Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
1936
film serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
based on the
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
"
Ace Drummond
''Ace Drummond'' is an aviation comic strip scripted by Eddie Rickenbacker and illustrated by Clayton Knight. In its run, it followed aviator Ace Drummond on his adventures around the world.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip ra ...
" written by Captain
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Clayton Knight. The serial's cast features John King,
Jean Rogers
Jean Rogers (born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren, March 25, 1916 – February 24, 1991) was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for ...
Lon Chaney Jr.
Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...
in a supporting role.
Plot
A mysterious villain who calls himself the Dragon is attempting to prevent International Airways from beginning service in Mongolia, in order to protect the secret of the mountain of jade for himself.
The serial features a dungeon in the nearby monastery, the kidnapping of an archeologist who stumbles onto the secret, his daughter's attempts to rescue him with Ace's help, a death ray the Dragon uses on the airline pilots, a radio system by which The Dragon communicates with his henchmen via the rotation of Buddhist prayer wheels (each transmission concluding "The Dragon commands!"), and a squadron of his own fighter planes.
Jean Rogers
Jean Rogers (born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren, March 25, 1916 – February 24, 1991) was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for ...
Guy Bates Post
Guy Bates Post (September 22, 1875 – January 16, 1968) was an American character actor who appeared in at least twenty-one Broadway plays and twenty-five Hollywood films over a career that spanned more than fifty years. He was perhaps best rem ...
as the Grand Lama
*
C. Montague Shaw
Charles Montague Shaw (23 March 1882 – 6 February 1968) was an Australian character actor, often appearing in small supporting parts in more than 150 films.
Shaw was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
He began his acting care ...
as Trainor
*Frederick Vogeding as Bauer
*
Al Bridge
Alfred Morton Bridge (February 26, 1891 – December 27, 1957) was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954. Bridge's persona was an unpleasant, gravel-voiced man with an untidy mous ...
as Wyckoff
*
Chester Gan
Chester Gan (1908-1959) was an American character actor of Chinese descent who worked in Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Biography
Chester Gan was born in Grass Valley, California, to Wing Hong Gan and Wong Shee. He went to China ...
as Kai-chek
*
James B. Leong
James B. Leong (born Leong But-jung and sometimes credited as Jimmy Leong) was a Chinese-American character actor and filmmaker who had a long career in Hollywood beginning during the silent era.
Leong was born in Shanghai, and he moved to the ...
as Henry Kee
*James Eagles as Johnny Wong
* Arthur Loft as Chang Ho
*
Lon Chaney Jr.
Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...
Richard Wessel
Richard Michael Wessel (April 20, 1913 – April 20, 1965) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 270 films between 1935 and 1966. He is best remembered for his only leading role, a chilling portrayal of strangler Harry "Cu ...
as Henchman Boris
together with:
Sam Ash
Sam Ash (born Samuel Ashkynase) was a violinist, teacher, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the Sam Ash Music Store.
Life and career
Early life
Ashkynase was born to Moishe and Mottle Ashkynase in a small town in Austria-Hungary ...
as LePage;
Hooper Atchley
Lemuel Hooper Atchley (April 30, 1887 – November 17, 1943) was an American film actor.
Atchley was the son of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Atchley. He was a 1908 graduate of the Knoxville, Tennessee, school system.
Atchley's first professional ac ...
as Caldoni; Louis Vincenot as Lo Tan; Eddie Parker as Dmitri; Tom Steele and George De Normand as Other Henchman;
Russell Wade
Russell Wade (June 22, 1917 – December 9, 2006) was an American actor.
Life and career
Russell Wade was born on June 21, 1917, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He signed an RKO contract in 1942. Having appeared in 80 films, his last one was ' ...
Ace Drummond was based on a comic strip by Captain
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Amelia Earhart. The famous aviator had driven out to the San Fernando Valley, after hearing that the serial was being shot there on location, where she watched the filming of the chapter two cliffhanger.
In the traditional foreword at the beginning of each chapter, Ace Drummond used comic strips to summarise the story so far. This worked well, and Universal who had been trying to get away from using written text in its forewords, used "similar gimmicks" in their succeeding serials.
Music
Ace also regularly performs his theme song, "Give Me a Ship and a Song".
Critical reception
In the words of Cline, Ace Drummond "exuded the futuristic aura of Flash Gordon combined with the eerie mystery of
Baron Frankenstein
''Frankenstein'' is a 1931 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein ...
's castle laboratory."
Chapter titles
* Chapter 1 - Where East Meets West
* Chapter 2 - The Invisible Enemy
* Chapter 3 - The Doorway of Doom
* Chapter 4 - The Radio Riddle
* Chapter 5 - Bullets of Sand
* Chapter 6 - Evil Spirits
* Chapter 7 - The Trackless Trail
* Chapter 8 - The Sign in the Sky
* Chapter 9 - Secret Service
* Chapter 10 - The Mountain of Jade
* Chapter 11 - The Dragon Commands
* Chapter 12 - The Squadron of Death
* Chapter 13 - The World's Akin
Source for titles:
See also
*
List of American films of 1936
This list of American films of 1936 compiles American feature-length film, motion pictures that were film release, released in 1936 in film, 1936.
''The Great Ziegfeld'' won Best Picture at the 9th Academy Awards, Academy Awards.
A
B
C
D
...