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The Spider's Web
USA 1938
produced by Jack Fier, Irving Briskin (executive) for Columbia
directed by James W. Horne, Ray Taylor
starring Warren Hull, Iris Meredith, Richard Fiske, Kenne Duncan, Forbes Murray, Donald Douglas, Marc Lawrence, Charles C. Wilson, John Tyrrell, Eugene Anderson jr, Ann Doran, Paul Whitney, Beatrice Curtis, Gordon Hart, Byron Foulger
screenplay by Robert E. Kent, George H. Plympton, Basil Dickey, Mart Ramson, based on The Spider-magazines, created by Harry Steeger, written by Norvell Page, published by Popular Publications, music by Sidney Cutner
serial Spider
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The evil hooded villain Octopus wants to cripple all transportation in
town to get control of the city himself - and he does so by sabotaging
pretty much all modes of transportation, from trains to busses to
airplanes, and by taking out selected transportation entrepreneurs. One
such transportation entrepreneur is Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), who
just couldn't care less about the Spider's threats because he's to marry
his sweetheart Nita (Iris Meredith) in a few days and couldn't care less
about the threats of a maybe-terrorist - but then his airplane is lured
into a deathtrap and it's only to his expertise as a pilot that he manages
to pull it up at the last moment and parachute out of certain death.
However, the whole incident has given him a clue on the Octopus and his
gang - bad news for the Octopus, because Wentworth is secretly the masked
crimefighter/vigilante the Spider, a man feared by police and hoodlums
alike. From here on, Wentworth tries to collect clues leading to the
spider, also under the guise of safecracker Blinky McQuade, who at times
also joins the Octopus's gang. But mostly, the Octopus and his men try to
lure Wentworth and/or the Spider into death traps which he only narrowly
escapes, time and again kidnap Nita, Wentworth's helpers Ram Singh (Kenne
Duncan) and Jackson (Richard Fiske), and even Wentworth's closest ally,
police commissioner Kirk (Forbes Murray) - who nevertheless is one of the
Spider's fiercest adversaries. However, numerous fist- and gunfights,
chases by train, plane (also including a death ray used to shoot airplanes
out of the air) and automobile, and after local businessmen have been
dropping like flies (especially after Wentworth has suspected them of
being the Octopus), Wentworth/the Spider gets his final clue to the
Octopus, a well-respected local businessman no less, and has to shoot him
in self defense. And Nita and Wentworth get to marry after all - well,
maybe ... The Spider's Web is one of the serials that
really lives up to its promise: It's incredibly well-paced, with hardly a
dull moment, features a comicbook-bizarre hero and villain, an
easy-to-follow yet not moronic plot, pulp situations and plottwists
aplenty, and almost non-stop action. Considered by many one of the best
sound serials (and not for its camp but its straight-forward entertainment
factor), and I can't but agree.
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