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Fighting Devil Dogs
''The Fighting Devil Dogs'' (1938) is a 12-chapter Republic movie serial starring Lee Powell and Herman Brix, the latter better known by his later stage name, Bruce Bennett. It was directed by William Witney and John English. While not often considered a great serial, as it contains much stock footage and two recap chapters, it is famous for its main villain, the Lightning—the first costumed supervillain. There is some speculation that George Lucas used the Lightning as a template for Darth Vader. Plot In Singapore, two Marine Lieutenants, Tom Grayson and Frank Corby, uncover the threat of a masked terrorist called the Lightning, who uses an arsenal of powerful lightning-based weaponry in his bid for world conquest. However, the battle becomes personal when the Lightning annihilates the officers' unit and later kills Lt. Grayson's father as he was helping the investigation of the weapon. Now, the marines have dedicated themselves to stopping the Lightning and bringing him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Witney
William Nuelsen Witney (May 15, 1915 – March 17, 2002) was an American film director, film and television director. He is best remembered for the action films he made for Republic Pictures, particularly serial film, serials: ''Dick Tracy Returns'', ''G-Men vs. the Black Dragon'', ''Daredevils of the Red Circle'', ''Zorro's Fighting Legion'', and ''Drums of Fu Manchu''. Prolific and pugnacious, Witney began directing while still in his 20s, and continued working until 1982. Biography Witney was born in Lawton, Oklahoma. He was four years old when his father died, and he lived with his uncle, who was an Army captain at Fort Sam Houston. Colbert Clark, Witney's brother-in-law, introduced him to films by letting him ride in some chase scenes for the serial ''Fighting with Kit Carson'' (1933). Witney stayed around the Mascot Pictures headquarters while preparing for the entrance exam to the U.S. Naval Academy. After he failed that exam, he continued at the studio. In 1936 Mascot was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Nobles (cinematographer)
William Nobles (December 23, 1892 – November 24, 1968) was an American cinematographer. Biography Born in 1892 in Waubay, South Dakota, Nobles worked on nearly 200 Hollywood films in a career that spanned five decades, from 1917 to 1966. His most noted cinematography work is probably the Gene Autry film ''Red River Valley'' in 1936,John Howard Reid, ''Great Hollywood Westerns: Classic Pictures, Must-See Movies & "B" Films'', page 118, 2006. and the original ''Dick Tracy'' serial film in 1937, working with Edgar Lyons. One author described his contribution to filmmaking as follows: Another notes the "fine photography" by Nobles in ''The Fighting Devil Dogs'', 1938.John Reid, ''These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards'', page 64, 2005. Nobles died in 1968 in Costa Mesa, California, at the age of 75. Partial filmography * '' The Little Patriot'' (1917) * '' Cyclone Bliss'' (1921) *''Barb Wire'' (1922) * '' The Crow's Nest'' (1922) * '' The Red Warning'' (1923) * '' The Whit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Tracy (serial)
''Dick Tracy'' (1937) is a 15-chapter Republic movie serial starring Ralph Byrd based on the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by Alan James and Ray Taylor. Plot Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and masked mystery villain the Spider/the Lame One (both names are used) and his Spider Ring. In the process of committing various crimes, including using his flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "speed plane", The Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr. Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother. Cast Starring cast *Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy * Kay Hughes as Gwen Andrews *Smiley Burnette as Mike McGurk * Lee Van Atta as Junior *John Picorri as Dr Moloch *Richard Beach as Gordon Tracy (pre-operation in Chapter 1) *Carleton Young as Gordon Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flying Wing
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blisters, booms, or vertical stabilizers. Similar aircraft designs, that are not technically flying wings, are sometimes casually referred to as such. These types include blended wing body aircraft and lifting body aircraft, which have a fuselage and no definite wings. Whilst a pure flying wing is theoretically the lowest- drag design configuration for a fixed wing aircraft, a lack of conventional stabilizing surfaces and the associated control surfaces make them unstable and difficult to control. The basic flying wing configuration became an object of significant study during the 1920s, often in conjunction with other tailless designs. In the Second World War, both Nazi Germany and the Allies made advances in developing flying wings. Mili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undersea Kingdom
''Undersea Kingdom'' (1936) is a Republic Pictures 12 chapter film serial released in response to Universal's ''Flash Gordon''. It was the second of the sixty-six serials made by Republic. In 1966, the serial was edited into a 100-minute television film titled ''Sharad of Atlantis''. Following a suspicious earthquake, and detecting a series of signals, Professor Norton leads an expedition, including Lt. Crash Corrigan and reporter Diana Compton, in his rocket submarine to the suspected location of Atlantis. Finding the lost continent, they become embroiled in an Atlantean civil war between Sharad (with his White Robes) and the usurper Unga Khan (with his Black Robes). Khan wishes to conquer Atlantis and then destroy the upper world with earthquakes generated by his Disintegrator. Thus, he will rule the world unless he can be stopped in time. The star of the serial is Ray "Crash" Corrigan, using that screen name for the first time. The name was created to sound similar to "Fla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Vigilantes Are Coming
''The Vigilantes Are Coming'' is a 1936 American Republic film serial directed by Ray Taylor and Mack V. Wright. It was the third of the sixty six serials made by Republic Pictures (and the third released in 1936). This serial was filmed between 28 May and 17 June 1936 under the working title of ''The Vigilantes''. It was released two months later, on 22 August 1936, under the final title. In the early 1950s the serial was re-edited into six 26½ minute episodes for television. Plot Following the discovery of gold in Mexican California in 1844, Russian Cossacks led by Count Ivan Raspinoff, in collusion with General Jason Burr, attempt to invade California and turn it into a Russian Colony with Burr as its dictator. In doing so they round up slaves to work the mines and General Burr has Don Loring's brother and father murdered to acquire their ore-rich land. When Don returns, having been away at the time with Salvation, Whipsaw and Captain John Fremont, he assumes the maske ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clipshow
A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows include a frame story in which cast members recall events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. Clip shows are also known as cheaters, particularly in the field of animation. Clip shows are often played before series finales as a way to summarize the entire series, or once syndication becomes highly likely as a way to increase the number of episodes that can be sold. Other times, however, clip shows are simply produced for budgetary reasons (e.g. to avoid additional costs from shooting in a certain setting, or from casting actors to appear in new material). Origin Clip shows have their origin in theatrical short films and serials. Every serial chapter always had a brief recap showing where the previous chapter left off, but, beginning in 1936, entire chapters were largely devoted to material that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south along with the Riau Islands in Indonesia, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor along with the State of Johor in Malaysia to the north. In its early history, Singapore was a maritime emporium known as '' Temasek''; subsequently, it was part of a major constituent part of several successive thalassocratic empires. Its contemporary era began in 1819, when Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an entrepôt trading post of the British Empire. In 1867, Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the Straits Settlements. During World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darth Vader
Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villains of cinema. The prequel trilogy chronicles Vader's childhood as a precocious human slave named Anakin Skywalker, liberation by the Jedi Order, and young adulthood as a morally conflicted Jedi Knight, under the mentorship of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Skywalker is secretly lured into the Sith warrior cult by the Galactic Republic politician Palpatine. When Palpatine seizes control of the galaxy as its Emperor, Skywalker abandons the Jedi Order and, during a duel with Kenobi, is severely mutilated and thereafter transformed into a cyborg whom Palpatine rebrands as the Sith lord Darth Vader. He serves the Emperor for over two decades, hunting down the remaining Jedi, including Kenobi, and attempting to crush the rebels who oppose the new Empire. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to the Walt Disney Company in 2012. Nominated for four Academy Awards, he is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker away from Hollywood for most of his career. After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas moved to San Francisco and co-founded American Zoetrope with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. He wrote and directed ''THX 1138'' (1971), based on his student short ''Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB'', which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was ''Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supervillain
A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary adversary of a superhero in the same story. Description Supervillains are often used as foil (literature), foils to present a daunting challenge to a superhero. In instances where the supervillain does not have superhuman, mystical, or alien powers, the supervillain may possess a genius intellect or a skill set that allows them to draft complex schemes or commit crimes in a way normal humans cannot. Other traits may include wiktionary:megalomania, megalomania and possession of considerable resources to further their aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real-world dictators, gangsters, mad scientists, trophy hunting, trophy hunters, corrupt businesspeople, serial killers, and terrorism, terrorists, often having an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stock Footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock footage is called a "stock shot" or a "library shot". Stock footage may have appeared in previous productions but may also be outtakes or footage shot for previous productions and not used. Examples of stock footage that might be utilized are moving images of cities and landmarks, wildlife in their natural environments, and historical footage. Suppliers of stock footage may be either rights managed or royalty-free. Many websites offer direct downloads of clips in various formats. History Stock footage companies began to emerge in the mid-1980s, offering clips mastered on Betacam SP, VHS, and film formats. Many of the smaller libraries that specialized in niche topics such as extreme sports, technological or cultural collections were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
