Captain Video: Master Of The Stratosphere (1951)

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. 

Earth Vs. The Spider (1958)

Starring Ed Kemmer, June Kenney, Gene Persson, Gene Roth, Hal Torey
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young woman and her boyfriend go in search of her missing father, and find his remains in a cavern inhabited by a giant spider, which soon threatens their small town.

Although it's not quite the equal of the other giant spider film of the 1950s, Tarantula, this is a fun outing by Gordon and crew, with an appealing cast, and a convincing portrait of small-town America.    Not all of the special effects hold up well, but the spider scenes that probably come off best are the sequences filmed in Carlsbad Caverns, with its eerie craggy scenery making a proper home for the giant insect, where it can easily trap its human prey.  Kemmer, the likable protagonist of Edward Cunha's Giant From The Unknown, who also brings along his love interest Sally Fraser from that film, is again likable, and fills a perfect need in the story as the believable scientific expert who devises the spider's downfall.  Familiar '50s character actor Gene Roth is welcome as the local sheriff who laughs at the notion of a giant spider at first, but soon receives his comeuppance.  Albert Glasser provides the proper notes of menace in his music score, according to IMDB, including the decade's ubiquitous theremin instrument among his orchestra.  As for Gordon's direction, it keeps things moving along well enough, making this I think one of his better films.

She Demons (1958)

Starring Irish McCalla, Tod Griffin, Victor Sen Yung, Rudolph Anders, Gene Roth
Directed by Richard E. Cunha
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A spoiled rich girl and the men traveling with her are shipwrecked on an island where a Nazi scientist is transforming native women into savage monsters.

Another of Richard Cunha's quartet of independent sci-fi/horror films made for the drive-in circuit, it's fun and entertaining despite its flaws.  Bookended by obvious stock footage for the hurricane that wrecks McCalla's boat and the volcano that dooms the island, what lies between is low budget but still interesting.  McCalla's beauty, the monster makeups, and the cruelty of the Nazi officers are depended on to carry the film, and for me at least, do that successfully.  That being said, the white actresses playing the native women stretch credibility, and a sequence where chief villain Anders explains his experiments goes on too long, but he gives a good performance, and Nicholas Carras' ominous score sets the right tone.  I found McCalla, Griffin, and Sen Yung likable enough and the fight sequences well choreographed, although Griffin's stunt double quite noticeably looked far older than the actor.  Still, the movie projects that 1950s sci-fi atmosphere well enough, and is a treasure for that alone.

Mysterious Island (1951)

Starring Richard Crane, Marshall Reed, Karen Randle, Ralph Hodges, Gene Roth
Directed by Spencer Bennet
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

During the Civil War, a Northern captain and his friends escape the South by hijacking a hot air balloon, only to crash on a strange island where they face hostile natives and bloodthirsty pirates.

One of several adaptations of Jules Verne's novel continuing the adventures of Captain Nemo, this movie serial features a major departure from the text in the character of an alien invader from the planet Mercury, taking the place of some of the more fantastic elements of Verne's story.  Nevertheless, many sequences and characters from the book are preserved, although much of the adventure is replaced by standard fistfights and shootouts.  Still, fans of serials should be entertained, as I was, with Roth as always a fine villain, and Crane a noble hero.