Brenda Starr, Reporter | |
---|---|
Directed by | Wallace Fox |
Written by | Ande Lamb Dale Messick George H. Plympton |
Produced by | Sam Katzman |
Starring | Joan Woodbury Kane Richmond |
Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
Edited by | Charles Henkel Jr. |
Music by | Edward J. Kay |
Production company | Sam Katzman Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 243 minutes (13 Chapters) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945) was the 25th film serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was inspired by Brenda Starr, Reporter , a popular comic strip created by Dale Messick. The title role was played by Joan Woodbury, who had similar roles in feature films for Columbia and Monogram. [1]
Daily Flash newspaper journalist Brenda Starr (Joan Woodbury), and her photographer, Chuck Allen (Syd Saylor), are assigned to cover a fire in an old house, where they discover the wounded Joe Heller (Wheeler Oakman), a mobster suspected of stealing a quarter-million-dollar payroll. The dying Heller tells Brenda that someone took his satchel of stolen money and he gives her a coded message. Kruger (Jack Ingram), the gangster who shot Heller, escapes to his gang's hideout with the bag, but discovers it is filled with paper rather than money. The gang, knowing Heller gave Brenda a coded message, makes many attempts on her life to get her to reveal where Heller hid the payroll money, but thanks to Chuck and Police Lieutenant Larry Farrel (Kane Richmond), she evades them, until Pesky (William 'Billy' Benedict), a Daily Flash office boy, succeeds in decoding the Heller message.
In September 1944 Katzman signed a deal to make the film. [3]
Joan Woodbury later recalled:
It was made during the war and everybody was hungry, including me. My former husband had gone off to war. I was left with a little daughter. So you grabbed anything you could grab and, believe me, you were very grateful for anything that came along. This was a 13 episode thing, in 21 days! The only reason they gave me the role was the fact I could learn dialogue fast enough to do everything in one take. The most memorable thing is, on the last night, the back of the set was one solid bar and there wasn’t an inch of space between one bottle and the next. Everybody was waiting for the wrap-up, so we could have a party! But I had 19 pages of dialogue on a telephone, with nobody talking back to me. It’s great if an actor talks back, you can at least ad lib on his ad libs. When you have nobody talking back, you’ve got nobody to ad lib you. So I’d look at a page and say, ‘Okay, let’s do it,’ pick up the phone and we’d shoot it. I shot all 19 sequences in one take, because they were going to kill me if I didn’t, with all that booze waiting; and I proceeded to get bombed after that. (Laughs) Sam, at least, realized it was cheaper to hire a stuntlady than break my leg. So I didn’t fall out of windows…I didn’t have any fun at all. (Laughs) I didn’t care to do any more serials. [4]
The serial's theatrical release date was 26 January 1945.
Brenda Starr, Reporter is one of the last sound serials to be made available commercially. For many years, the serial was considered lost, with only a single known print in the hands of a private collector. The serial was released on DVD by VCI Entertainment in March 2011.
Cline writes that Woodbury "managed to carry the story from one episode to another in fine style, leaving herself in jeopardy just enough to require [Richmond's] services as a rescuer each week... [she] salvaged by her beauty and charm what might have been Katzman's greatest fiasco except for Who's Guilty?" [1]
The website filesofjerryblake.com writes about the film:
Brenda Starr, Reporter spent over sixty years as a “lost” serial, not receiving a post-1945 public screening until it was shown at the fan event “Serial Fest” in 2006–and not coming out on commercial DVD until 2011. Because of its long unavailability and the understandable jubilation attendant upon its rediscovery, it hasn’t been as uniformly or as harshly criticized as other early Katzman Columbias like Who’s Guilty, Son of the Guardsman, Hop Harrigan, and Chick Carter, Detective have been. However, it’s fully as listless as those disappointing efforts; though its cast is stronger overall than those of Guilty, Guardsman, or Harrigan, this strength is offset by Brenda’s more complete lack of action. Its closest relative is Chick Carter, with which (as we’ve seen) it shares many plotting similarities; like that chapterplay, it’s ultimately sunk by a thin, talky, uninteresting, and nearly action-free screenplay, despite a solid acting lineup of B-movie and serial veterans. [5]
Source: [6]
Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere is an American adventure horror science fiction film 15-chapter serial released by Columbia Pictures in 1951. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Wallace A. Grissel with a screenplay by Royal G. Cole, Sherman I. Lowe and Joseph F. Poland, based on a treatment by George H. Plympton. The serial is unique for several reasons--- in particular, it is the only film serial ever based on a television program, Captain Video and His Video Rangers.
The Lost Planet is a 1953 American science fiction serial film 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay by George H. Plympton and Arthur Hoerl. It appears to have been planned as a sequel to the earlier chapterplay Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere and shares many plot-points, props and sets, as well as some of the same cast. However, the Video Rangers do not appear, and their uniforms are instead worn by "slaves" created electronically by Reckov, the dictator of the Lost Planet with the help of mad scientist Dr. Grood and enslaved "good" scientist Professor Dorn.
The Adventures of Captain Africa is a 1955 adventure serial film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring John Hart.
The Phantom is a 1943 15-chapter cliffhanger superhero serial, produced by Rudolph C. Flothow, directed B. Reeves Eason, and starring Tom Tyler in the title role. It is based on Lee Falk's comic strip The Phantom, first syndicated to newspapers in 1936 by King Features Syndicate. The serial also features Jeanne Bates as the Phantom's girlfriend Diana Palmer, and Ace the Wonder Dog as the Phantom's trusty German shepherd Devil.
The Lost Jungle (1934) is a Mascot Pictures movie serial. A semi-sequel to this serial, Darkest Africa, was released by Republic Pictures in 1936. Republic was made from a merger of several companies, including Mascot, which became the B-Western and serial production arm of the company, as well as providing them with a studio.
Darkest Africa (1936) is a Republic movie serial. This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle, also starring Clyde Beatty. Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and merged to become Republic. Producer Nat Levine was formerly the owner of Mascot Pictures.
Haunted Harbor (1944) is a Republic serial, based on the novel by Ewart Adamson.
Fighting with Kit Carson is a 1933 American pre-Code Mascot Pictures film serial. It was edited into a feature film by Al Dezel Productions in 1946 and released to theaters as a movie. Johnny Mack Brown starred as Kit Carson, and Betsy King Ross played his love interest, Joan Fargo. The film also starred Tully Marshall and both Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr.
The Airmail Mystery is a 1932 Universal pre-Code movie serial directed by Ray Taylor, written by Ella O'Neill, starring James Flavin and Wheeler Oakman, and featuring Al Wilson doing the aerial stunts. The Airmail Mystery was Universal's first aviation serial that set the pattern for the aviation serials and feature films to follow. The film also marks the film debut of James Flavin. The Airmail Mystery is considered a lost film.
Radio Patrol is a 1937 Universal movie serial based on the comic strip Radio Patrol.
Red Barry is a 1938 13-chapter Universal movie serial based on the comic strip Red Barry by Will Gould.
Wheeler Oakman was an American film actor.
Brick Bradford (1947) was the 35th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on the comic strip Brick Bradford, which was created by Clarence Gray and William Ritt.
Adventures of Sir Galahad is the 41st serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, it stars George Reeves, Nelson Leigh, William Fawcett, Hugh Prosser, and Lois Hall. It was based on Arthurian legend, one of the very few serials of the time with a period setting that was not a western.
Who's Guilty? is a 1945 American film serial. It was the 28th of 57 serials released by Columbia Pictures. Who's Guilty? was a rare attempt at a whodunit mystery film in serial form. The serial's villain was designed to look like The Shadow on the poster. The film co-starred some well-known actors, such as Charles Middleton, Wheeler Oakman and Minerva Urecal. Robert Kent played the lead role of Detective Bob Stewart.
Hop Harrigan (1946) is a Columbia film serial, based on the Hop Harrigan comic books by DC Comics. The serial comprised 15 two-reel chapters with Derwin Abrahams as the director, and Sam Katzman, the producer. Columbia Pictures was one of the last Hollywood studios to continue in postwar years with the serial format. By 1947, Universal Pictures discontinued their serials, with only Republic Pictures and Columbia continuing with serials. The last serial was Columbia's Blazing the Overland Trail (1956).
Son of the Guardsman is an American film serial released in 1946 by Columbia Pictures. It was the 31st of the 57 serials produced by that studio.
Jack Armstrong (1947) is a Columbia film serial, based on the radio adventure series Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy.
Derwin Abrahams (1903–1974) was an American film director. He directed four serials in the 1940s for Columbia Pictures, including Hop Harrigan, Chick Carter, Detective, Tex Granger, and Son of the Guardsman, followed by The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd in 1953. He also directed around two dozen western features, as well as episodes of the TV series The Adventures of Kit Carson, Hopalong Cassidy and The Cisco Kid.