Starring Judd Holdren, Larry Stewart, George Eldredge, Gene Roth, Don Harvey
Directed by Spencer Bennet & Wallace A. Grissell
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Captain Video and his partner the Video Ranger use their wide array of scientific inventions to battle the schemes of Vultura, alien dictator, and his agent on Earth, the scientist Dr. Tobor.
Based on a popular television series aimed at children, this movie serial is fun and entertaining, with car chases, fist fights, spaceships, and explosions a plenty. Put out by Columbia Pictures, the special effects are consistent with their other serials of that era, produced by Sam Katzman, meaning most of the spacecraft are animated, and some of that footage is lifted from past productions. Holdren doesn't project much of a personality as the ultra-serious Captain Video, but Gene Roth is appropriately villainous as Vultura, and George Eldredge gives a good performance as the criminal scientist Dr. Tobor, trying to hide behind a respectable reputation. Although it seems there is no danger or death trap that Captain Video can't escape with the aid of a device he happens to have, or that assistant Gallagher at his control center can produce, there's some clever cliffhangers in the serial. It's not one of the great serials, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
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