The Serial Squadron Cinema Cliffhanger Archive
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The Serial Squadron is a multimedia archive -- a soon-to-be non-profit library/archive supported by enthusiasts of the form, historians, and in cooperation with film archives and private collectors, which restores, repairs, and re-creates movie and audio serials not now available or have never been been commercially released by studios or legitimately licensed rightsholders in video, audio, and printed form. The Squadron is the home on the web of the original (male and female) cinema action heroes, and our goal is to preserve, restore and make available for viewing or study the original cliffhangers that inspired Star Wars and the Hollywood superhero blockbusters of today.
New Daily/Weekly Serials Viewable Online
DAILY SERIAL CHAPTER
The Squadron presents a serial chapter daily M-T-W-Th-F at 8:00 pm US EST
Free Admission
Go to the Squadron Facebook Group for the "watch party" every weeknight!
Next Up for Release:
THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS
Blu-Ray/DVD
Featuring Lee Powell, Herman Brix and The Lightning
Directed by William Witney
New restored state-of-the-art 2K HD film-scanner transfer
A group of heroic soldiers battle a helmeted super-villain called The Lightning, who was to become the cinematic prototype for the character Darth Vader in Star Wars. This serial may have been planned for Doc Savage but the title characters cast as Marines instead when the license fee for the character turned out to be too high for Republic to be able to afford. A Doc Savage-type world-conquering villain still remains in the serial.
NEW RESTORATIONS
NEW DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES & ARCHIVE TITLES
Restorations of these titles are complete and shipping now. Order buttons will appear when the Blu-ray and/or DVD is ready to ship.
Requests for new restorations usually ship within a week. We are experiencing a higher than usual volume of order requests right now and are not staffed like Amazon.com so please be patient about shipping. The email you receive with tracking number means your order has been received and is on the table being assembled and will ship when complete.
NOW AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY and DL-DVD
Just added and now available on DL-DVD: The Devil Horse, Jungle Menace, The Lone Defender, The Painted Stallion, The Rustlers of Red Dog and The Wolf Dog
THE ADVENTURES OF
FRANK MERRIWELL
Blu-Ray / DVD 2-Disk Set
Shipping Now
New restored state-of-the-art 2K HD film-scanner transfer
The dime novel super-sportsman come to life, with Flash Gordon's Jean Rogers. A very high-quality new HD transfer of the complete 12 chapter serial with long-missing opening and closing titles and musical cues restored.
Includes:
-- A mini-documentary about the character
-- The theatrical trailer
And a second disk which contains:
-- A silent Frank Merriwell film, Frank Merriwell in Arizona
-- 36 audio drama adventures of the college hero who could do anything.
View the Fardale Fight Song Video
ORDER BLU-RAY 2-Disk Set
ORDER DVD 2-Disk Set
THE WORLD
ADVENTURERS' CLUB/
MOON OVER AFRICA SERIAL
Audio DVD
17 Hours of wild and thoroughly politically incorrect 1930s tales featuring 45 ripping stories, one complete 26 episode serial (the captivating MOON OVER AFRICA), and 34 rousing songs. The World Adventurers Club stories are purportedly told by intrepid explorer types who visit lost lands to which they are usually not invited, in search of treasure, romance or dramatic adventure stories they can take back to their exclusive club and tell the other fellows about. They encounter lost tribes and escape sacrifice, fall in love with exotic women, and usually generally make a mess of things but escape a major catastrophe with their lives and broken hearts just in time. Short dramatized tales are intermixed with exotic songs performed by "the quartet."
Fully indexed on the back cover and in multiple illustrated menus (containing photos of the locations described in the stories) so any individual story or song can be located and played very easily.
ORDER AUDIO DVD
Shipping Now
GOVERNMENT AGENTS
VS. PHANTOM LEGION
Featuring Walter Reed
John Pickard, Dick Curtis
and Tom Steele
Blu-Ray/DVD
Responding to a wave of disasters and thefts befalling trucks carrying critical materials for the government's stockpile, agents Hal Duncan and Sam Bradley cooperate with the Interstate Truck Owners Association to try to stop the mysterious "Voice" and his henchmen from carrying out their acts of sabotage and thievery. Features plenty of stunt fighting, miniature effects by the Lydecker brothers and stock cliffhangers from previous serials seamlessly integrated with new footage.
Shipping Now
THE GALLOPING GHOST
Featuring Red Grange, Walter Miller, Dorothy Gulliver, Francis X. Bushman Jr., Tom London, and Ernie Adams
Blu-Ray/DVD
New restored state-of-the-art 2K HD film-scanner transfer
Pioneering football star Red Grange plays the college-age version of himself in this action-packed 1931 Mascot serial, one of its best and its biggest moneymakers. When he is framed for having taken a bribe to throw a game and gaslighted by a gang of crooks, he is forced to flee both the members of the criminal gambling ring behind the plot and at the same time attempt to clear his name. Buddy's sister Barbara becomes convinced of Red's innocence and she and a comical taxi driver named Jerry help him in his fight -- in the streets, by car and motorcycle, and by boat -- against the crooks, led by George Elton, (played by versatile serial actor Walter Miller), and the fiendish crooked man who lives in a "haunted house" where sometimes blood drips from the ceiling.
This video release was restored from a new HD digital transfer which was cleaned up in every way, picture, audio, stabilization, and artifact removal. Quality varies a little throughout based on the condition of the original film chapters, but is generally very good. The Blu-ray is formatted the same way as the Squadron's Crimson Ghost Blu-ray (1440 x 1080 with pillar-boxing) and should play in virtually all Blu-Ray players.
List price $21.95
List Price $17.95
SHIPPING NOW
SPY SMASHER
Blu-Ray / DL-DVD
Featuring KANE RICHMOND
MARGUERITE CHAPMAN
and HANS SCHUMM as the Mask
New restored state-of-the-art 2K HD film-scanner transfer Forget the quick-and-dirty knockoff junk on Amazon or eBay. This is stabilized and fully shot-by-shot restored and very high quality presentation of this serial, with restored audio as well. The transfer was done on a state-of-the-art film scanner, the restoration took 6 months of work to create and there is no higher quality video edition in existence anywhere.
Includes all 12 episodes in excellent condition transferred from a very good condition original print; restored shot by shot for picture and audio quality; almost no damage, dust or splices and the theatrical trailer. about 3 hours.
SHIPPING NOW
SON OF THE GUARDSMAN
Blu-Ray / DL-DVD
"I am sure that my dad would have been very proud of the fine work you did on restoring and creating the Blue Ray DVD version of his classic Columbia serial The Son Of The Guardsman" -- Mark G., son of actor Robert Shaw
Featuring ROBERT SHAW, DAUN KENNEDY, BUZZ HENRY, CHARLES KING and WHEELER OAKMAN
New restored state-of-the-art HD film-scanner transfer A unique serial, the only one ever done in "Robin-Hood style." With an engaging story in which a royal Guardsman's young son learns his lordly uncle is an evil oppressor of the peasantry and the murderer of his father and decides to join with a band of forest outlaws and an orphaned boy to fight him. Featuring a cast of enthusiastic second-stringers who were delighted to be cast in 1946 as WWII wound down and few male actors were available. The movie serial "Game of Thrones!" Includes all 15 episodes painstakingly stabilized and restored from 2 16mm prints; about 4 hours 45 minutes. Order the DVD if you are not sure you player will play the BD-R.
SHIPPING NOW
THE CRIMSON GHOST
Blu-Ray / DL-DVD
FEATURING CHARLES QUIGLEY, LINDA STIRLING, CLAYTON MOORE, KENNE DUNCAN
and ? as THE CRIMSON GHOST
(Voice by I. Stanford Jolley)
New restored state-of-the-art 2K HD film-scanner transfer A mysterious masked and cloaked super-villain seeks to control the power of the cyclotrode, a machine that can remotely control the operation of electrically-controlled mechanisms including airplane engines. Includes all 12 episodes in excellent condition transferred from a near-mint condition original print with a clear and very stable picture; almost no damage, dust or splices and the theatrical trailer. about 3 hours.
SHIPPING NOW
CAPTAIN AMERICA
Blu-Ray / DL-DVD UPGRADE
Featuring DICK PURCELL, ADRIAN BOOTH AND LIONEL ATWILL
This is the best available restored transfer of the serial, further restored from the previous edition which has been copied and bootlegged all over. And which was created in 2003 and therefore inferior to this edition. This major upgrade has been further polished and stabilized and shot-by-shot restored for picture and audio, with exposure adjustment, centering of titles, splice and damage removal and includes tons of extras. But before you order you must be sure your Blu-Ray player will play it. Check the lists of players which we know will be compatible with the disk before ordering. It will play on more than those, but those are confirmed by those who have tested the disk.
The Blu-Ray has slightly smoother motion but is the same resolution as the DVD version. The two are very close in quality and many may not notice much difference. Order the DVD if you are not sure you player will play the BD-R.
SERIALS IN PRODUCTION
These serials are being worked on now and will be released
within the next few weeks/months.
BRUCE GENTRY
DVD
Featuring Tom Neal
Aviator vs. flying saucers and crooks who works for "The Recorder," who wants to use them for nefarious purposes. Directed by Spencer Bennet in Republic serial-style.
THE VOICE FROM THE SKY
Blu-Ray
Featuring Hal Taliaferro
and Neva Gerber
The incredibly rare existing footage from the first sound serial, with an audio re-creation of the story adapted from the original script. An inventor creates a device which can broadcast his voice from the clouds, and foreign spies want "the secret of the air." The daughter of the scientist who is protected by a secret service agent, and a cloaked character appears called the Man from Nowhere whose motives are a mystery.
THE HOUSE
OF HATE
DVD/Novel
Featuring Pearl White and Antonio Moreno
The thrilling and influential serial featuring the queen of serials at the height of her career vs. the murderous Hooded Terror, the first significant masked super-villain of the serials. An upgraded transfer at the correct speed, with higher image quality.
Also in production: The original novelization of the serial, never before made available in the US.
THE ADVENTURES OF TARZAN
Upgraded to Blu-ray from new transfers of original chapters from 35mm which will be presented complete as opposed to in condensed form.
GHOST OF ZORRO
Blu-Ray/DL-DVD
Clayton Moore as a descendant of Zorro in the serial that won him the part of the Lone Ranger. New restored HD transfer.
THE ZORRO
CLIFFHANGER COLLECTION
Zorro's Fighting Legion, Zorro Rides Again, Son of Zorro and Ghost of Zorro collected and restored in a multiple-disk set
SERIAL BOOKS
Available Now
In Production
SERIAL SQUADRON RESTORATIONS
The Serial Squadron offers restorations of film serials in Blu-Ray, DVD, Audio and Book form. All our serials on Blu-ray and DVD are restored for picture/and or sound quality, mostly from new stabilized digital transfers of original film prints. Many also include custom extras and reconstruction of lost content.
The Squadron is not a commercial store that ships daily like Amazon.com.
It is a digital archive, the goal of which is to keep rare content perpetually available at a reasonable cost and never let it go out of print.
So titles are made to order for all requests.
For faster shipping, please limit library title requests to 4 tiles or less
and allow 1-4 weeks for delivery of any shipment.
DVD TITLES Available Now
Here are links to FLASH GORDON, ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, COMMANDO CODY and other currently available high quality commercial serial releases. We do not work on titles which have been released commercially by studios or those which have received legitimate distribution by secondary agencies.
SERIAL ANTHOLOGIES
2-Disk Set
3-Disk Set
2-Disk Set
ACTION HERO & HEROINE SERIALS
SCi-FI & FANTASY SERIALS
AVIATION, WAR & SPY SERIALS
CRIME & MYSTERY SERIALS
OCCULT & HORROR SERIALS
EXOTIC ADVENTURE SERIALS
JUNGLE SERIALS
PIRATE & SEA ADVENTURE SERIALS
MOUNTIE SERIALS
MASKED RIDER SERIALS
WESTERN SERIALS
MOVIE THEATER
Visit the Squadron Youtube channel to watch serial chapters online free
Or click Video to view more sample chapters and Squadron restorations on Amazon
SUBSCRIPTIONS
You can SUBSCRIBE and receive the latest Serial Squadron DVDs as soon as they are published. Visit the PATREON SERIAL SQUADRON VIP SUBSCRIBER PAGE for more details!
Visit the new sister group to the Serial Squadron
THE DAUGHTERS OF DARING
(Facebook Group)
ABOUT THE SERIAL SQUADRON
More information and Squadron history
It is our mission at the Squadron to preserve and restore the rarest of all historical theatrical cliffhanger movie serials of 1912-1956 and related series films and create restored editions of serials as yet unseen by the general public, or which are only viewable in poor or incomplete condition, and to keep all these titles available for purposes of historical research, study, remembrance value or to be seen by new audiences unfamiliar with the content. Most titles here come from new transfers done from original films and include restored picture and sound. Silent titles include new scores and missing content in any serial is re-created or summarized. Subscribers help us continue to restore new titles and when special projects surface we sometimes use pledge drives to help fund restorations.
The Squadron also publishes novelizations of lost serials and serial-related comics.
And some lost serials have been re-created as audio dramas and more will be presented in that form as time goes on.
Note: EVERYTHING here is an "upgrade." We will offer NO DVD copy of a serial that we believe exists in better condition anywhere else. We also do not copy studio releases of serials here, period; we do our own work and restorations. And if a studio makes a serial available commercially we will remove it from our list.
In accordance with current copyright law, no serials will be listed here unless they are public domain and/or more than 75 years old or in their last 20 years of a copyright term and not currently available as a commercial video product by a studio or legitimately licensed rights holder (if any). Copies of orphaned serials in which we have invested time and funds to preserve and restore are (legally) available to the public from this archive in accordance with Section 108 of the US Copyright law which states that “for preservation, scholarship or research, libraries or archives may reproduce, distribute, display or perform published works in their last 20 years of copyright if the work is not subject to commercial exploitation and cannot be obtained at a fair price.”
"Section 108 of the Copyright Act permits libraries and archives to make certain uses of copyrighted materials in order to serve the public and ensure the availability of works over time. Among other things, Section 108 provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives to make copies in specified instances for preservation, replacement and patron access. Section 108 was enacted as part of the Copyright Act of 1976, then amended in 1998 by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act, and in 2005 by the Preservation of Orphan Works Act."
SQUADRON RESTORATIONS CONTAINING ORIGINAL CONTENT ARE NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. BUY FROM THIS SITE OR LICENSED VENDORS ONLY
We have regrettably recently received reports of unlicensed vendors selling copies of copyrighted Squadron DVDs at conventions, in email lists, and on websites, including THE HOPE DIAMOND MYSTERY and even advertising illegal copies for sale in periodicals. Only Peter C. Walther of Rome NY, Frank Petrick, Norman Kietzer and the Lone Ranger Fan Club are licensed as a secondary distributors of Squadron DVDs so please do not order or purchase copies of Squadron publications from ANY other vendors; if you do you may be purchasing stolen property. Squadron restorations of public domain works are actively and legitimately copyrighted as "new versions" or derivative works, they are not public domain, even if their source material may be. Read about copyrights on derivative works at the Library of Congress. We reserve the right to register a copyright infringement complaint with the FBI, take legal action for damages, or file a charge of theft against any vendor selling copyrighted Squadron works without permission.
By ordering a copy of one of the restored public domain titles you agree to respect its copyright as a new version of a public domain work by the Squadron and not to copy or resell the DVD. In regards to orphaned (abandoned) titles, you agree that you are a writer, reviewer, historian, or library and research, review, or study is your purpose in requesting a copy of any of these films which we have taken pains to restore to as close to their original condition as possible.
"I AM THE SERIAL. I am the black sheep of the picture family and the reviled of critics.
I am the soulless one with no moral, no character, no uplift. All I do is try to amuse.
I am ashamed. Because I have so many friends I wonder if there is not some good in me.
I have ambitions. I will get better.
Until then, I suppose it is my fate to flaunt myself along, to put forth what petty virtues I have as best I can -- and pay for the birth of my high-brow brothers.
Ah, me, if only I could be respectable!" -- Pioneer serial producer/director George B. Seitz
More About the Squadron / Contact Info
Use this link to read more about the order system:
Help with Ordering
If you received an incorrect disk, to get your replacement quickly, please use the
DISK REPLACEMENT REQUEST FORM
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Customer Contact: Azura
Messages sent to other places may not be received or answered.
