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As a kid growing up in Sacramento, California, my first
exposure to cliffhangers came during the serial revival of
the early sixties. I would rush home after school, tune in
KCRA channel 3 and watch Captain Sacto. Along with
standard cartoon fare, the show featured an episode a day
from one of the classic Republic chapter plays. For
fifteen minutes, I was regaled with all manner of gun
battles, fist fights, car chases and, of course, the
inevitable cliffhanger ending. Needless to say, I was
hooked.
Of all the masked, costumed and fedora'd heroes
trotted out by the Republic Pictures "thrill
factory", my favorite has always been the Rocketman /
Commando Cody character. There is something inherently
cool about a guy who can blast off into the sky at a
moment's notice simply by strapping on a rocket-powered
black leather jacket and aluminum helmet. What better way
to overtake a speeding car, board a runaway airplane or
survey the uncharted wasteland of the moon?
The origins of the Rocketmen date back to 1940
when artist Jon Small created a comic book character known
as Bulletman. Police ballistics expert Jim Barr develops a
secret formula which endows him with super strength and
the ability to fly. As Bulletman, Barr wore an open-faced,
bullet shaped helmet. In all likelihood, Republic
patterned their helmet after Small's design, adding the
full face visor as a means of concealing the identity of
their hero, as well as the stunt double, whenever
necessary .
In 1949, Republic Pictures first introduced it's
famous flying suit in King of the Rocketmen. The title
role of Professor Jeffrey King, two-fisted rocket
propulsion expert, was played by veteran serial actor
Tristam Coffin. The story revolves around a select group
of highly specialized researchers known as Science
Associates. One diabolical member who calls himself Dr.
Vulcan secretly attempts to undermine the organization by
stealing a newly developed super-weapon called the
Decimator. When King is selected by the Associates to
investigate Vulcan's nefarious activities, he dons the
suit to become the mysterious Rocketman, enemy of all
things unsavory. For 12 pulse-pounding chapters,
jet-propelled King battles and ultimately destroys Vulcan
and his gang.
A series of dramatic, trampoline powered
take-offs performed by stunt legend Dave Sharpe combined
with footage of a specially wired dummy devised by the
studio's innovative special effects team of Howard and
Theodore Lydecker convincingly portrayed the swooping and
soaring hero. King of the Rocketmen proved to be
Republic's last top-notch serial production.
By the early fifties, science fiction was
becoming increasingly popular among matinee moviegoers. To
answer the call, Republic released Radar Men from the Moon
in 1952. This serial offered a space age spin as well as a
new character, dubbed Commando Cody. George Wallace, who
would go on to play the bosun's mate in MGM's 1956 classic
Forbidden Planet, appeared as Cody. His nemesis was Retik,
evil ruler of the Moon, portrayed by stock studio villain
Roy Barcroft. Unable to survive in the thin, dry
atmosphere of the Moon, Retik sends an agent, Krog, to
earth in an attempt to break down global defenses prior to
an impending lunar invasion. Aided by n'er do well Graber
(Clayton "Lone Ranger" Moore) and his partner
Daly, Krog attempts to systematicaly destroy key targets
using a truck mounted ray gun. To counter these deadly
attacks, the government enlists the services of Cody
Laboratories. In addition to his flying suit, the intrepid
Commando utilizes a newly developed rocket ship to combat
enemy forces locally and on the Moon. Retik's campaign is
finally derailed in chapter twelve and he himself
destroyed by his own ray gun during a failed return to his
home planet.
Radar Men utilized much of the stock flying
footage seen in King of the Rocketmen, with a few new
take-offs and airborne close ups thrown in. A miniature
rocket, filmed in a similar manner as the wired dummy,
provided some memorable images of space travel in broad
daylight. The off-world Moon tank chase sequence is not to
be missed. All in all, pretty solid stuff despite obvious
budget constraints.
Later that same year, Republic released two more
adventures showcasing the well traveled rocket suit. As
the serial era began to draw to a close, the studio
attempted to break into the low budget, juvenille-oriented
television market. Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the
Universe, was produced in twelve complete episodes without
cliffhanger endings. Although it originally aired
theatricaly, most remember seeing it during a 1955 TV run.
Judd Holdren starred as the masked Sky Marshal,
intergalactic guardian of the globe. In this installment,
Commando Cody and his assistants battle the Ruler, yet
another evil alien bent on world conquest. With the aid of
his flying suit and rocket ship, not to mention a cosmic
dust cloud, Cody is able to fend off a series of bizarre
attacks including deadly storms and broiling heat. Keep an
eye out in some of the early episodes for actor William
Schallert (who played the father on TV's Patty Duke Show)
as Cody's side-kick Ted Richards. However, my favorite
supporting role is that of The Ruler's
"communications babe", played by Gloria Pall,
whose sole purpose in the series seems to have been
driving young male movie patrons crazy.
After the first three Sky Marshal episodes were
in the can, the studio shifted gears and began filming the
third and final flying suit serial, Zombies of the
Stratosphere. Holdren, no longer sporting his mask, played
Larry Martin, the name originally selected for the lead in
Radar Men. Larry and the gang are pitted against Marex, a
Martian malcontent planning to construct and detonate a
hydrogen bomb on earth, causing it to spin out of orbit so
that Mars can take its place. This is the serial which
features a twenty-one year old Leonard Nimoy as Narab,
Marex's right hand man. The atmosphere of Mars has given
its inhabitants the ability to survive underwater for a
time so, logically, Marex's hidden cave / laboratory can
only be reached via a secret underwater entrance. Check
out the platform footwear used with the Martian costumes.
These were probably substituted with weighted boots during
the underwater sequences in which the aliens lumbered to
and from the lab.
Both Zombies and Sky Marshal are loaded with
stock footage and severly hampered by miniscule budgets.
Nevertheless, when compared to other offerings at the time
by studios like Columbia, the two films are still fun to
watch. Look for a cameo appearance by Republic's jaunty
old "water heater" robot as well as special
effects snippets from the serial era's golden age.
With the passage of time, changing movie
preferences and more sophisticated audiences, the
chapterplays faded into obscurity in the mid-fifties.
During the television super hero craze of the sixties
however, many serials, including the Rocketman trilogy,
reappeared for a short time as re-edited, feature lenght
films. More recently, artist Dave Stevens breathed new
life into the jet-powered hero with his character, the
Rocketeer, a Blackhawk / Rocketman hybrid. Disney's 1991
film (The Rocketeer) adaptation captured much of the
flavor of the classic cliffhangers. Finally, Paramount's
Star Trek : Voyager series paid homage to the original
Rocketman in a two episode send-up of vintage sci-fi
serials which featured (the Halo-deck creation) Captain
Proton, a Commando Cody-like character sans helmet.
If you haven't seen the three serials or
Commando Cody television series in awhile, good prints of
each are available on video as well as a newly released
DVD version of Radar Men from the Moon. I regularly
receive e-mails from rocket-fans as far away as Rio de
Janeiro who still enjoy recounting the exploits of
"Ol' Bullethead". As a long time serial fan,
there will always be a special place in my heart for
Rocketman, king of Saturday afternoon thrills.
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