''Radar Patrol vs. Spy King'' is a 1949 12-chapter

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

spy

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...

produced and distributed by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

from an original, commissioned

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

collaboratively written by Royal K. Cole, William Lively and Sol Shor.

Kirk Alyn Kirk Alyn (born John Feggo Jr.; October 8, 1910 – March 14, 1999) was an American actor, best known for being the first actor to play the DC Comics character Superman in live-action for the 1948 movie serial ''Superman'' and its 1950 sequel '' ...

played the lead.

Plot

John Baroda, a neo-Nazi and his alter ego, ''The Spy King'' and his aide Nitra, are part of a sabotaging team for a vast defense system of radar stations along the US borders. Radar Defense Bureau operative Chris Calvert comes to the rescue of radar scientist, Joan Hughes, who has been kidnapped by Baroda's henchmen...

Cast

as Chris Calvert * Jean Dean as Joan Hughes * John Merton as John Baroda/Spy King *

George J. Lewis George J. Lewis (December 10, 1903December 8, 1995) was a Mexican-born actor who appeared in many films and eventually TV series from the 1920s through the 1960s, usually specializing in westerns. He is probably best known for playing Don Aleja ...

as Lt Manuel Agura * Eve Whitney as Nitra *

Anthony Warde Anthony Warde (born Benjamin Schwartz; January 1, 1909 – January 8, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in over 150 movies from 1937 to 1964. Early years Born as Benjamin Schwartz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on New Year's Day 1909 ...

as Ricco * Stephen Gregory as Hugo * Tristram Coffin as Franklin Lord

Production

''Radar Patrol vs. Spy King'' was budgeted at $164,970 although the final

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example '' The Blair Witch Project'', can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the ne ...

was $164,632 (a $338, or 0.2%, under spend). It was filmed between 20 September and 12 October 1949. The serial's production number was 1706.

Stunts

* Tom Steele as Chris Calvert & Ricco Morgan (doubling Kirk Alyn & Anthony Warde) *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

Chris Calvert, Ricco Morgan & Lt Manuel Agura (doubling Kirk Alyn, Anthony Warde and George J. Lewis) * David Sharpe as Lt Manuel Agura (doubling George J. Lewis)

Special effects

The special effects were created by the Lydecker brothers.

Release

Theatrical

''Radar Patrol vs. Spy Kings official release date is November 23, 1949, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. This was followed by a re-release of '' Undersea Kingdom'' instead of a new serial. The next new serial, '' The Invisible Monster'', followed in spring of 1950.

Chapter titles

# The Fatal Fog (20min) # Perilous Trail (13min 20s) # Rolling Fury (13min 20s) # Flight of the Spy King (13min 20s) # Trapped Underground (13min 20s) # Wheels of Disaster (13min 20s) # Electrocution (13min 20s) # Death Rings the Phone (13min 20s) # Tomb of Terror (13min 20s) # Death Dive (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter # Desperate Mission (13min 20s) # Day of Reckoning (13min 20s) _Source:

References

External links

*
Radar Patrol vs. Spy King
a
Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radar Patrol Vs. Spy King 1949 films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Republic Pictures film serials American spy films Films directed by Fred C. Brannon 1940s spy films 1940s American films English-language spy films Films scored by Stanley Wilson (composer)