CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

hwg1957-102-265704 ....so says ace Japanese spy Mura Sakima to the Masked Marvel. This being a wartime serial of course the wily villain will be on the losing side. This fast paced serial concerns the tussle between Sakima and the Masked Marvel that draws in insurance investigators, various war time inventions and a woman connected with the first murder of many. It moves along quickly with lots of strenuous fist fighting where lots of breakaway furniture is smashed, bashed and mashed as well as the usual cars going off cliffs, boat chases, gun battles and cliff hangers. It's entertaining.The acting is decent; Johnny Arthur as Sakima, Louise Currie as Alice Hamilton, the ubiquitous Anthony Warde as 'Killer' Mace and the four guys who play the insurance investigators. Compliments for versatility as usual should go to Dale Van Sickel who played 'Kline-Tall Gas- Works Saboteur' and 'Station-Wagon Thug' and 'Super-X Warehouse Thug.'One thing that did surprise me was that not all the heroes survive.

rudge49 In 1966 or so during the "camp"craze, the 1943 Columbia serial of "Batman" was released to ride the publicity generated by the Batman-TV program. (As an aside, as a True Believer I quickly tired of that program, haven't watched it since) Republic edited several of its much better made serials into 2 hour or so movies, sold them in syndication. Among the ones I remember were "Fighting Devil Dogs", "The Invisible Monster", "Manhunt of Mystery Island" and of course "The Masked Marvel" My mother joked that the actors hats seemed to be stapled to their heads, I later learned that they wore elastic bands so you couldn't tell it was a stuntman and not an actor, if in a fight scene one of the performers' hat came off he was a stuntman all along. Sort of a screen convention of the time. That said, this is one of the best wartime serials, I occasionally needed an adult to explain some of the wartime reference-the gas rationing stamps that the Marvel uses to track down Mace's car, e.g.One sad bit of trivia, in Chapter One the actor David Bacon looks at a secret message dated September 13, 1943, he was murdered on September 13, 1943.

Rock-10 Perplexing? It is never revealed how the Masked Marvel acquired his aura.He doesn't possess magical powers, super brains, or any particular crime fighting skills. He does sport a mask. But what for? What's he trying to hide? He's truly not much, if all, different from the other three good guys.One thing is clear. Men's hats must have been surgically attached. No amount of fighting, falling, leaping out of cars or boats, can dislodge the hats.It appeared all of the serials many pugilists were in tremendous physical condition. How many blows to the chin, back flips, kicks, hurling into walls could you take? They are simply indefatigible.The Masked Marvel serial makes Steven Segal foes seem like pre-schoolers.

crow-34 Previously, I noticed that many times they changed the ending and not too cleverly. In chapter 8 when the Marvel took the dive off the roof the action the next week was different and obviously sneaky, not a true cliffhanger! Oh yes, the agent who knifed the thug in bed after he identifies the Marvel was the Marvel technically. Tom Steele played the assassin and of course was killed again in the car crash. He is as you know the man behind the mask in all the action scenes. If you watch closely you can identify his stance, body language and physical running attitude. He was never mentioned in the credits at all. Most curious.