Spy Smasher (1942)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

You won't be disappointed!

best movie i've ever seen.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The cliffhanger to chapter eleven is one of the most unusual and bizarre in the entire history of the movie serial in that it's not resolved. There are no cheats, no last-second surprises. It actually happens just the way you see it. Unlike most serials, the final chapter sees no let-up in chase and fight action. In fact Lydecker does some of his most thrilling work. All told, "Spy Smasher" is a very cleverly made and most attractive serial which belies its rapid shooting time and modest negative cost. Full marks to solo debut director William Witney.This was one of the best of the war-time Republic serials, with some marvelous action scenes, stuntwork and Lydecker explosions, set against striking natural backgrounds. The direction has both style and flair with some fine camera set-ups and visually exciting high angle shots. The plot, too, whilst following a well-worn path, rings some surprising changes on its well-worn theme (people are actually killed and the villains actually succeed in blowing up the munitions plant) and the ingenious device of twin brothers is effectively exploited in impressively realistic special effects. The cast too is a cut above the usual average, with a fine performance by Kane Richmond in his dual role.Production values are also first-class. Most of the film was made on location, with many changes of scene and an unusual number of interior sets.The Director: William Witney is one of the kings of both the serial and "B" western. He regards his best film as Stranger at My Door (1956). Of his 88 other features and serials, the most famous are Bells of San Angelo (1947) starring Roy Rogers, Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) starring Tom Tyler, Jungle Girl (1941) starring Frances Gifford, and Perils of Nyoka (1942) starring Kay Aldridge.

Possible spoilers.One of the best serials of the 1940s, Spy Smasher combines action and clever cliffhangers with a superb double role for its star, Kane Richmond, as well as an enjoyable cast. Richmond stars as twin brothers Alan and Jack Armstrong during the period just before and immediately into US involvement in the Second World War. Jack is fiancé to Eve Corby, the daughter of the recently-appointed director of foreign intelligence, Admiral Corby. Alan is a former news writer who faked his death in France during the Nazi conquest in order to begin building a network within the Resistance that will help him fight the Nazis on their own ground.Now, however, he must fight them in the US, as a Nazi intelligence officer, known as the Mask for his use of a mask when communicating with collaborators in the US, has hatched a scheme to flood counterfeit money into the US, the first of a series of sabotage efforts that bring out the intervention of Spy Smasher and Jack in a series of encounters with the Mask's henchmen.The running battle with the Mask's men, however, leads to tragedy, as Eve is kidnapped and an attempt at rescue proves fatal, leading to Eve's discovery of Spy Smasher's identity and eventually to a final showdown with the Mask amid a Nazi submarine attack on a US industrial base.

I do so love to watch professionals at work.When you watch "Spy Smasher," you see a genre and a studio at the top of their form. Everything in this serial clicks and hums along like a well-oiled machine. The plot is exciting and as logical as it need be, the music fast and inspiring, the cliffhangers harrowing, and the acting professional and dead-on. It's Republic Studios at the height of their game, ancestor to the big action flicks of today, and sheer pleasure to watch.

10-year-old boys must have really gobbled this up when it was a brand-new serial back in 1942. Even now it has the power to involve and entertain with its narrative flow, frequent spurts of action, and that pounding musical introduction from Beethoven's Fifth. Best of all it has Kane Richmond, (born in Minneapolis in 1906), who has all the looks and manner you want in a serial hero. He also has amazingly tough skin. In Chapter One he's captured by the Nazis, bound against the wall of a Gestapo dungeon, and given a vigorous whipping across his bare chest -- but hardly seems to suffer so much as a paper-cut! Actually, this is one of those floggings where the whip is never shown touching its victim. Instead, the impression of a flogging is given by means of editing together various visual elements. In any case, this scene ranks 18th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies."