The Phantom Creeps (1939)

Doctor Alex Zorka (Bela Lugosi ) is the hardest working Mad Scientist in the biz! When the US Government spurns his genius, Zorka decides to take his show on the road...

By this time, the Movie Serial was an established tradition with theater-goers everywhere, and of course Universal Studios wasn't going to let opportunity pass by. With dual Directors Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind working simultaneously, and Universal Studios putting up actors such as Robert Kent , Edward Van Sloan, Dorothy Arnold, Regis Toomey and the incomparable Bela Lugosi, and with a warehouse full of props and stock footage, the studio was able to fill 12 Chapters with mysterious elements, remote weaponry, invisibility belts, invincible robots and more twists than a corkscrew! Lugosi had embraced his unfortunate typecasting at this point, and his scenery-chewing antics lend this serial a frenetic energy lacking in many lesser works...

After its initial release, this serial was re-cut and edited as a film in its own right, turning the 12 chapter serial into a lean and mean 78 minutes of action, thrills and mayhem...Sound, B&W.