The Spider Returns (1941)(2 disc) DVD-R

Starring Warren Hull, Mary Ainslee, Dave O'Brien, Joseph W. Girard,
Kenne Duncan
Directed by James W. Horne

Print: black/white
Runtime: 330 min.
Genre: action
Print Quality: B

Columbia's 14th serial (between "White Eagle" and "The Iron Claw") and
the second serial based upon the character in the pulp magazine from
Street and Smith "The Spider Magazine." Some sources, evidently based
on their knowledge that L. Ron Hubbard and Norvell Page wrote stories
for that magazine, have incorrectly credited them as being writers of this
serial. The only serial that L. Ron Hubbard wrote was 1938's "The Secret
of Treasure Island" filmed by Columbia, and the only connection Page has
is that he wrote stories about the character in the magazine. Chapter
One, "The Stolen Plans", has a gang of saboteurs, led by The Gargoyle, a
mysterious and powerful agent for an unnamed country, playing havoc
with National Defense projects. Socialite Richard Wentworth (Warren
Hull), alias the Spider, returns to continue his crusade against the
underworld. Wentworth calls a meeting of the nation's biggest business
men, but the Gargoyle's men disrupt it with a tear-gas bomb. Chasing
after them, Wentworth is taken prisoner and placed aboard an airplane.
The pilot sets it afire and bails out, with Wentworth unconscious in the
plunging-to-earth airplane as the first episode ends. Knox Manning
asking if this is the end is easily answered by those who knew this was a
15 chapter serial, and that neither The Spider (in chapter two) nor Blinky
McQuade (in chapter four) had yet made an entrance. The quest by
Wentworth/Spider/McQuade to learn the identity of the Gargoyle isn't
helped any by the fact that he is one of the businessnmen in attendance
at every meeting Wentworth calls to discuss his future plans. Based on
pure fun, this is one of the, to use a relative term, best of the James W.
Horne-directed serials, but the absence of James Craven foaming at the
mouth and screaming at the henchmen - "Idiots! Idiots! I'm surrounded by
idiots!" - is sorely missed.