Luana Walters comes to Bela Lugosi with a plan to destroy Chinese merchants and, I guess, take over their businesses. Bruce Bennett -- still called Herman Brix -- and Joan Barclay are their opposition.
The first thing I noticed about this feature version of the serial directed by Robert Hill for Sam Katzman was that the sound seems to have been recorded in an echo chamber by Hans Weeren. His was a name new to me. He was the sound man for 140 movies between 1932 and 1943, when he seems to have died at age 49, or perhaps he was assassinated. If so, I don't approve, but I understand. His list of films is not distinguished by anything except being almost entirely B westerns of which I have never heard.
Given this is Hill directing, I was mildly pleased by the decent movement and speed of editing; even if you could see that the clip of the guy who leaps over a fence begins while he's standing around waiting for his cue, editor Charles Henkel Jr. Seems to have made an effort to cut down the 280 minutes of the serial to a manageable length, and largely succeeded, even though Bennett does not know how to throw a punch. The modern crowd might be pleased that they actually used ethnic Chinese for the appropriate roles. I suspect that is because they were cheaper to hire and make up than otherwise.
The first thing I noticed about this feature version of the serial directed by Robert Hill for Sam Katzman was that the sound seems to have been recorded in an echo chamber by Hans Weeren. His was a name new to me. He was the sound man for 140 movies between 1932 and 1943, when he seems to have died at age 49, or perhaps he was assassinated. If so, I don't approve, but I understand. His list of films is not distinguished by anything except being almost entirely B westerns of which I have never heard.
Given this is Hill directing, I was mildly pleased by the decent movement and speed of editing; even if you could see that the clip of the guy who leaps over a fence begins while he's standing around waiting for his cue, editor Charles Henkel Jr. Seems to have made an effort to cut down the 280 minutes of the serial to a manageable length, and largely succeeded, even though Bennett does not know how to throw a punch. The modern crowd might be pleased that they actually used ethnic Chinese for the appropriate roles. I suspect that is because they were cheaper to hire and make up than otherwise.