hwg1957-102-265704
Six writers! Three directors! And Linda Stirling! 'Manhunt On Mystery Island' is a fast moving and entertaining serial set on the eponymous island and concerns Claire Forrest looking for her kidnapped scientist father, helped by Lance Reardon. The villain of the piece is supposedly long dead Captain Mephisto who is also another character in the serial due to his ability to change his bodily form (in what looks like an electric chair!). In the usual way of serials there are lots of chases, traps, mysteries, fights and ups and downs until everything is resolved. The fist fights are great. Before they start you can guess what will be broken or upset, whether it is a table, cupboard, set of shelves, bookcases, barrels etc. and the participants fight with great gusto. Linda Stirling as Claire Forrest is splendid as usual, her character is smart, sexy and very handy with a gun. She does rescuing as well as the male lead so is definitely not the helpless female. Roy Barcroft chews the scenery as Captain Mephisto (when not breaking up the scenery in fights) and is a pleasure to watch. Kudos must also go to Dale Van Sickel who plays Barker and Ritter and Lewis and Frazier and Sardon. Talk about versatile! The rest of the cast are adequate.Some people don't like serials because of the repetition of certain things but they were not meant to be watched all at once but at intervals, so each episode had to have things to remind viewers of previous episodes. Anyway, if you like serials this is a good one.
GUENOT PHILIPPE
I am not surprised when I read that the great Roy Barcroft said that his character as Captain Méphisto was his all time favourite. This is a top serial, in serial history book. One of the best Republic ones, if you consider the post William Witney era. What a serial Bill Witney would have done with such material... But this one is awesome, even without Witney. Don't forget that there were three directors in charge, three serial vets: Wallace Grissel, Yakima Canutt - the fabulous stuntman - and the best serial director ever, besides again William Witney: Spencer Gordon Bennett. A pure gem. Speaking of the serials, this one illustrates the fact that, in such features, the stuntmen were SO IMPORTANT that they were not chosen because they looked like the lead actor, but on the contrary; the actors were chosen because their resemblance to the stuntmen!!! And it seems that in some serials, the stuntmen themselves were the heroes. They were both the lead characters and their own doubles during the fights. And what fights!!! I think of Dale Van Sickel, in a serial which I don't remember the title.Back to this one, what a great moment to see the legendary Linda Stirling and Roy Barcroft together...Whao !!!
John W Chance
15 episodes of looking for Linda Stirling's father on a small island? Too bad the plot is so thin, with each chapter having the barest hint of story, merely as a quick prelude to fights, fights and more fights. The cast is so small that almost every chapter has one or two fights between the dork hero, Richard Bailey, and Kenne Duncan, as the main henchman,(here in one of his biggest roles before his Ed Wood days) and frequently a threeway with Roy Barcroft (Captain Mephisto).Surprisingly, the serial really moves along, with the action scenes (directed by the Great Yak--Yakima Canutt, who finally gets directing credit this time) and cliff hangers exciting and holding your interest. The fun part in watching all the sets getting destroyed during the fights is guessing when any piece of vertical furniture (including filing cabinets, bunk beds or bookcases)is going to get knocked over and smashed. Great leaping and throwing of objects, and total destruction of rooms! Way to go, Yak!Since this is Republic in the mid forties, we expect a few jump out of the car before it goes over the cliff cheap chapter endings, but we get several interesting variations on Republic's stock of cliff hanger endings. In many of them, Linda Stirling herself saves the hero, and in several chapters shoots a gun! She certainly shows confidence in her athleticism after having done such a good job in "The Tiger Woman" (1944) and "Zorro's Black Whip" (1944). In fact, in the last chapter, she kills Mephisto!Not too bad, considering what little they had to work with, but still only four stars.
rudge49
Caught this one on TV in its TV-movie form in 1966, now it is in my collection. Roy Barcroft considered this one his favorite, I can see why, he gets to play a villain who can disappear into a completely different body, how's that for a disguise. Contains one of the all time great villain's quotes. Captain Mephisto explains to the Kenne Duncan character how he transforms from his secret identity into Captain Mephisto. When the latter responds, "Oh I understand" Captain Mephisto says "If I thought you understood I'd kill you!" How's that for villainy? Top stuntman Dale Van Sickel doubling for Roy Barcroft, the usual top notch stunt work by the Lydecker brothers, non stop action, an intriguing if far fetched plot. About the only complaint I have is that I've never seen it on the Big Screen.
AD
