The Spider Returns
Encyclopedia
The Spider Returns is a Columbia
movie serial
based on the pulp magazine
character The Spider
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
serial The Spider's Web
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Source:
The Spider Returns (1941
) is a Columbia
movie serial
based on the pulp magazine
character The Spider
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
serial The Spider's Web
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Source:
The Spider Returns (1941
) is a Columbia
movie serial
based on the pulp magazine
character The Spider
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
serial The Spider's Web
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Source:
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
movie 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...
based on the pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
character The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
serial The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web is a Columbia Pictures movie serial based on the pulp magazine character The Spider. The 15-chapter adventure was directed by serial and western specialist Ray Taylor and comedy and serial veteran James W. Horne...
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
Plot
Amateur criminologist Richard Wentworth was formerly the masked vigilante, The Spider. Wentworth brings The Spider out of retirement to help his friend, police commissioner Kirk (Kirkpatrick in the pulps), fight a dangerous maniac. This new enemy is The Gargoyle, a mysterious crime lord who threatens America with sabotage and wholesale murder in an effort to wreck national defense.Production
Columbia used The Spider's Web as a basic template for many of its early serials: the daring hero and his assistants adopt disguises to battle an exotic, secretive villain and his lawless gang. In The Spider Returns, The Gargoyle wears robes which would not look out of place on Flash GordonFlash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
James W. Horne
James Wesley Horne was an early American actor, screenwriter and film director. He began his career as an actor under director Sidney Olcott at Kalem Studios in 1913 and directed his first film for the company two years later....
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the radio program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M...
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Cast
- Warren HullWarren HullJohn Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in the action-adventure field....
as The SpiderThe SpiderThe Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
, his secret identity Richard Wentworth, and Blinky McQuade - Mary AinsleeMary AinsleeMary Ainslee was an American film actress. She appeared in approximately 15 films between 1939 and 1952.Ainslee appeared in several Three Stooges films such as I'll Never Heil Again, In the Sweet Pie and Pie, Hokus Pokus, and He Cooked His Goose.In the mid-1980s, she suffered a stroke and never...
as Nita Van Sloan, Richard Wentworth's fiancée - Dave O'BrienDave O'Brien (actor)Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
as Jackson, Wentworth's assistant - Joseph W. GirardJoseph W. GirardJoseph W. Girard was an American film actor. He appeared in over 280 films between 1911 and 1944.He was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:...
as Police CommissionerPolice commissionerCommissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
Kirk - Kenneth DuncanKenne DuncanKenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...
as Ram Singh, Sikh warrior and Wentworth's bodyguard. - Corbet Harris as McLeod
- Bryant WashburnBryant WashburnBorn Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
as Westfall - Charles F. MillerCharles F. MillerMiller made his film debut in Little Women as a minister and starred in many films thereafter.One of his first biggest roles was starring alongside Keye Luke in Phantom of Chinatown.He was also one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild....
as Mr. Van Sloan - Anthony WardeAnthony WardeAnthony Warde was a noted American actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 and 1964.-Career:A native of Pennsylvania, Warde started his Hollywood career in Escape by Night , appearing in a handful of undistinguished feature films before gaining popularity as one of the hardest working...
as Trigger, one of the Gargoyle's henchmen - Harry HarveyHarry Harvey (actor)Harry Harvey was an American actor.- Career :Born in Indian Territory, U.S.. Was a film character actor, he has more 300 appeared in television series and movies...
as Stephan - Forrest Taylor (uncredited) Voice of The Gargoyle
Chapter titles
- The Stolen Plans
- The Fatal Time-Bomb
- The Secret Meeting
- The Smoke Dream
- The Gargoyle's Trail
- The X-Ray Eye
- The Radio Boomerang
- The Mysterious Message
- The Cup of Doom
- The X-Ray Belt
- Lips Sealed by Murder
- A Money Bomb
- Almost a Confession
- Suspicious Telegrams
- The Payoff
Source:
External links
- The Spider Returns at Movie Serial Experience
The Spider Returns (1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
) is a Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
movie 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...
based on the pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
character The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
serial The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web is a Columbia Pictures movie serial based on the pulp magazine character The Spider. The 15-chapter adventure was directed by serial and western specialist Ray Taylor and comedy and serial veteran James W. Horne...
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
Plot
Amateur criminologist Richard Wentworth was formerly the masked vigilante, The Spider. Wentworth brings The Spider out of retirement to help his friend, police commissioner Kirk (Kirkpatrick in the pulps), fight a dangerous maniac. This new enemy is The Gargoyle, a mysterious crime lord who threatens America with sabotage and wholesale murder in an effort to wreck national defense.Production
Columbia used The Spider's Web as a basic template for many of its early serials: the daring hero and his assistants adopt disguises to battle an exotic, secretive villain and his lawless gang. In The Spider Returns, The Gargoyle wears robes which would not look out of place on Flash GordonFlash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
James W. Horne
James Wesley Horne was an early American actor, screenwriter and film director. He began his career as an actor under director Sidney Olcott at Kalem Studios in 1913 and directed his first film for the company two years later....
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the radio program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M...
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Cast
- Warren HullWarren HullJohn Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in the action-adventure field....
as The SpiderThe SpiderThe Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
, his secret identity Richard Wentworth, and Blinky McQuade - Mary AinsleeMary AinsleeMary Ainslee was an American film actress. She appeared in approximately 15 films between 1939 and 1952.Ainslee appeared in several Three Stooges films such as I'll Never Heil Again, In the Sweet Pie and Pie, Hokus Pokus, and He Cooked His Goose.In the mid-1980s, she suffered a stroke and never...
as Nita Van Sloan, Richard Wentworth's fiancée - Dave O'BrienDave O'Brien (actor)Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
as Jackson, Wentworth's assistant - Joseph W. GirardJoseph W. GirardJoseph W. Girard was an American film actor. He appeared in over 280 films between 1911 and 1944.He was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:...
as Police CommissionerPolice commissionerCommissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
Kirk - Kenneth DuncanKenne DuncanKenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...
as Ram Singh, Sikh warrior and Wentworth's bodyguard. - Corbet Harris as McLeod
- Bryant WashburnBryant WashburnBorn Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
as Westfall - Charles F. MillerCharles F. MillerMiller made his film debut in Little Women as a minister and starred in many films thereafter.One of his first biggest roles was starring alongside Keye Luke in Phantom of Chinatown.He was also one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild....
as Mr. Van Sloan - Anthony WardeAnthony WardeAnthony Warde was a noted American actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 and 1964.-Career:A native of Pennsylvania, Warde started his Hollywood career in Escape by Night , appearing in a handful of undistinguished feature films before gaining popularity as one of the hardest working...
as Trigger, one of the Gargoyle's henchmen - Harry HarveyHarry Harvey (actor)Harry Harvey was an American actor.- Career :Born in Indian Territory, U.S.. Was a film character actor, he has more 300 appeared in television series and movies...
as Stephan - Forrest Taylor (uncredited) Voice of The Gargoyle
Chapter titles
- The Stolen Plans
- The Fatal Time-Bomb
- The Secret Meeting
- The Smoke Dream
- The Gargoyle's Trail
- The X-Ray Eye
- The Radio Boomerang
- The Mysterious Message
- The Cup of Doom
- The X-Ray Belt
- Lips Sealed by Murder
- A Money Bomb
- Almost a Confession
- Suspicious Telegrams
- The Payoff
Source:
External links
- The Spider Returns at Movie Serial Experience
The Spider Returns (1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
) is a Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
movie 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...
based on the pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
character The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
serial The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web is a Columbia Pictures movie serial based on the pulp magazine character The Spider. The 15-chapter adventure was directed by serial and western specialist Ray Taylor and comedy and serial veteran James W. Horne...
. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.
Plot
Amateur criminologist Richard Wentworth was formerly the masked vigilante, The Spider. Wentworth brings The Spider out of retirement to help his friend, police commissioner Kirk (Kirkpatrick in the pulps), fight a dangerous maniac. This new enemy is The Gargoyle, a mysterious crime lord who threatens America with sabotage and wholesale murder in an effort to wreck national defense.Production
Columbia used The Spider's Web as a basic template for many of its early serials: the daring hero and his assistants adopt disguises to battle an exotic, secretive villain and his lawless gang. In The Spider Returns, The Gargoyle wears robes which would not look out of place on Flash GordonFlash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
's Ming the Merciless.
James W. Horne
James W. Horne
James Wesley Horne was an early American actor, screenwriter and film director. He began his career as an actor under director Sidney Olcott at Kalem Studios in 1913 and directed his first film for the company two years later....
, who had co-directed the first Spider serial, was in complete charge of the sequel. By this time Horne was filling his serials with tongue-in-cheek melodramatics, ludicrous fight scenes (in which the hero fights six men and wins), and ridiculous-looking machines. For this reason, action fans often dismiss The Spider Returns as an inferior serial, but it is one of Horne's best, and a worthy sequel. The Spider does take on half a dozen henchmen at a time, but doesn't always come off best. Despite an unfortunately silly TV-camera contraption (with flailing robotic arms), Horne keeps the action fairly straight until the last chapter, when he inserts some obvious humor (two henchmen, exhausted from fistfighting, haphazardly swing at each other and collapse).
The action-filled screenplay employs a typical serial formula of fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, not forgetting secret weapons, death traps, and hairbreadth escapes as The Gargoyle tries to get hold of some secret plans. The Spider serials are unique in that The Spider is also sought by the police with the same vigor that he is sought by criminals. The one real difference between this and the first serial is that the police know Wentworth is Blinky McQuade and work with him a number of times.
Dave O'Brien
Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
, who had performed The Spider's acrobatic stunts in The Spider's Web, now has a full-fledged second lead as Wentworth's assistant. This appearance led to a starring role in Columbia's serial production, Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the radio program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M...
. Only three of the main participants in The Spider's Web -- Warren Hull, Kenne Duncan, and Dave O'Brien—are on hand for the sequel.
Cast
- Warren HullWarren HullJohn Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in the action-adventure field....
as The SpiderThe SpiderThe Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
, his secret identity Richard Wentworth, and Blinky McQuade - Mary AinsleeMary AinsleeMary Ainslee was an American film actress. She appeared in approximately 15 films between 1939 and 1952.Ainslee appeared in several Three Stooges films such as I'll Never Heil Again, In the Sweet Pie and Pie, Hokus Pokus, and He Cooked His Goose.In the mid-1980s, she suffered a stroke and never...
as Nita Van Sloan, Richard Wentworth's fiancée - Dave O'BrienDave O'Brien (actor)Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
as Jackson, Wentworth's assistant - Joseph W. GirardJoseph W. GirardJoseph W. Girard was an American film actor. He appeared in over 280 films between 1911 and 1944.He was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:...
as Police CommissionerPolice commissionerCommissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
Kirk - Kenneth DuncanKenne DuncanKenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...
as Ram Singh, Sikh warrior and Wentworth's bodyguard. - Corbet Harris as McLeod
- Bryant WashburnBryant WashburnBorn Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
as Westfall - Charles F. MillerCharles F. MillerMiller made his film debut in Little Women as a minister and starred in many films thereafter.One of his first biggest roles was starring alongside Keye Luke in Phantom of Chinatown.He was also one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild....
as Mr. Van Sloan - Anthony WardeAnthony WardeAnthony Warde was a noted American actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 and 1964.-Career:A native of Pennsylvania, Warde started his Hollywood career in Escape by Night , appearing in a handful of undistinguished feature films before gaining popularity as one of the hardest working...
as Trigger, one of the Gargoyle's henchmen - Harry HarveyHarry Harvey (actor)Harry Harvey was an American actor.- Career :Born in Indian Territory, U.S.. Was a film character actor, he has more 300 appeared in television series and movies...
as Stephan - Forrest Taylor (uncredited) Voice of The Gargoyle
Chapter titles
- The Stolen Plans
- The Fatal Time-Bomb
- The Secret Meeting
- The Smoke Dream
- The Gargoyle's Trail
- The X-Ray Eye
- The Radio Boomerang
- The Mysterious Message
- The Cup of Doom
- The X-Ray Belt
- Lips Sealed by Murder
- A Money Bomb
- Almost a Confession
- Suspicious Telegrams
- The Payoff
Source:
External links
- The Spider Returns at Movie Serial Experience