Spy Smasher (1942)

With some of the best fight scenes Hollywood ever produced, a viewer can only marvel at the quality of this excellent serial, called by many the best, or at least one of the best, ever.With both Dave Sharpe and Yakima Canutt present, although un-billed and credited only here at IMDb and among knowledgeable movie fans, we have to expect the very best in stunt work. And we get it.To repeat: Some of the best fight scenes ever produced in Hollywood.From the very beginning, we get a beautifully effective use of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, with the "V" motif, "V for Victory," which is perfect for 1942.It's very important to remember that 1942 context. Modern audiences are probably more used to pyrotechnics and glitz, of which there is none or very little.But what we get is a great story, with some truth in the basic premise of the bad guys' plot: An intention to ruin the U.S. economy by flooding the country with counterfeit money. (This has a truthful basis: Several times in the last 100 years, warring nations, or cold-warring nations, have attempted to subvert an enemy's economy just that way. For example, the Germans during World War II, and North Korea more recently. They didn't succeed, but at least a couple of U.S. administrations took over and flooded the economy with pretty-nearly worthless Federal Reserve notes in such numbers, prices soared as much as 20 percent!)We also get some good acting, some great directing, and some very great special effects from Republic's master, Howard Lydecker.The good acting comes not only from the listed stars and "withs," but from all the stunt-men-bad-guys and from the good guys who might eventually get killed by the nefarious bad guys.All in all, this is one great, one astonishingly great serial, available for home ownership, for rental from various sources, and for free at YouTube. Try to pick carefully. One uploader says his version is from a not-very-good VHS. But this is one great adventure, one exciting serial, one thoroughly entertaining, even enthralling, movie experience. From Republic. I like the sound of that word. And I highly recommend "Spy Smasher."

Probably considered a close second to The Adventures of Captain Marvel as the best of all serials. This too is a comic adaptation, but of a comic almost no one has seen in 60 years since it was a war related comic that died a painful death when the "enemy" went away and Spysmasher was forced to fight regular criminals. The plot has Spysmasher- a reporter who faked his own death so he could fight the enemy on their own terms- returning to America to stop The Mask from flooding the country with counterfeit money as well as doing other terrible things. It's a rip roaring adventure that moves like the wind. Republic spent a nice chunk of change on the film and it shows with production values that seem a little more than normal. If there is a flaw its that the film is so action packed that watching it in one or two sittings you become aware how little plot there is. Yes it moves like the wind and yes it's the perfect serial to be seen one chapter each week, but as a something to watch it one sitting its almost too much motion. Granted this was never intended to be seen in one sitting so its understandable that there are "problems" (and minor ones at that). Action film and comic nuts really should see this. It's a blast and a half, especially if you like to watch the old wartime films from the 1940's.

Possible spoilers.One of the best serials of the 1940s, Spy Smasher combines action and clever cliffhangers with a superb double role for its star, Kane Richmond, as well as an enjoyable cast. Richmond stars as twin brothers Alan and Jack Armstrong during the period just before and immediately into US involvement in the Second World War. Jack is fiancé to Eve Corby, the daughter of the recently-appointed director of foreign intelligence, Admiral Corby. Alan is a former news writer who faked his death in France during the Nazi conquest in order to begin building a network within the Resistance that will help him fight the Nazis on their own ground.Now, however, he must fight them in the US, as a Nazi intelligence officer, known as the Mask for his use of a mask when communicating with collaborators in the US, has hatched a scheme to flood counterfeit money into the US, the first of a series of sabotage efforts that bring out the intervention of Spy Smasher and Jack in a series of encounters with the Mask's henchmen.The running battle with the Mask's men, however, leads to tragedy, as Eve is kidnapped and an attempt at rescue proves fatal, leading to Eve's discovery of Spy Smasher's identity and eventually to a final showdown with the Mask amid a Nazi submarine attack on a US industrial base.

Spy Smasher is a rather good chapterplay. It features a rather obscure character from Whiz Comics (the same book that spawned Captain Marvel). From an adaptation point of view, it isn't very good, but then very few comic book-to-screen adaptations are all that true to the source material.The cliffhangers are all acceptable and explainable from chapter to chapter (using the "they-don't-show-us-all-the-action" angle)...and the storyline is action-packed. The villain, The Mask, is a typical one spawned of both serials and comics of the times. There also doesn't seem to be a lot of stock footage use (though there is a bit of footage reuse in later chapters).Kane Richmond isn't too much of an actor, but he is quite adequate here as the dashing identical twins and Spy Smasher. The rest of the cast isn't too noteworthy...nor do they have performances of any real note.This is definitely a good example of a good movie serial...12 chapters that are worth the time to watch.