This review of Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion was written by me a dozen years ago, so when I make mention of transferring a laserdisc to DVD, you’ll understand it was then-current technology. Today it might be YouTube and streaming video. But my opinions remain basicallly unchanged since my original viewing in 2004, so here’s my slightly-late review.
Talk about cheap! This is one of Republic’s later serials, being released in 1951. By this time, production values had dwindled to next-to-nothing. And boy, does it show in this one. This serial is cheap, cheap, cheap!
We’re down to only 12 chapters, with a pretty standard running length of 13 minutes per chapter. The only exception being chapter one, coming in at 20 minutes. The less footage, the less cost. And, of course, the usual “economy chapter” at chapter 10 saves even more money. (Is it my imagination, or is it always chapter 10?) At a total running time of 166 minutes, this serial fairly cries, “Cheap!”
How cheap was it?
Stock footage was used where ever possible to cut costs. Get this piece of dialogue: “Sam and I will be cruising around in a patrol car so we can get into action in a hurry. Better still, we’ll use an old jalopy so they can’t spot us so easily.” What he really means is, “Better still, we’ll use an old jalopy so we can cut in some old stock footage for the cliffhanger.”
The plot? Well, someone is behind the hijacking of trucks carrying “critical government materials.” Like hand grenades. Yeah, that sounds pretty critical to national security to me. The safety of our nation depends upon those hand grenades, you know. And uranium. They pick up and carry cases of refined uranium packed in plain wooden crates. No lead shielding for these boys, no siree. These are real men! (Or at least they are be until the radiation renders them sterile.)
Anyway, trucking company owner Hal Duncan is deputized as a government agent to track down the hijack mob and toss the entire lot in jail. He often meets with the four fellow-owners of the Interstate Truckers’ Association, and we, the viewers, know that one of those four is actually “The Voice,” the unseen leader of the Phantom Legion. Of course, there’s a lot of gunplay, fistfights and car chases and smashups before we get to chapter twelve and find out who “The Voice” really is.
The Voice
Apparently they couldn’t even afford a mask for their masked villain; that’s how cheap it is. So they just put him behind a “one-way mirror” (which is really just a sheet of glass) and called him “The Voice.” Obviously, they had no concept of how a one-way mirror works, because “The Voice” keeps a desk-lamp lit in front of the mirror. As we all know, the rear side of a one-way mirror has to be kept dark, or the mirror won’t be reflective. But somehow, the henchmen sitting on the reflective side of the mirror only see themselves, not the lit lamp behind. Ah, the magic of the cinema…
And yes, they all keep their hats on during the fights. We all know that’s pretty standard by now. I did find it interesting that in chapter seven Hal is chasing the crooks in his open convertible, and he loses his hat. The wind whisks it away. I thought that maybe this was as so to prepare to match some stock footage coming up, but no. There was no apparent reason for the loss of the hat. Maybe it few off accidentally while filming, and they were too cheap to go back and refilm the scene. Did I mention cheap?
Roy Barcroft was an actor closely associated with Republic. He often appeared in a starring villain role, and many other times made brief uncredited appearances in the serials. In chapter eight of this serial, he is the voice of an unnamed Coast Guard radioman coming over the air. We don’t see his face, but his distinctive voice is undeniable.
The Phantom Legion remains unspoken
And just what is this “Phantom Legion”? I don’t think I ever heard those words uttered even once in the entire 12 chapters. One would guess that the Phantom Legion is the group headed by “The Voice.” But it would be nice if they said that out loud, at least once.
It’s so cheap, they couldn’t even afford the word “The” in the title. It’s “Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion.” Awe, come on! How much more would it have cost to add three stinkin’ letters to the title? Cheap!
Now I know I’ve taken a lot of potshots at this serial in my review, which might lead one to believe I didn’t like it. But I did. I love serials, including cheap ones like this one. In fact, maybe that’s part of its charm.
But I liked it anyway
It’s admittedly a somewhat nondescript serial. No famous lead actors. No amazing inventions. No cool special effects. No super powers. No masked villains… or masked heroes, either. But still, a 12-year-old boy back in 1951 probably just ate this stuff up. Any stock footage reused from other serials more than five years back was probably new footage to him. And there was all the action for which Republic serials were so famous.
Now, for the serial purists among you, I must confess I watched this entire serial in one sitting. (Gasp!) Forgive me, but I was “proof watching” a DVD I had burned from a laserdisc copy of the serial and just didn’t want to wait 12 weeks before I could verify there were no accidental digital artifacts introduced on the discs. I needed to free up the hard drive space, once I knew there were no problems.
Watching the entire thing in one sitting also makes writing this review much easier. I don’t have to take notes after viewing each chapter, and wait three months before completing the review. But even watching the entire thing at one sitting, it was still a fun one. Cheap, but fun!
