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Cliffhangers, Car Chases and Comic Books

During the golden age of Hollywood, a staple of Saturday morning matinees was the movie serial.

Over the course of 12 or 13 weeks, audiences eagerly awaited the next thrilling chapter to see whether or not the serial’s hero would manage to escape from whatever seemingly inescapable danger he faced at the end of the last week’s chapter.

Although they occupied a secondary position on the theatrical bill, the movie serial had a long history, ranging from at least the 1910s through the 1950s.

In addition to providing audiences with solid, reliable, yet breathtaking stunts and thrills week after week, the serial also introduced many of the first cinematic incarnations of the comic book movies that have become part and parcel of the Hollywood blockbuster format in recent years.

These incredible films co-existed aside the major feature-length productions and “prestige pictures” of their time, and while they may not have had the same kind of critical acclaim as the big features, they were – often – just as beloved by audiences as the bigger releases.

Though it wasn’t the first movie serial, the breakthrough film in the format – and to this day perhaps still the most famous – came in 1914. The Perils of Pauline starred the legendary Pearl White as Pauline, a young woman who stands to inherit a fortune when she marries her fiancé Harry Marvin, but decides to first take time off to seek adventure. However, the villain – Koerner – stands to receive the inheritance himself if something happens to Pearl, and so decides to get rid of her himself. Thus begins the series of “perils”, involving being trapped in a burning house and a runaway hot-air balloon filmed along the Palisades Cliffs in Fort Lee, New Jersey.


The film was directed by Louis J. Gasnier, who is probably best remembered today as the director of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness.

He directs The Perils of Pauline in a similarly over-the-top fashion.

The Perils of Pauline was an immensely successful film, leading to follow-ups like The Hazards of Helen (also 1914, and starring Helen Holmes). The Perils of Pauline is one of the immortal films – its very title conjuring up images of thrilling chases, cars racing along the edges of cliffs, and perhaps most famously, the image of the heroine tied to train tracks (although, interestingly, this last scene never actually appeared in any chapter of this particular serial). It’s significant that a movie serial should have proven to be one of the most popular releases during this time. As the films of directors like Griffith and DeMille were pushing films to expand their narrative boundaries, serials like The Perils of Pauline relied on telling their stories in short segments, held together by a loose narrative thread.

The movie serial would continue to develop and remain a staple throughout the entire silent era. If The Perils of Pauline is synonymous with the silent movie serial, then its greatest example from the sound era must surely be Universal’s triumphant Flash Gordon trilogy.

Beginning with Flash Gordon in 1936, Universal would produce one of the most successful serials of all time.  Followed by Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), the trilogy was tremendously influential on future sci-fi filmmakers including George Lucas, who would repeat the “scrolling titles” of Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars in his own sci-fi trilogy almost 40 years later.

The star of the serial was Larry “Buster” Crabbe, who also achieved success in the Buck Rogers serials of the same period. The Flash Gordon serials featured fantastic sets and state-of-the-art special effects which retain their own charm despite having been surpassed by more sophisticated methods.

The 1936 serial, in particular, displayed great chemistry with its leading cast, including Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, and Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov. But perhaps the most memorable player in the Flash Gordon serials was character actor Charles B. Middleton as Ming the Merciless, ruler of Planet Mongo. Middleton spent his entire career in playing supporting and bit parts in dozens of films, usually rather humorless and stern characters (if not outright heavies). But Ming the Merciless would provide him with a role that would make him forever remembered by movie buffs.

During the 1940s, the serial format provided the first cinematic adaptations of many of the comic book series that have since gone out to become the big budget, “A” picture affairs produced by the major studios.


The first Batman serial appeared in 1943, and was followed by a sequel in 1949. Superman appeared in 1948. Unlike the current trend of treating these subjects with astronomical budgets and dark, brooding scripts that seek to either psychoanalyze or explain the behavior of their superhero protagonists, these serials provided solid thrills from one week to the next.

The 1943 Batman is a particularly interesting example of the comparatively low budgets spent on these serials, with very sparse set decoration and production values, and still remains of interest today as the first appearance on-screen of a character who has gone on to launch at least two successful film franchises (even if the 1943 serial is dated with its anti-Japanese angle, a result of wartime sensibilities resulting from its production at the height of World War II).

Eventually, the “chapter play” approach of the serial would be supplanted by television, and by the mid-50s, it would go the way of the short subject, the newsreel, and other supplementary subjects that audiences had for so long enjoyed as part of their moviegoing experience. The serial format may be dead, at least in theatrical films, but its spirit lives on in the comic book movies, action-adventure films, and in ongoing television series. From The Perils of Pauline to Batman and beyond, the serial is an integral part of American pop culture.

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