A Gentleman of Leisure is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. The basic plot first appeared in a novella, The Gem Collector, in the December 1909 issue of Ainslee's Magazine.
The Last Performance is a 1929 American sound part-talkie film directed by Paul Fejos and starring Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The talking sequences were featured on the last reel.
Federal Operator 99 is a 1945 American movie serial from Republic Pictures. It was later edited down into a feature version titled F.B.I. 99 for television. The serial is about an FBI agent named Jerry Blake who battles gentleman thief Jim Belmont, who escapes custody with help of his gang and begins a wave of crimes, beginning with plotting to steal the crown jewels of the Princess Cornelia.
Tarzan the Tiger (1929) is a Universal movie serial based on the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It stars Frank Merrill as Tarzan, Natalie Kingston as Jane, and Al Ferguson. It was directed by Henry MacRae.
Detective Lloyd (1931) is a 12-chapter Universal movie serial. A co-production between the American company Universal and the British company General Films, it was filmed entirely in Britain with British and Commonwealth actors. It was the only sound serial ever produced in the UK. Although a print was shown on British and Swedish TV as recently as the 1970s, the film is now considered lost.
The Lost Special is a 1932 American Pre-Code Universal movie serial based on the 1898 short story "The Lost Special" by Arthur Conan Doyle. This adaptation deleted all references to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes character, and moved events to the American Old West.
Pirate Treasure is a 1934 Universal film serial. It was the twenty-first sound serial released by Universal, of the sixty-nine they released in total. It was a rare example of the swashbuckling genre in the film serial medium.
Secret Agent X-9 (1937) is a Universal film serial based on the comic strip Secret Agent X-9 by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond.
Sky Raiders is a 12-episode 1941 Universal film serial. The serial was directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor. Sky Raiders stars Donald Woods, Billy Halop, Robert Armstrong and Eduardo Ciannelli. Sky Raiders has little in common with Universal's other early-1940s espionage outings like Sea Raiders or Junior G-Men, although the serial is often lumped in together as if it is part of a series.
The Green Archer is the 12th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on Edgar Wallace's 1923 novel The Green Archer, which had previously been adapted into the silent serial of the same name in 1925 by Pathé Exchange.
Raffles is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-mystery film produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It stars Ronald Colman as the title character, a proper English gentleman who moonlights as a notorious jewel thief, and Kay Francis as his love interest. It is based on the play Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1906) by E. W. Hornung and Eugene Wiley Presbrey, which was in turn adapted from the 1899 short story collection of the same name by Hornung.
Blake of Scotland Yard is a 1927 American silent action film serial directed and co-written by Robert F. Hill. It starred Hayden Stevenson, Grace Cunard, and Monte Montague, plus an uncredited appearance by Walter Brennan. It was followed by a sequel, 1929's The Ace of Scotland Yard.
Tarzan the Mighty is a 1928 American silent action film serial directed by Jack Nelson and Ray Taylor. It was nominally based on the collection Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film is now considered to be lost.
The Fatal Ring is a 1917 American action film serial directed by George B. Seitz. Silentera.com reports that the UCLA Film and Television Archive may have a complete print. A deteriorating fragment roll containing a scene is discovered in France by Australian filmmaker Robert Hoskins in 2021 who then scanned it and uploaded it to his YouTube channel.
The Hope Diamond Mystery is a 1921 American 15-chapter action film serial directed by Stuart Paton and featuring Grace Darmond, George Chesebro, May Yohe, and Boris Karloff. The screenplay was written by Charles Goddard and John B. Clymer, based on an autobiographical story by May Yohe.
Blake of Scotland Yard is a 1937 Victory Pictures American film serial directed by Robert F. Hill. The serial was also edited down into a feature film version.
The Moonstone is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Reginald Barker and starring David Manners, Phyllis Barry, Gustav von Seyffertitz and Jameson Thomas. It is an adaptation of the 1868 novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. The film retains the book's British location, but uses a contemporary 1930s setting rather than the Victorian era of the original. It is one of three film versions of the novel, which include silent versions in 1915 and 1909, although a number of television and radio adaptations have been made.
The Lone Wolf in London is a 1947 American mystery crime film directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Gerald Mohr, Nancy Saunders and Eric Blore. The picture features the fictional Scotland Yard detective the Lone Wolf who travels to London, and solves the mystery of some missing jewels. It was the penultimate Lone Wolf film, followed by The Lone Wolf and His Lady in 1949, and the last for Mohr in the lead role.
The Solitaire Man is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Herbert Marshall and Mary Boland.
A serial film,film serial, movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed. Usually, each serial involves a single set of characters, protagonistic and antagonistic, involved in a single story, which has been edited into chapters after the fashion of serial fiction and the episodes cannot be shown out of order or as a single or a random collection of short subjects.
