''Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.'' (1949) is a 12-episode

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

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 ...

produced by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...

during July 1948 and released in January 1949, an original

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

written collaboratively by Royal K. Cole,

Basil Dickey Basil Dickey (November 23, 1880 – June 17, 1958) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for more than 140 films between 1916 and 1958. He was born in Illinois and died in Long Beach, California. His brother was playwright and screenwrite ...

William Lively William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

and Sol Shor as a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

story with elements of "the mysterious

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

" incorporated in the plot.

Plot

Nila (Carol Forman), an Abistahnian criminal, and Spade Gordon (Roy Barcroft), an American gangster, conspire to form a super-mob dubbed Underworld, Incorporated, funded by the treasure of Kurigal I of Abistahn, instructions for the location of which are contained in hieroglyphics written on two golden statues in the shape of hands, found in Kurigal's tomb. When the professor in charge of the tomb's dig disappears under mysterious circumstances while translating the writing on one of the hands back at his American office, a team of special government agents led by David Worth (Kirk Alyn) and his aide Steve Evans, assisted by the professor's aide Laura Keith (Rosemary La Planche), set out to find the professor and the now-missing hands. The criminals manage to get possession of one of the Hands, but they need both of them to recreate the treasure map.

Cast

Kirk Alyn Kirk Alyn (born John Feggo Jr.; October 8, 1910 – March 14, 1999) was an American actor, best known for being the first actor to play the DC Comics character Superman in live-action for the 1948 movie serial ''Superman'' and its 1950 sequel ''At ...

as Inspector David Worth *

Rosemary LaPlanche Rosemary E. LaPlanche (October 11, 1923 – May 6, 1979) was an American beauty queen and actress. She won Miss California three years in a row (1939-1941), and won Miss America in 1941. Early life LaPlanche moved to southern California fr ...

as Laura Keith *

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 Re ...

as Spade Gordon *

Carol Forman Carol Forman (19 June 1919, Epes, Alabama – 9 July 1997, Burbank, California) was an American actress best known for playing exotic villains in action serials, particularly Spider Lady in the 1948 Superman serial, as well as Sombra, the ...

as Nila * James Dale as Agent Steve Evans * Bruce Edwards as Prof Paul Williams * James Craven as Prof James Clayton * Tristram Coffin as Frank Chambers

Production

''Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.'' was budgeted at $156,120 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 ho ...

was $155,807 (a $313, or 0.2%, under spend). It was the cheapest Republic serial of 1949. It was filmed between 6 July and 27 July 1948 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 ...

''Crime Fighters vs. Underworld, Inc.'' The serial's production number was 1701.

Stunts

* Tom Steele as Inspector David Worth/Spade Gordon/Frank Chambers (doubling Kirk Alyn, Roy Barcroft & Tristram Coffin) *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

as Inspector David Worth/Prof Paul Williams (doubling Kirk Alyn & Bruce Edwards) *

John Daheim John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

as Agent Steve Evans (doubling James Dale)

Special Effects

The special effects in this serial were created by the Howard & Theodore Lydecker, Republic's in-house effect team.

Release

Theatrical

''Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.s official release date is January 29, 1949, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.

Television

''Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.'' was one of twenty-six Republic serials re-released as a film on television in 1966. The title of the film was changed to ''Golden Hands of Kurigal''. This version was cut down to 100-minutes in length.

Chapter titles

:''Thirteen minutes and 20 seconds long, unless otherwise specified # The Golden Hands (20 minutes) # Criminals' Lair # Death in Disguise # Fatal Evidence # The Trapped Conspirator # Wheels of Disaster # The Hidden Key # The Enemy's Mouthpiece # The Stolen Hand # Unmasked - a re-cap chapter # Tombs of the Ancients # The Curse of Kurigal _Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Federal Agents Vs. Underworld, Inc 1949 films 1949 crime films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Republic Pictures film serials Films directed by Fred C. Brannon Films about treasure hunting Films set in a fictional country American crime films 1940s American films