The Phantom Creeps: Wikis

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Categories: 1939 films > American films > Black-and-white films > English-language films > Pre-1950 science fiction films > Universal Pictures film serials > Films directed by Ford Beebe > Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes

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The Phantom Creeps

Directed by	Ford Beebe Saul A. Goodkind
Produced by	Henry MacRae (associate producer)
Written by	Willis Cooper (original story) George Plympton Basil Dickey Mildred Barish (screenplay)
Starring	Béla Lugosi Dorothy Arnold Robert Kent
Music by	Charles Previn
Cinematography	Jerry Ash William Sickner
Editing by	Irving Birnbaum Joseph Gluck Alvin Todd
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	7 January 1939
Running time	12 chapters (265 min)
Country	United States
Language	English

The Phantom Creeps is a 1939 serial about a mad scientist who attempts to rule the world by creating various elaborate inventions. In a dramatic fashion, foreign agents and G-Men try to seize the inventions for themselves.

It was the 112th serial released by Universal Pictures and the 44th to have sound. The serial stars Béla Lugosi as the villainous Doctor Zorka with Dorothy Arnold and Robert Kent.

It was adapted in DC's Movie Comics #6, cover date September-October 1939, the final issue of that title.^[1]

The first three episodes of The Phantom Creeps were lampooned during the second season of the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Influence
5 Chapter titles
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot

Cast

Béla Lugosi as Doctor Alex Zorka. Lugosi received top billing for this, his final serial appearance.^[2]
Robert Kent as Captain Bob West, G-Man
Dorothy Arnold as Jean Drew, reporter
Edwin Stanley as Doctor Fred Mallory, Doctor Zorka's former partner
Regis Toomey as Lieutenant Jim Daley, G-Man
Jack C. Smith as Monk, Doctor Zorka's assistant
Edward Van Sloan as Jarvis, foreign spy chief
Dora Clement as Ann Zorka
Anthony Averill as Rankin, a foreign spy
Hugh Huntley as Perkins, Doctor Mallory's lab assistant
Ed Wolff as The Robot

Production

Stock footage was used from The Invisible Ray, including scenes of Dr Zorka finding the meteorite in Africa. The music came from the Frankenstein films. The Phantom Creeps' car chase was itself used as stock footage in later serials.^[3] Newsreel shots of the Hindenburg disaster were used as part of Dr Zorka's final spree of destruction after his robot, which is supposed to destroy the human race, is stopped by a single shot seconds after being unleashed.^[2]

The Toronto band United State also used footage for their music video "Automaton" in 1984.

Universal tried to improve serials by eliminating the written foreword at the start of each chapter. This led to The Phantom Creeps being the first serial in which the studio used vertically scrolling text as the foreword.^[4]

Influence

The innovation of the scrolling text version of the synopsis at the beginning of each chapter was used for the Star Wars films as the "Star Wars opening crawl".

Chapter titles

The Menacing Power
Death Stalks the Highways
Crashing Towers
Invisible Terror
Thundering Rails
The Iron Monster
The Menacing Mist
Trapped in the Flames
Speeding Doom
Phantom Footprints
The Blast
To Destroy the World

_Source:^[5]

References

^ Kohl, Leonard J (May/June 1996). "The Sinister Serials of Bela Lugosi". Filmfax magazine: pp. 44.
^ ^a ^b Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut. "14. The Villains "All Bad, All Mad"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 349–350. ISBN 9780713000979.
^ Stedman, Raymond William. "3. At This Theater Next Week". Serials: Suspense and Drama By Installment. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 95. ISBN 9780806109275.
^ Stedman, Raymond William. "5. Shazam and Good-by". Serials: Suspense and Drama By Installment. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780806109275.
^ Cline, William C.. "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc.. p. 225. ISBN 078640471X.

External links

Preceded by The Oregon Trail (1939)	Universal Serial The Phantom Creeps (1939)	Succeeded by The Green Hornet (1940)

Universal serials

Serials

Silent Serials (1914-1929)	Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery • The Master Key • The Trey o' Hearts • The Black Box • The Broken Coin • Graft • Under the Crescent • The Adventures of Peg o' the Ring • Liberty • The Mystery Ship • The Red Ace • The Gray Ghost • The Voice on the Wire • The Brass Bullet • Bull's Eye • The Lion's Claws • Lure of the Circus • The Red Glove • The Great Radium Mystery • The Lion Man • The Midnight Man • The Flaming Disc • The Moon Riders • King of the Circus • The Vanishing Dagger • The Dragon's Net • The Diamond Queen • Do or Die • The Secret Four • Terror Trail • The White Horseman • Winners of the West • The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • In the Days of Buffalo Bill • Perils of the Yukon • The Radio King • With Stanley in Africa • Around the World in Eighteen Days • Beasts of Paradise • The Eagle's Talons • The Ghost City • In the Days of Daniel Boone • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Fortune • The Social Buccaneer • The Steel Trail • The Fast Express • The Fighting Ranger • The Iron Man • The Riddle Rider • Wolves of the North • Ace of Spades • The Great Circus Mystery • The Scarlet Streak • Fighting with Buffalo Bill • Strings of Steel • The Winking Idol • Blake of Scotland Yard • The Fire Fighters • The Return of the Riddle Rider • The Trail of the Tiger • Whispering Smith Rides • Haunted Island • Tarzan the Mighty • The Vanishing Rider • The Diamond Master • A Final Reckoning • The Pirate of Panama

Part-sound Serials (1929-1930)	The Ace of Scotland Yard • Tarzan the Tiger • The Jade Box • The Lightning Express • Terry of the Times • The Indians Are Coming

Pre-war Sound Serials (1931-1942)	Finger Prints • Heroes of the Flames • Danger Island • Battling with Buffalo Bill • The Spell of the Circus • Detective Lloyd • The Airmail Mystery • Heroes of the West • The Jungle Mystery • The Lost Special • Clancy of the Mounted • The Phantom of the Air • Gordon of Ghost City • The Perils of Pauline • Pirate Treasure • The Vanishing Shadow • The Red Rider • Tailspin Tommy • Rustlers of Red Dog • The Call of the Savage • The Roaring West • Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery • The Adventures of Frank Merriwell • Flash Gordon • The Phantom Rider • Ace Drummond • Jungle Jim • Secret Agent X-9 • Wild West Days • Radio Patrol • Tim Tyler's Luck • Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars • Flaming Frontiers • Red Barry • Scouts to the Rescue • Buck Rogers • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Creeps • The Green Hornet • Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe • Winners of the West • Junior G-Men • The Green Hornet Strikes Again! • Sky Raiders • Riders of Death Valley • Sea Raiders

War-time Serials (1942-1945)	Don Winslow of the Navy • Gang Busters • Junior G-Men of the Air • Overland Mail • The Adventures of Smilin' Jack • Don Winslow of the Coast Guard • Adventures of the Flying Cadets • The Great Alaskan Mystery • Raiders of Ghost City • Mystery of the River Boat • Jungle Queen • The Master Key • Secret Agent X-9

Post-war Serials (1945-1946)	The Royal Mounted Rides Again • The Scarlet Horseman • Lost City of the Jungle • The Mysterious Mr. M

See also

Film serials List of film serials • List of film serials by studio

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