Sunday, August 8, 2010

Serials And Movie :The Decline of the Serials:



By the 1940s and early 1950s, serials had been so numerous that they were beginning to lose their popularity, with the increase in production costs, the onset of more sophisticated feature films in the talkie era, and the emergence of television in the period 1949-52. They were also repackaging themselves with boring and stale plots, stock situations and footage, and less imagination. Another reason for the decline was that TV shows (available for free at home) began to adopt and co-opt the serial format, in series such as Sky King, Captain Video, Hopalong Cassidy, Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe, The Gene Autry Show, Batman, and The Lone Ranger.

Another reason for the decline was that many serials were often humorless, campy, uninspiring, repetitive, cheaply made, and second rate with excessive stock footage. Inferior, low-budget science-fiction serials included the 15-part The Purple Monster Strikes (1945), King of the Rocket Men (1949), the 12-episode Flying Disc Man From Mars (1951) and Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952). Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

Serials were briefly revived, however, in the 50s and 60s, when studios repackaged feature versions of many of their serials for TV release. In the early 50's, Republic entered this new medium of TV and produced a number of series specifically designed for it. Their 12-part serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe (1953) was released to film theatres in 1953, and was later broadcast on NBC in 1955 as the spin-off Commando Cody - as a 12-part summer replacement TV series. Much of the film's material was derived from Republic's earlier Radar Men From the Moon (1952).Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.
Universal stopped making serials at the end of WWII around 1947. Republic's last serial was King
of the Carnival (1955), while Columbia's Blazing the Overland Trail (1956) was regarded as the last official serial.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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Serials And Movie: The Comeback of Serial Queens in the 1940s:


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Republic paid homage to the silent era serials, by making the 15-episode jungle serial Perils of Nyoka (1942) (aka Nyoka and the Tigermen), a sequel to the previous year's Jungle Girl. It was an old-fashioned serial (its title recalled Pearl White's The Perils of Pauline (1914)) that was loosely based on Edgar Rice Burrough's tales, and starred Kay Aldridge as a vine-swinging, tough jungle heroine. Aldridge would later appear in two other serials: Daredevils of the West (1943) with Allan Lane, and Haunted Harbor (1944) with Kane Richmond.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

And model Linda Stirling, dubbed "The Queen of the Sound Serials" in the mid 1940s, starred in six Republic serials during her reign, including:
the popular 12-episode The Tiger Woman (1944) (aka Perils of the Darkest Jungle) with Stirling sexily-costumed in a leopard outfit
the 12-chapter Zorro's Black Whip (1944), with Stirling as a female masked rider
the 15-chapter Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945)
the 15-part The Purple Monster Strikes (1945) (aka D-Day on Mars)
the 12-episode The Crimson Ghost (1946) (aka Cyclotrode "X")
the 13-episode western serial Jesse James Rides Again (1947)Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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The Lone Ranger Serials and TV Show, and the James Brothers


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The first filmed story of the mysterious masked hero of the plains, starring Lee Powell and Chief Thunder-cloud, was Republic's 15-chapter serial The Lone Ranger (1938). [This serial was made into a featurized film version, Hi-Yo Silver (1940).] In the same-length sequel, The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939), the Lone Ranger was played by Robert Livingston. Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

Note that Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels ("Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear") would make their feature film debuts as the Lone Ranger and his faithful companion Tonto in The Lone Ranger (1956) after appearing on ABC-TV's hit show The Lone Ranger first broadcast in the late 1940s (and remaining in primetime from 1949-1957). The full-length adventure film, Legend of the Lone Ranger (1952) (aka The Origin of the Lone Ranger) was compiled from segments of the TV series.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

Jesse James (and brother Frank) were also the subject of serials in the 13-episode The Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (1948), with Steve Darrell and Clayton Moore as the legendary outlaw brothers.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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Serials And Movie: Dick Tracy Serials



By the time Republic Studios had created all of its Dick Tracy serials--60 episodes altogether, after its initial 15-episode entry Dick Tracy (1937) with lead actor Ralph Byrd as the square-jawed shamus, it had become the longest-running series in serials history (the other films in the series were ...

The 15-chapter Dick Tracy Returns (1938), 15 cliff-hanging episodes in Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939), and 15 crime-fighting episodes in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941)). Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

British actor Crauford Kent starred as the title character Angus Blake in the 10-part The Ace of Scotland Yard (1929). Serials featuring a black-clad, phantom crime fighter debuted with Columbia's 15-part The Shadow (1940).Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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Serials And Movie: Blondie


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Although technically a series of 28 films stretching over a period of twelve years (1938-1950), the series of Blondie films somewhat qualifies as a feature-film serial. Columbia Pictures produced this popular and wholesome series of low-budget situation comedies with a blonde character named Blondie Bumstead, after acquiring the film rights to the story. Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

The premise was derived from Chic Young's comic strip character (created in 1930). All of the light-hearted films, one sequel after another, told of the misadventures and mishaps of the small town family, led by bumbling dunce husband Dagwood (Arthur Lake), his sensible yet sassy wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) and their son Baby Dumpling/Alexander (Larry Simms, appearing from age 3-15). Most of the films were directed by Frank Strayer, although some were directed by Abby Berlin and Edward Bernds by the mid-late 1940s. Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

Among the entries, a few included future stars:
Blondie (1938) - the debut film
Blondie Meets the Boss (1939)
Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939)
Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939)
Blondie on a Budget (1940) - the fifth entry, co-starring contract player Rita Hayworth
Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940)
Blondie Plays Cupid (1940) - co-starring Glenn Ford
Blondie Goes Latin (1941) - the 8th film
Blondie in Society (1941) - with William Frawley in the first of three appearances
Blondie Goes to College (1942) - co-starring Larry Parks, and with a bit part by Lloyd Bridges
Blondie's Blessed Event (1942)
Blondie For Victory (1942) - the 12th film

Only two of the films in the series did not contain the name Blondie: It's a Great Life (1943) and Footlight Glamour (1943).Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

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Serials And Movie : The Emergence of Flash Gordon



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Alex Raymond's 1934 science-fiction comic strip hero Flash Gordon was brought to the screen in 1936 by Universal, with star Larry "Buster" Crabbe as the title character, and sexy blonde Jean Rogers as terrorized heroine-girlfriend Dale Arden, and villainous planet Mongo ruler Ming the Merciless, portrayed by Charles Middleton. Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

The most expensive serial ever made (at reportedly $350,000), Flash Gordon (1936) (and its sequels) became the most successful, popular, and enduring serial of all time:
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (1936), the original and the best of its type, with 13 chapters; later condensed into a 97-minute feature film titled Flash Gordon: Rocketship
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) - 15 episodes, with Jean Rogers as a brunette
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), 12 episodes, with Carol Hughes as Dale Arden Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies. Watch movies online.

The action-oriented episodes were filled with fantastic spaceships, futuristic scenes and cities, monsters, and other imaginative creations.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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Serials And Movie: Hercules in the Underworld



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This TV movie is part of a TV series, "HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS" and it is awesome! It has great special effects, good actors and a good sound track. It is right up there with THE SIMPSONS in terms of being one of my favorite TV series. 4 stars out of 5 for this gem.Download free movies, download latest DVD or HD movies.

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