(Big Sky Video/Beyond)

Strictly for the phans

This serials that used to run in front of movie matinees back in the ‘40s were like early TV shows, half-hour episodes ending with cliffhangers and a narrator demanding the audience return to this theatre next week for another thrilling episode. The Phantom is no exception – one episode ends with him trapped in quicksand while an alligator stalks towards him, at other times he’s in peril from explosions, cave-ins and lions while the narrator builds into a frenzy. ‘How will he survive? What will happen next?’ It’s an amusing glimpse into the way things used to be back in the days of matinees and newsreels. Being made in 1943 has dated The Phantom in less amusing ways, like the actors in makeup playing natives with ridiculous ooga-booga accents and the stagey nature of most of the acting, Tom Tyler’s Phantom in particular. The sound quality has also suffered over the years and one episode has been re-dubbed with unfortunately bad voices. Still, the story of an expedition to a lost city that has to be protected from the dangers of the jungle as well as saboteurs and oddly Mongol warriors provides plenty of opportunities for The Phantom and his faithful hound, Devil (played by Ace The Wonder Dog), to be heroic in a way that will appeal to the many fans of the character.

**˝    

JODY MACGREGOR

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