Fighting Devil Dogs

Fighting Devil Dogs, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. My all-time favorite Lee Powell film is the 1938 serial THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS. (The studio had to call it that because the title THE FIGHTING MARINES had already been used a few years earlier.) Lee Powell and Herman Brix (who was one of the many actors who played Tarzan) are two Marine lieutenants tracking down a mystery villain known as “The Lightning.” An electronics genius, the Lightning has devised a way to make guided missiles that have been charged with lethal amounts of electricity. When the missile hits something, everyone in the immediate area is instantly electrocuted. (Considered a madman in 1938, the Lightning would today be receiving lucrative Government defense contracts!) In Chapter 1, the first of these “torpedoes of doom” is used to wipe out the garrison of a fort in the Chinese province of “Lingchuria.” LT Tom Grayson (Powell) and LT Frank Corby (Brix) and their platoon of Marines stumble upon the crime scene and are baffled as to what killed everyone. (Even the flies are dead!) While Grayson and Corby are investigating the grounds outside, a second torpedo hits the fort, killing the platoon. Later, back in San Diego, a Marine court of inquiry is convened to fix blame on whoever was responsible. One of the Lightning’s cohorts telephones and is about to “give the game away” when he is electrocuted by the Lightning, who uses a hand-held device that shoots bolts of electricity. This all happens within the serial’s first 15 minutes and only half way through the first chapter! By then, most of the audience can probably be counted upon to keep coming back for eleven more weeks to see it all. When I first saw this on TV back in the early 1950s it made quite an impression on me. Watching it today, I’m still impressed by how well it was done, including the music and special effects. All in all, it has a lot more going for it than most of the mindless drivel that Hollywood produces today. THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS is considered to be one of the top 10 sound serials of all time and it’s not hard to see why. Unlike THE LONE RANGER, Lee Powell is clearly the lead hero from the beginning, and has plenty of opportunities to demonstrate his acting ability and athletic prowess. One of my favorite cliffhanger endings comes in Chapter 8 “Tides of Trickery.” Lee Powell’s character LT Tom Grayson is chasing some of the Lightning’s minions in a speedboat. The chase passes between the hulls of two moored ships. Just as Tom’s launch is passing between them, the hulls swing together, crushing his craft. (This same peril was later reused in one of the Indiana Jones films.) During the 1960s, THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS was released to TV in a feature film version called THE TORDEDO OF DOOM. The complete serial is (or was at one time) available commercially in the VHS format. If you’re old enough to have seen serials in theaters or on television, this one will bring back a lot of happy memories. If you’ve never seen a serial before and are wondering what all the fuss was about, this one provides an excellent example of what the best of them were like.