The Phantom Empire
Encyclopedia
The Phantom Empire, starring Gene Autry
the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935
Mascot serial
that combined the western
, musical
, and science fiction
genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes. This was Gene Autry
's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy
.
In 1940, a 70 minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces.
from which he makes a daily live radio broadcast at 2pm. This is a "modern" cowboy story, with planes and such. Gene has two kid sidekicks, Frankie Darro
and Betsy King Ross
, who lead a club, the "Junior Thunder Riders," in which the kids play at being armoured knights of an unknown civilization, the mysterious Thunder Riders who make a sound like thunder when they ride. The kids, dressing up in capes and water-bucket helmets, play at riding "to the rescue!" (to quote their motto).
A chance to be real heroes occurs when Betsy, Frankie and Gene are kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders, from the super-scientific underground empire of Murania, complete with towering skyscrapers, robots, ray-guns, elevators tubes that extend miles from the surface, and an icy, evil blonde Queen Tika. On the surface, a group of crooks under Prof Beetson plan to invade Murania and seize its radium wealth, while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow Queen Tika.
The inhabitants of Murania are the lost tribe of Mu
and went below the surface in the Ice Age, 100,000 years ago and now live in a fantastically advanced city 20 or 25,000 feet underground and cannot now breathe the air at ground level so must wear masks. Gene Autry however has no trouble breathing their air. The Thunder Guard (Riders) emerge into the surface world from a cave where a huge rock door opens upwards, remindful of Ali Baba. Both Muranians and Prof Beetson's team want to get rid of Autry so he loses his radio contract and Radio Ranch becomes vacant.
when he was under gas having a tooth extracted. The budget was "no more than" $100,000. Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross did their own stunt riding in this serial.
Source:
television series Cliffhangers
, which attempted to recreate the old movie serial feel by showing three serial chapters in each episode, included a serial titled "The Secret Empire," a pastiche of The Phantom Empire. Events in the underground empire were shown in color, but events on the surface were "in glorious black and white."
Stock footage from the serial, as well as other serials, was used in the animated series Muppet Babies
.
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
Mascot serial
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
that combined the western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes. This was Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy
Singing cowboy
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films, popularized by many of the B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s...
.
In 1940, a 70 minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces.
Plot
Gene Autry plays a singing cowboy of the same name, who runs Radio Ranch, a dude ranchDude ranch
The guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism.-History:...
from which he makes a daily live radio broadcast at 2pm. This is a "modern" cowboy story, with planes and such. Gene has two kid sidekicks, Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Darro...
and Betsy King Ross
Betsy King Ross
Betsy King Ross was an American actress, anthropologist and author.She was born in St Paul, Minnesota. During the 1930s she starred in several Western serial films as a child actress. In 1935 she starred with Gene Autry in the serial The Phantom Empire...
, who lead a club, the "Junior Thunder Riders," in which the kids play at being armoured knights of an unknown civilization, the mysterious Thunder Riders who make a sound like thunder when they ride. The kids, dressing up in capes and water-bucket helmets, play at riding "to the rescue!" (to quote their motto).
A chance to be real heroes occurs when Betsy, Frankie and Gene are kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders, from the super-scientific underground empire of Murania, complete with towering skyscrapers, robots, ray-guns, elevators tubes that extend miles from the surface, and an icy, evil blonde Queen Tika. On the surface, a group of crooks under Prof Beetson plan to invade Murania and seize its radium wealth, while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow Queen Tika.
The inhabitants of Murania are the lost tribe of Mu
Mu (lost continent)
Mu is the name of a hypothetical continent that allegedly existed in one of Earth's oceans, but disappeared at the dawn of human history.The concept and the name were proposed by 19th century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of...
and went below the surface in the Ice Age, 100,000 years ago and now live in a fantastically advanced city 20 or 25,000 feet underground and cannot now breathe the air at ground level so must wear masks. Gene Autry however has no trouble breathing their air. The Thunder Guard (Riders) emerge into the surface world from a cave where a huge rock door opens upwards, remindful of Ali Baba. Both Muranians and Prof Beetson's team want to get rid of Autry so he loses his radio contract and Radio Ranch becomes vacant.
Cast
- Gene AutryGene AutryOrvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
as Gene Autry, singing cowboy at the Radio Ranch - Frankie DarroFrankie DarroFrankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Darro...
as Frankie Baxter, one of Gene's sidekicks - Betsy King RossBetsy King RossBetsy King Ross was an American actress, anthropologist and author.She was born in St Paul, Minnesota. During the 1930s she starred in several Western serial films as a child actress. In 1935 she starred with Gene Autry in the serial The Phantom Empire...
as Betsy Baxter, one of Gene's sidekicks. Ross was an experienced rodeo performer and was billed as the "World's Champion Trick Rider". - Dorothy ChristyDorothy ChristyDorothy Christy was an American actress. She acted with Will Rogers, Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers and with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in the film Sons of the Desert , in the role of Mrs Laurel. She was Queen Tika of Murania in The Phantom Empire, Gene Autry’s 1935 cliffhanger serial...
as Queen Tika, evil queen of Murania - Wheeler OakmanWheeler OakmanWheeler Oakman was an American film actor.Usually appearing as a henchman in films, rarely a leading role, he appeared in over 280 films between 1912 and 1948....
as Lord Argo, the Muranian High Chancellor and leader of the rebels - Charles K. FrenchCharles K. FrenchCharles K. French was an American motion picture actor who appeared in more than 240 movies between 1909 and 1945.-Selected filmography:...
as Mal - Warner RichmondWarner RichmondWarner Richmond was an American actor. He appeared in 141 films between 1912 and 1946.He was born in Racine, Wisconsin and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Brown of Harvard...
as Rab - J. Frank GlendonJ. Frank GlendonJ. Frank Glendon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1915 and 1936.He was born in Choteau, Montana, and died in Hollywood, California...
as Professor Beetson, villainVillainA villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
ous scientist after the land's RadiumRadiumRadium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
deposits - Smiley BurnetteSmiley BurnetteLester Alvin Burnett , better known as Smiley Burnette, was a popular American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who could play as many as 100 musical...
as Oscar, comic relief. Burnette went on to be Gene Autry's partner in many more films. - Peter Potter as Pete, comic relief
- Edward Peil Sr.Edward Peil Sr.Edward Peil Sr. was an American film actor. He appeared in over 370 films between 1913 and 1951. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:...
as Cooper - Jack Carlyle as Saunders
Soundtrack
- Roy Rogers and band - "Uncle Noah's Ark" (Written by Roy Rogers and Smiley Burnette)
Production
The idea for the plot came to writer Wallace McDonaldWallace McDonald
Wallace Reginald McDonald was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Portage-du-Fort, Quebec and became a merchant by career.McDonald attended the University of Ottawa...
when he was under gas having a tooth extracted. The budget was "no more than" $100,000. Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross did their own stunt riding in this serial.
Theatrical
Phantom Empire was released in theaters on 23 February 1935. The serial was a "marked box office success."Chapter titles
- The Singing Cowboy
- The Thunder Riders
- The Lighting Chamber
- Phantom Broadcast
- Beneath the Earth
- Disaster from the Skies
- From Death the Life
- Jaws of Jeopardy
- Prisoner of the Ray
- The Rebellion
- The Queen in Chains
- The End of Murania
Source:
Cultural references
The 19791979 in television
The year 1979 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1979.For the American TV schedule, see: 1979-80 American network television schedule.-Events:...
television series Cliffhangers
Cliffhangers (TV series)
Cliffhangers was an American television series that debuted on February 27, 1979 on NBC.Cliffhangers attempted to revive the genre of movie serials in a made-for-TV format. Each hour-long episode was divided into three 20-minute segments featuring different storylines...
, which attempted to recreate the old movie serial feel by showing three serial chapters in each episode, included a serial titled "The Secret Empire," a pastiche of The Phantom Empire. Events in the underground empire were shown in color, but events on the surface were "in glorious black and white."
Stock footage from the serial, as well as other serials, was used in the animated series Muppet Babies
Muppet Babies
Jim Henson's Muppet Babies is an American animated television series that aired from September 15, 1984 to November 2, 1991 on CBS. The show portrayed childhood versions of the Muppets living together in a large nursery in the care of a human woman called Nanny...
.
External links
(serial) (69 minute version)- "Cowboys and Robots: The Birth of the Science Fiction Western" by Jeffrey Richardson
- Roaring Rockets: The Phantom Empire!
- "The Phantom Empire," by Gary Johnson
- Serial Robots: The Phantom Empire
- NY Times Review: The Phantom Empire
- Review of the 1986 version on DVD
- Watch the Entire Serial
- Download the Entire Serial