''Manhunt of Mystery Island'' (1945) is a

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

Movie 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 ...

. It was the thirty-sixth serial produced by Republic (of a total of sixty-six) and the first released in 1945. It is the penultimate 15-chapter serial to be released by the studio. The year 1945, the end of the Golden Age of Serials, was the last in which Republic released any 15-chapter serials, the remainder being either 12 or 13 chapters in length. In 1966 footage from the serial was edited together into the 100-minute film ''Captain Mephisto and the Transformation Machine''. Three of the serial's cliffhanger gags / set pieces are copied in ''

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise, and a prequel to the 1981 film ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', fea ...

''.

Plot

A breakthrough scientific device will revolutionize the world's energy usage if the kidnapped creator can be found. To rescue her father, Claire Forrest enlists the help of private detective, Lance Reardon. Clues lead them to a remote Pacific isle known only as ''Mystery Island'', where the two confront sinister and astonishing forces. The descendants of a long-dead pirate, Captain Mephisto are holding the scientist for their own gain. Worst of all, one of the heirs possesses a ''Transformation Machine'' with the impossible ability of changing him into the molecular duplicate of his ancestor, Mephisto.

Cast

*Richard Bailey as Lance Reardon, a private detective *

Linda Stirling Linda Stirling (born Louise Schultz; October 11, 1921 – July 20, 1997) was an American showgirl, model, and actress. In her later years, she had a second career as a college English professor for more than two decades. She is most famous ...

as Claire Forrest, daughter of Professor Forrest *

Roy Barcroft Roy Barcroft (born Howard Harold Ravenscroft; September 7, 1902 – November 28, 1969) was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. From 1937 to 1957, he appeared in more than 300 films for R ...

as Higgins/ Captain Mephisto *

Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan (February 17, 1903 – February 5, 1972) was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but ...

as Sidney Brand *

Forrest Taylor Edwin Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 – February 19, 1965) was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color films. Early years Taylor was born in Bl ...

as Professor William Forrest, inventor of the Radiatomic Power Transmitter *Forbes Murray as Professor Harry Hargraves *

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although ...

as Edward Armstrong *

Harry Strang Harry Strang (December 13, 1892 – April 10, 1972) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 500 films and television shows between 1929 and 1965. On Broadway, Strang appeared in ''The Girl in the Train'' (1910). Primarily a characte ...

as Frederick "Fred" Braley *

Ed Cassidy Edward Claude Cassidy (May 4, 1923 – December 6, 2012) was an American jazz and rock drummer who was one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967. Biography Ed Cassidy was born in Harvey, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago on May 4, ...

as Paul Melton

Production

''Manhunt of Mystery Island'' was budgeted at $167,912 although the final

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example ''The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural h ...

was $182,388 (a $14,476, or 8.6%, overspend). It was filmed between 16 October and 18 November 1944 under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

s ''Mystery Island'' and ''Manhunt''. The serial's production number was 1496.

Release

Theatrical

''Manhunt of Mystery Islands official release date is 17 March 1945, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on 2 January 1956 between the similar re-releases of ''

Dick Tracy's G-Men ''Dick Tracy's G-Men'' (1939) is a 15-Chapter Republic movie serial based on the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by William Witney and John English. This serial was the fifteenth of the sixty-six produced by Repu ...

'' and ''

Adventures of Frank and Jesse James ''Adventures of Frank and Jesse James'' is a 1948 Republic film serial directed by Fred C. Brannon and Yakima Canutt and starring Clayton Moore, Steve Darrell, Noel Neill, George J. Lewis, John Crawford, and Sam Flint. Plot Cast * Clayto ...

''. The last original Republic serial release was ''

King of the Carnival ''King of the Carnival'' (1955) is a Republic movie serial that contains a substantial amount of stock footage from the earlier Republic serial ''Daredevils of the Red Circle''. It is the 66th and final serial produced by Republic and is ofte ...

'' in 1955.

Television

''Manhunt of Mystery Island'' was one of twenty-six Republic serials re-released as a "Century 66" film on television in 1966. The title of the film was changed to ''Captain Mephisto and the Transformation Machine''. This version was cut down to 100 minutes in length.

Chapter titles

# Secret Weapon (24min 38s) # Satan's Web (14min 27s) # The Murder Machine (14min 26s) # The Lethal Chamber (14min 27s) # Mephisto's Mantrap (14min 26s) # Ocean Tomb (14min 27s) # The Death Trap (14min 27s) # Bombs Away (14min 26s) # The Fatal Flood (13min 20s) # The Sable Shroud (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter # Satan's Shadow (13min 20s) # Cauldron of Cremation (13min 20s) # Bridge to Eternity (13min 20s) # Power Dive to Doom (13min 20s) # Fatal Transformation (13min 20s) _Source:

References

External links

* *
Manhunt of Mystery Island: A review from an Objectivist perspective
by David P. Hayes
''Manhunt of Mystery Island'' at Sci-fi Movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manhunt Of Mystery Island 1945 films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s science fiction adventure films Republic Pictures film serials Films directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet American science fiction adventure films Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1940s American films