Showing posts with label Cliffhanger serials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cliffhanger serials. Show all posts
"Wait! Open the tunnels and we'll cremate them!" -- Sombra.
Sombra, aka The Black Widow (Carol Forman), heads a group of nasties who are out to take over America and are desperate to get their claws on a new rocket formula. Sombra takes orders from her father, Hitomu (Theodore Gottlieb), who appears in a special chair via molecular teleportation, and comes off more like a Yiddish comedian on the Borscht circuit than a world-class international villain. Two reporters investigate the Black Widow: Joyce (Virginia Lindley/Lee), who is experienced, and Steve Colt (Bruce Edwards), whose only experience is as a writer of detective fiction and who never misses a chance to be obnoxious and sexist with Joyce [true, he also saves her life on more than one occasion]. Forman [Federal Agents vs Underworld Inc.] who is Asiatic by way of Alabama, fairly drips with steely disdain and evil; Virginia Lee proves plucky and makes an acceptable heroine, but Edwards is utterly colorless as the alleged hero. Some of the cliffhangers in this are recycled, but there are nifty ones as well: Joyce, stuck in a crate, nearly tumbles out of an airplane, and is nearly beheaded by a falling pane of sharp glass. Then there's the old gag with a bomb in the car. The business with Sombra's henchmen using a gas to change the color of their car while in flight is clever. All in all this is a very entertaining Republic serial. Tom Steele and Ramsay Ames are also in the cast.
Verdict: Sombra will getcha if you don't watch out! ***.
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| Boo! |
Captain Jim Marsden's (Kane Richmond) ship, the Dolphin, is lost at sea with a million dollars of gold bullion in its hold. If that weren't bad enough, Marsden is framed for the murder of a man he owes money to, but he escapes from jail with the help of his buddy, Tommy (Great Old Movies' favorite Marshall Reed). Sailing to another island the two men rescue Patricia Harding (Kay Aldridge) and her father, and they all become embroiled in efforts of bad guy Kane (Roy Barcroft), the real murderer, to take care of them so he can have the gold, which he's found, all to himself. Some of the action takes place in the mysterious "Haunted Harbor," which boasts a Chinese dragon-type stylized sea monster [see photo], which despite its obvious [intended] lack of life has an attractive design and is fun to watch. Memorable cliffhangers include Pat nearly punctured by an air drill; Jim tied to a huge bonfire; and others. The fisticuffs come frequently and are lively in the Republic tradition. Excellent theme music by Joseph Dubin. The actors all give at least serviceable performances. Tom Steele, Fred Cordova, Jay Silverheels (as a native) and Ken Terrell are also in the cast. Re-released as Pirate's Harbor but fun by any name. Based on a novel by "Dayle Douglas."
Verdict: Solid, very entertaining Republic serial. ***.
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| The Black Falcon goes into action! |
FLYING G-MEN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1939). Directors: James W. Horne; Ray Taylor.
Four famous sky hawks have now become G-Men, working for the Air Division of the FBI/Department of Justice. Their assignment is to track down the members of a deadly espionage ring and discover who its leader is. When their friend Ed McKay (William Lalley), who's invented a remote control pilot-less bomber, is killed, they vow to track down his murderer with the aid of his young son, Billy (Sammy McKim), and grown sister, Babs (Lorna Gray). The sky hawks decide that one of them should take on the costumed identity of the Black Falcon, so that he can sort of operate outside the law and really get the goods on the bad guys. One of the foursome is killed off in the first chapter, leaving Hal (Robert Paige), Bart (Richard Fiske), and John (James Craig) to become the Falcon. [Hiding the identity of the hero as opposed to the villain had been done the year before in The Lone Ranger, and later in The Masked Marvel.] It is hard not to notice the resemblance between the Black Falcon and comic books' Blackhawk, but the latter character did not actually appear until 1941 [Republic did a serial version of Blackhawk in 1952], meaning the Black Falcon came first. Although the individual cliffhangers tend to be nothing special, Flying G-Men is still a very fast-paced and highly entertaining serial, with lots of lively fist-fights and some exciting aerial action as well. Paige makes an appealing protagonist, and Fiske and Craig are stalwart enough as his colleagues. Lorna Gray would have to wait three years until Perils of Nyoka to make an impression as the evil Vultura; in this she isn't given enough to do. An uncredited Tom Steele has some dialogue passages early in the serial as a bad guy, and Nestor Paiva turns up as one of the saboteurs. Sidney Cutner's rousing music complements the action beautifully. Paige was in Blonde Ice and Son of Dracula; Fiske did The Spider's Web and Perils of the Royal Mounted; and James Craig was in everything from Winners of the West to The Cyclops. Young McKim was also in Dick Tracy's G-Men.
Verdict: Punch-fests and action galore! ***.
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| David Bruce, Richard Crane and John Crawford as Kidd |
THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KIDD (15 chapter Columbia serial/1953). Directors: Derwin Abbe [Abrahams]; Charles S. Gould.
"Kidd was sacrificed on the altar of greed and politics."
The amazing thing about this cliffhanger serial is that it manages to get the basic facts straight about Captain William Kidd, supposedly a notorious pirate. In the 17th century Kidd was assigned to track down pirates but legend has it that he became a pirate himself; he was hung for piracy and for murder [he did kill a member of his crew, but this may have been involuntary manslaughter or perhaps even self-defense]. Biographers have suggested that Kidd was railroaded, important evidence suppressed, and this serial supports that view [but perhaps tries too hard to make him out some kind of saint].
In 1697 when the U.S. was still under English rule, Captain Richard Dale (Richard Crane) is assigned to investigate the allegations of piracy regarding William Kidd (John Crawford), and he does so with the aid of his colleague, Alan Duncan (David Bruce). Along the way they are shanghaied, become fugitives, wind up on more than one pirate ship, and finally become part of Kidd's crew, although they are confused by the fact that he doesn't act at all like a pirate. If Dale didn't have enough problems, his superior, Robert Langdon (Nelson Leigh), is willing to betray him at the drop of a hat for his own ends, and in general a great conspiracy regarding Kidd seems to be in place. There are a few exciting cliffhangers, angry Mohawks, storms at sea, and more than one mutiny to keep things humming. Our heroes are thrown in a hay cart which is then thrown over a cliff, tossed into a fiery store room, and tied up directly in front of cannons that are just about to be lighted. In perhaps the most startling cliffhanger, Duncan throws a knife in his friend Dale's back.
Crane [The Mysterious Island serial; The Alligator People] gives one of his best performances in this, and both Bruce and Crawford are fine as Duncan and Captain Kidd. [Dale isn't the brightest fellow. Told to keep his assignment secret, he discusses it with Duncan in the middle of a crowded tavern!] Others in the cast include Marshall Reed [Pirates of the High Seas], effective as the pirate Robert Culliford, George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon], who is quite vivid as the conspiratorial Buller, Gene Roth as a prisoner, Lyle Talbot, who shows up briefly as a Boston jailer, Michael Fox as a scurvy fellow, and even Eduardo Cansino, Jr,. the brother of Rita Hayworth, as a native; he had only a few credits. One assumes that choreographer Willetta Smith must have been a friend of the producers, as she doesn't make a particularly fetching princess in a couple of chapters. Crawford was in a number of serials, as well as Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl [not as Kidd, However]. Bruce was Deanna Durbin's leading man in Lady on a Train and was also in Singapore Woman.
The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd has more of a story than most movie serials, fairly good production values and performances, and is entertaining on top of it.
Verdict: If you like lots of sword fights ... ***.
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| Lynch (Marshall Reed) takes orders from the unknown Leader. |
A Canadian mountie, Sgt. Joe Ward (Jock Mahoney), and Constable Bram Nevin (Clayton Moore) team up to take on the minions of the mysterious Leader of the White Horse Rebels, a black-cloaked man on horseback who wants to take over the entire Northwest Territory and turn it into a lawless Republic. Lynch (Marshall Reed) is chief of the Leader's lieutenants, and Rita (Phyllis Coates) is a gal with secrets who seems to be playing both sides against each other. There's a lost mine from whence comes the gold that the Leader uses to finance his Rebels. Other characters include Inspector Wheeler (Lyle Talbot), to whom the heroes report; Indian Agent Stone (Joseph Allen); Walt Anders (Zon Murray), who tries to forge an alliance with the territory's unfriendly Indians; and Otis Green (Don Harvey), any one of which could be the Leader, although the serial doesn't work up much suspense as to his true identity. Two of the more interesting cliffhangers have Ward unconscious in a boat that is slowly sinking beneath the water, and Ward and Nevin tied to horses that the Indians hope will gallop away and tear them apart. Marshall is again an appealing villain, making the most of his great voice, and the other actors are all at the very least professional. This was not only one of the very last Columbia serials, but one of the very last serials period. The serial benefits from a rousing musical score and some well-chosen locations. Moore, of course, was TV's Lone Ranger and appeared in many serials, while Mahoney starred in The Land Unknown and Three Blondes in His Life.
Verdict: Standard but entertaining western cliffhanger. **1/2.
Achieving the world's record for a solo flight, Dick Moreland (Richard Talmadge) decides to use the prize money to organize a voyage to search for his pirate ancestor's gold. Unfortunately, others get wind of his notion and try to snatch away the charts that he needs to reach the island in the south seas where the treasure is. Dick has a girlfriend, Dorothy (Lucille Lund), who takes the journey with him along with her father, and there is a nasty female who works with the bad guys named Marge (Beulah Hutton). Pirate Treasure is primitive but occasionally lively, such as a fight on top of a speeding train, a boat that smashes into a buoy, some gators in a lagoon, and an especially suspenseful sequence involving a falling crate in chapter seven. The fisticuffs are far below the Republic level -- everyone just flails their arms like children smacking each other and there is no nifty choreography. The island is full of angry natives. Talmadge's voice is kind of comical, like a German comedian, and hardly heroic-sounding.
Verdict: One of the serials you can probably miss. **.
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| Rentschler, Hughes, and Withers |
RADIO PATROL (12 chapter Universal serial/1937). Directors: Ford Beebe; Clifford Smith.
"He acts like he knows something." -- Policeman Pat, referring to the dog.
Scientist John Adams (Harry Davenport of Pardon My Past) has invented a formula for flexible steel which could make planes impervious to bullets and have other amazing uses. When Adams is murdered, the chase is on to not only find out who killed him, but keep the formula out of the hands of the bad guys. Cops Pat O'Hara (Grant Withers) and his partner Sam Maloney (Adrian Morris) join up with Adams' young son, Pinky (Mickey Rentschler); Molly Selkirk (Kay or Catherine Hughes), whose brother is at first accused of the Adams' murder; and Pinky's smart-as-a whip and spirited doggie, Irish (Silver Wolf). Bad guys include the sinister Egyptian, Tahata (Frank Lankteen), and slimy entrepreneur W. H. Harrison (Gordon Hart). Early on in the serial there are a couple of good cliffhangers -- Pat nearly winds up in a smelter furnace; and is almost smashed by a crushing door on a hydraulic hinge -- but other than that there's not much to recommend in this comparatively dull cliffhanger. Withers was in The Secret of Treasure Island, Jungle Jim, and other serials. Adrian Morris, sort of a Charles Laughton-lookalike, was the brother of Chester Morris. Beautiful Silver Wolf had only three film appearances. This serial was based on the comic strip of the same name; "Pinky," a youthful protagonist, came from "Pinkerton, Jr.," the original name of the strip. [In the the opening sequence a crime wave occurs and it is noted that the cops need radios in their cars to keep up with the bad guys; otherwise there is no real "radio patrol" in the storyline.] Withers and Morris also appeared together in the terrible serial Fighting Marines.
Verdict: When the dog is the most interesting character -- and actor -- and it isn't a Rin Tin Tin movie, you know you're in trouble. **.
The Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys join forces in this serial to take on a group called the Sea Raiders, who destroy Allied ships. Billy Adams (Billy Halop) and his buddies, including Toby (Huntz Hall) and Bilge (Gabriel Dell), are shanghaied by crooks, encounter the Raiders, and are eventually taken to their island headquarters. Billy has an older brother, square-jawed Tom (John McGuire), who's invented a new kind of torpedo, the plans for which are coveted by Tonjes (Reed Hadley), the leader of the Raiders. There are two women running around, the pretty Leah (Marcia Ralston, who resembles Merle Oberon), and the homely Aggie (Mary Field). One decent cliffhanger has one of the boys caught on a rope that is attached to a whale that's about to dive deep into the ocean, although another sequence features an octopus that doesn't appear to be in the same movie. [The same stock footage of a fight between a shark and an octopus later turned up in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.] The serial is hampered by the unfunny and irritating antics of the "kids," and the classical music on the soundtrack, such as The Barber of Seville, is always inappropriate. John McGuire had the lead in Stranger on the Third Floor.
Verdict: One of your lesser cliffhanger serials. **.
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| Bad Gals: Carol Hughes and Veda Ann Borg |
JUNGLE RAIDERS (15 chapter Columbia serial/1945). Director: Lesley Selander.
Jake Rayne (Charles King) runs a trading post on the outskirts of the jungle, and is keeping Dr. Reed (Budd Buster) prisoner in his basement because he thinks he knows the location of some treasure. Cora Bell (Veda Ann Borg) a hard-as-nails associate of Rayne's, brings Reed's daughter, Ann (Janet Shaw) to Rayne in order to use her to force her father to comply, but Ann is fortunate to meet up with Bob Moore (Kane Richmond) and his buddy, Joe (Eddie Quillan). Bob's father, Dr. Moore (John Elliot) is a colleague of Dr. Reed who hopes to find a certain fungus in the jungle that may prove as much a boon to mankind as penicillin. In addition to Rayne's team of bad guys, the heroes and Ann have to contend with the evil witch doctor (Ted Adams) of the Arzec tribe, who know the secret of both the fungus and the treasure, and their High Priestess, Zara (Carol Hughes), who is always calling for sacrifices. When they aren't slapping each other around, Cora and Zara are uneasy allies and both come to a fitting end in the final chapter. The natives of Jungle Raiders seem more like Indians than Africans, and one chieftain sounds as if he just got off the bus from Brooklyn! There isn't much "jungle" to be seen in Jungle Raiders, and the serial is overlong and meandering, but there are a couple of good cliffhangers, such as when Bob and his father are hung over a pit with sharp stakes at the bottom of it, and also when old Dr. Moore is nearly drowned and eaten by gators at the same time, and has his head placed under a big boulder by bitchy Zara. Whatever its flaws, the serial is reasonably entertaining, and Borg offers a vivid portrait of a heartless tough gal only out for herself. Kane Richmond is stalwart, as usual, and Quillan offers the same vaguely comical character as ever.
Verdict: Hard-boiled Veda vs. Zara. **1/2.
PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS (15 chapter Columbia serial/1950). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet; Thomas Carr.
On the paradise island of Talua in the south pacific post-WW 2, Kelly Walsh (Tommy Farrell) is bedeviled by the crew of a "phantom cruiser" that shoots at his boat and then disappears into thin air. Said cruiser has the ability to dive underwater while retaining the outward appearance of a boat instead of a submarine [this ability is so under-utilized that it's a wonder the serial even bothers with it.]. Kelly sends for his old Army buddy Jeff (Buster Crabbe), who has no interest in returning to the south pacific but suddenly finds himself besieged by passengers who must get to Talua, including Kelly's pretty blond sister, Carol (Lois Hall); Whitlock (Gene Roth), who turns out to be the governor of the island; and Castell (Tristram Coffin of King of the Rocket Men), an agent who is after a Nazi war criminal named Van Horsdorff who has hidden away millions of dollars worth of diamonds somewhere in the vicinity of Talua. The clue to the location of the diamonds may be inside a music box that plays "Three Blind Mice." It is revealed early on that Whitlock is corrupt, to put it mildly, and has some nasty confederates, especially Shark, captain of the phantom cruiser, who as portrayed by Marshall Reed with two day's growth of beard is one of the sexiest sociopaths to ever appear in a serial. Handsome Shark thinks nothing of gunning down associates with impunity before they can impart important information to the good guys. There are a couple of memorable cliffhangers, such as when a heavy stone block comes crashing down on a coffin inside which Jeff is hiding; and a great bit when Jeff battles a hood on a flat piece of wall that has just been torn off the side of the jail and is being dragged behind a speeding truck as it careens toward a cliff. Most of the characters in this, even some of the good guys, are rather shady and duplicitous, including Lamar (Stanley Price), Whitlock's secretary, and the Lotus Lady (Symona Boniface), who runs the general store and whose loyalties are ambiguous. Pirates of the High Seas may not be one of the classic serials, but it is entertaining if overlong at nearly four and a half hours. Crabbe may be a bit paunchy and middle-aged in this but he still delivers the goods, and the other cast members are generally equally adept.
Verdict: Worth a trip on the Phantom Cruiser. ***.
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| Khan (Jan Arvan) confers with Trader Tom ( Harry Lauter) |
In what is supposed to be the China seas but looks more like the coast of California, Trader Tom (Harry Lauter) is importuned to take over from a murdered special agent, James Dean (William Hudson), who was investigating smugglers who are trying to foment revolution in an Asian country by stirring up the natives; the leader of these bad guys is Tarent (Lyle Talbot, as professional and bland as ever). Captain's daughter Vivian (Aline Towne) joins with Tom to discover Tarent's hide-out and secret cache of munitions, which includes a deadly poison gas. The interesting thing about this serial is that Tom and Vivian are equal partners; she's just as brave as he is and just as likely to pull out a gun and start shooting at everyone, and Tom just seems to take it as a matter of course. When the action doesn't take place at sea or underwater -- in chapter three Tom must fight off a fat murderous fellow as his air supply is running out -- it's in the mythical country where Tom has a secret meeting with the leader Khan (Jan Arvan). This is one of the last of the Republic serials, and it's as smooth, fast-paced and entertaining as most of their product, if decidedly on the minor side. "Handsome" Harry Lauter is fine as the hero, Towne is game for anything, and Robert Shayne, Tom Steele, and Victor Sen Yung are also in the cast. Lauter had about a zillion credits and Towne was also busy, appearing in such serials as Don Daredevil Rides Again and Radar Men from the Moon.
Verdict: Standard Republic serial is nevertheless fun. **1/2.
Anthony Waldron (Edmund MacDonald of Great Guns), who is presumed dead by the police, is holed up in his wealthy grandmother's estate with an evil brother and sister team who are helping him with his plans. Calling himself "the mysterious Mr. M," Waldron uses a drug called hypnotreme to keep the old lady (Virginia Brissac of The Scarlet Clue) compliant and get many others to do his bidding even while he piles up corpses in the river from his experiments. He is particularly interested in getting the plans for a device that will enable submarines to be as large as ocean liners and do more than forty knots an hour. But Waldron and his cronies get a surprise when somebody else calling himself "Mr. M" sends them recordings giving them orders and threatening to tell the cops Waldron is alive if they don't comply with his wishes. As the gang wonders who this new "Mr. M" could be, agent Grant Farrell (Dennis Moore) is on the case, especially after his brother, Jim (William Brooks/Ching), is hypnotized and killed; Farrell is aided by Detective-Lt. Kirby Walsh (Richard Martin) and insurance investigator Shirley Clinton (Pamela Blake of Ghost of Zorro).
The Mysterious Mr. M is an entertaining and suspenseful serial with Moore in good form as the hero, Waldron suitably gruff, and Jane Randolph [Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein] and Danny Morton [The Royal Mounted Rides Again] effective as the nasty brother and sister team. Byron Foulger [The Master Key] scores as Grandmother Waldron's lawyer, who nearly becomes a victim of Mr. M more than once. Memorable sequences include the fight between the Farrell brothers as electricity discharges all around them; a bit with a cigarette lighter that has a dart inside it; a cliffhanger concerning falling high-tension wires; and another in which Grant's car goes hurtling down a high shaft in a parking garage. The best cliffhanger -- one of the best ever, in fact -- has Waldron and Grant struggling on one parachute after they fall out of a plane even as a train races towards them on the ground below, with Grant eventually falling off the chute right into the path of the express!The serial also keeps you guessing as to the true identity of "Mr. M."
Verdict: Universal's very last serial is one of its best. ***.
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| Michael Fox vs. Judd Holdren in Lost Planet |
THE LOST PLANET (15 chapter Columbia serial/1953). Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet.
"What has he to offer a great scientist like me?"
Reporter Rex Barrow (Judd Holdren) and his photographer friend, Tim (Ted Thorpe), stumble into the mountain hide-out of the megalomaniac Dr. Grood (Michael Fox of Riders to the Stars), who is forcing Professor Dorn (Forrest Taylor of The Iron Claw) to enslave the inhabitants of another planet, Ergro, in order to take over Earth. Grood is assisted by the groveling Jarva (Jack George), who is like something out of the Three Stooges, on earth, and by portly Reckov (Gene Roth), on the alien world, while Dorn's daughter, Ella (Vivian Mason), travels to Ergro with the others. Grood is able to mind-control anyone he chooses, and has other weapons as well, and employs spaceships that take everyone from Earth to Ergro in a very fast and highly unscientific manner. There's also a cosmo jet, and a cartoon flying saucer. Late in the serial some earth men of rather ill repute try to take over Grood's operation, briefly join with him, and then switch sides again. Holdren is perfectly bland and adequate, and Fox is rather good as Grood, yet somehow he doesn't make the kind of memorable serial villain that, say, Charles Middleton does as Ming in Flash Gordon. Holdren and Roth were also in Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere and the former starred in Zombies of the Stratosphere as well.
Verdict: Acceptable, silly sci fi serial. **.
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| Both in disguise, Copperhead (Wilcox) faces Dr. Satan (Ciannelli) |
Just before the older man's death, Bob Wayne (Robert Wilcox) is told by Governor Bronson (Charles Trowbridge), the man who raised him, that his real father was once known as the original Copperhead, who fought for justice but was wrongly labeled a crook. Bob decides to don a mask and become the new Copperhead, so that he can fight the minions of the mysterious Dr. Satan (Eduardo Ciannelli). "Mysterious" is right, because we never learn why he calls himself Dr. Satan nor what his true identity is. (Similarly, the Copperhead disguise seems fairly unnecessary.) Satan is after a remote control device invented by Professor Scott (C. Montague Shaw), whose daughter, Lois (Ella Neal), is trapped in a diving bell with Bob when it springs a leak thanks to the diabolical manipulations of Dr. Satan. The nefarious Satan forces his men and others to wear explosive chest devices that keep them from getting out of line or escaping, and on several occasions employs a large killer robot to do his dirty work. Ciannelli [Johnny Staccato; Monster from Green Hell] is quite good as Dr. Satan, sneering his contempt without ever overacting or chewing the scenery. Wilcox, who was Diana Barrymore's third husband and companion-in-nightmare, was certainly good-looking and was not a bad actor, but he's not a good choice for a serial action hero as his performance lacks dynamism and is rather listless [even if one gives him the benefit of the doubt and imagines that he was trying to differentiate between Wayne and the Copperhead]. Ella Neal is adept and attractive, but the other woman in the cast, Dorothy Herbert, has little opportunity to do more than look interested or perky as reporter Alice Brent. Jack Mulhall [The She-Creature] and Ken Terrell [Indestructible Man] are also in the cast. One of the best cliffhangers has to do with a cell whose far wall begins closing in on our hero as Dr. Satan chuckles. This was originally conceived as a Superman serial, but the rights for that character went to Columbia studios instead; that studio took eight years to finally come out with a serial about the Man of Steel.
Verdict: Entertaining, but not in the class of the best Republic serials. **1/2.
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| Zorro's grandson goes into action! |
GHOST OF ZORRO (12 chapter Republic serial/1949). Director: Fred C. Brannon.
An engineer and "eastern dude" named Ken Mason (Clayton Moore) comes to a small western town to help put in a telegraph line, but certain parties, such as George Crane (Gene Roth) and Hank Kilgore (Roy Barcroft), are opposed to the idea -- it might bring the law to the nest of fugitives who pay Crane protection money. Ken is assisted by Rita White (Pamela Blake) and Moccasin (George J. Lewis of Federal Operator 99). It develops that Ken is the grandson of the original Zorro, and he dresses up and goes into action when Crane's tactics against him and his friends become quite lethal. Rita, for instance, is caught in both a runaway wagon and runaway stagecoach in separate chapters. Ghost of Zorro no doubt employs a lot of stock footage, but it's fast and reasonably entertaining, and the frequent fistfights are certainly well-staged. Tom Steele and Marshall Reed are also in the cast. Pamela Blake was also in The Sea Hound and Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Verdict: Minor-league but acceptable Republic serial. **1/2.