)), by 1942 alimony for a couple of bad marriages had forced him to Universal for serial work and in "Gang Busters" he was Detective Nolan for 13 episodes bringing thugs to justice. He co-starred with Kent Taylor, a pretty boring leading man who at one time (in the early 1930s) became part of a screen team with Evelyn Venables.
The city is in the grip of a massive crime wave so hot shot detective Bill Bannister (Taylor) is called in and instantly they start to receive cryptic messages from Prof. Mortis and his "League of Murdered Men". The difference with this serial is that you know within 10 minutes that the villain is Ralph Morgan. Morgan was Frank's older brother who never stepped out from his brother's shadow, even though he was terrific in "The Kennel Murder Case" and "Strange Interlude".
"The League of Murdered Men" are criminals who to the police and the public have committed suicide but have been secretly brought back to life by Mortis. After almost being exposed by the gang busters, Mortis comes up with another secret weapon - a camera that shoots bullets instead of flashes!! Ace reporter Vicki Logan (lovely Irene Hervey who was married to singer Alan Jones) carries it around for a couple of episodes threatening to put her colleagues and Bannister into the morgue!! The end shows Bannister, posing as one of the murdered men, infiltrating Mortis' laboratory. Will Noble and Vicki be quick enough to find the League's headquarters (Bannister has a radar device in his coat pocket)...?? I agree with other reviewers this was a pretty good serial with plenty of top professionals to give it a polished look.
Ralph Harolde could always be relied upon to portray villainous characters as he had been doing since the late 1920s. An absolutely horrendous car accident in the mid 1930s which killed his best friend Monroe Owsley, kept him off the screen for a year and when he returned his hair had turned white!!
Robert Armstrong had a tremendously long and varied career... dumb buddies, crooked lawyers, boxing managers (to Lew Ayres in "Iron Man") even an occasional leading man role where he got the girl ("Danger Lights"(1930)) but mostly where he didn't ("Fast Workers" (1933)), by 1942 alimony for a couple of bad marriages had forced him to Universal for serial work and in "Gang Busters" he was Detective Nolan for 13 episodes bringing thugs to justice. He co-starred with Kent Taylor, a pretty boring leading man who at one time (in the early 1930s) became part of a screen team with Evelyn Venables.
The city is in the grip of a massive crime wave so hot shot detective Bill Bannister (Taylor) is called in and instantly they start to receive cryptic messages from Prof. Mortis and his "League of Murdered Men". The difference with this serial is that you know within 10 minutes that the villain is Ralph Morgan. Morgan was Frank's older brother who never stepped out from his brother's shadow, even though he was terrific in "The Kennel Murder Case" and "Strange Interlude".
"The League of Murdered Men" are criminals who to the police and the public have committed suicide but have been secretly brought back to life by Mortis. After almost being exposed by the gang busters, Mortis comes up with another secret weapon - a camera that shoots bullets instead of flashes!! Ace reporter Vicki Logan (lovely Irene Hervey who was married to singer Alan Jones) carries it around for a couple of episodes threatening to put her colleagues and Bannister into the morgue!! The end shows Bannister, posing as one of the murdered men, infiltrating Mortis' laboratory. Will Noble and Vicki be quick enough to find the League's headquarters (Bannister has a radar device in his coat pocket)...?? I agree with other reviewers this was a pretty good serial with plenty of top professionals to give it a polished look.
Ralph Harolde could always be relied upon to portray villainous characters as he had been doing since the late 1920s. An absolutely horrendous car accident in the mid 1930s which killed his best friend Monroe Owsley, kept him off the screen for a year and when he returned his hair had turned white!!
