A movie
serial from 1946. It was directed by
Fred C. Brannon and
William Witney and written by
Albert DeMond,
Basil Dickey,
Jesse Duffy, and
Sol Shor. The 12 episodes in the series averaged only about 15 minutes each, which was fairly
typical for the serials.
"The Crimson Ghost" starred
Charles Quigley,
Linda Stirling,
Clayton Moore,
I. Stanford Jolley,
Kenne Duncan,
Forrest Taylor,
Emmett Vogan,
Sam Flint,
Joseph Forte,
Stanley Price,
Wheaton Chambers,
Tom Steele,
Dale Van Sickel,
Rex Lease, and
Fred Graham.
The basic
plot of this
mystery-
action-
thriller (with a name like "The Crimson Ghost," you knew it didn't involve domestic comedy, right?) involves an
evil criminal genius called the Crimson Ghost who wants to steal a
device called the
Cyclotrode, which can
short-circuit every piece of
electrical equipment on the planet! My God! We'll have no
power to
heat our homes, to run our
vehicles, to power our
computers!
Owls will deafen us with incessant
hooting! Can no one save us? What?
Good guys and
heroes? Well, that's a
relief.
The
Crimson Ghost (no one knows his true
identity because he wears a
skull mask all the time) doesn't do his
dirty work himself -- he has an army of
henchmen, who he sends out seeking either the Cyclotrode itself or the proper parts to build it. He communicates with his
minions by
radio and requires them all to wear what he calls a "
death-collar," which he can activate by
remote control to kill the wearer if they are not properly
obedient. The death-collar will also activate if anyone tries to remove it. Sounds like an
unpleasant job -- though I guess it must be better than
telemarketing.
Nowadays, this serial is best known because punk-thrash band
the Misfits uses an image of the Crimson Ghost on a lot of their stuff. Ya know all those
black Misfits T-shirts with the skull-faced guy
leering on 'em? That's the Crimson Ghost, man.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com). I've never gotten to see this serial, but I hope I can track it down sometime -- I've tended to enjoy the few mystery serials I've been able to see...