The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Directors:

Lewis D. Collins
Ray Taylor

Writers:

Jack Foley (story)
George H. Plympton (writer)

Release Date:

15 January 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

An adventurer goes after Nazi spies who have a new death ray called the Paratron. |

Plot Keywords:

Nazis | Death Ray | Serial | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Milburn Stone	...	Jim Hudson
Marjorie Weaver	...	Ruth Miller
Edgar Kennedy	...	Bosun Higgins
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Herman Brock [Chs. 3-13]
Martin Kosleck	...	Dr. Hauss
Ralph Morgan	...	Dr. Miller
Joseph Crehan	...	Bill Hudson [Chs. 3-13]
Fuzzy Knight	...	'Grit' Hartman [Chs. 4-13]
Harry Cording	...	Capt. Greeder [Chs. 1-3]
Anthony Warde	...	Brandon [Chs. 3-13]
Jack Clifford	...	Agent Dunn, posing as trapper [Ch. 1]
William Ruhl	...	Agent Grey, posing as trapper [Chs. 1-2]
Perc Launders	...	Haegle, phoney marshal [Ch.4]
Edward Gargan	...	Kurtz [Chs. 4-13]
Jay Novello	...	Eskimo Chief [Ch. 2-4]

Also Known As:

The Great Northern Mystery

Runtime:

223 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #9852)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Doc from Gunsmoke makes a very beat-up action hero

The Great Alaskan Mystery isn't the greatest of serials, but it is certainly far from the worst. The animated title card at the beginning is a nice touch by Universal, which did the same for The Mystery of the Riverboat.

Milburn Stone has to be the most beat-up, bruised, drowned, shot and has been in the most near-death truck plunges of any action hero in any serial. The story notes that to begin with his character is a wounded soldier returning home. Martin Kosleck makes a great scientist/bad guy, though he does not quite yet have the evil glee that he threw into those roles in later years (such as in The Flesh Eaters). Edgar Kennedy is almost unrecognizable, but provides some nice comic touches. The rest of the cast is pretty unremarkable, except for Anthony Warde, who delivers his usual solid performance as the main henchman.

There are a lot of nice visuals in this serial, though many are obviously stock footage. There are also a number of really bad cliffhangers...the kind in which you know there is no bloody way the hero is going to survive. That doesn't necessarily detract from the chapterplay as a whole, since by the time the worst one happens (involving a falling mine elevator and a crate of dynamite) you already know that Milburn Stone's character can really take the punishment.