The Serial Squadron Cinema Cliffhanger Archive

THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS

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THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS
Blu-Ray/DVD
Featuring Lee Powell, Herman Brix and
The Lightning
Directed by William Witney

A group of heroic marines sent to Lingchuria battle a helmeted super-villain and murderer called The Lightning, who soars through the sky in a flying wing, controls "the power of electricity" and wants to use it to rule the world. The soldiers must use a combination of force and detective work to discover the Lightning's identity before he wreaks havoc upon the entire planet from his secret island headquarters.

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. So if that was the case, that is why the Doc Savage-type world-conquering villain Republic made up still remains in the serial. The Lightning was to become the cinematic prototype for the character Darth Vader in
Star Wars, so fans of those films should check it out. And, of course, this is also an opportunity to see Lee Powell, the screen's first Lone Ranger, in another leading role.

Picture and audio have been restored and while the original print, which was not "perfect," was sometimes variable where exposure was concerned, which created some occasional high-contrast scenes after adjustment, most of the footage has been adjusted to proper exposure and the transfer is clear, stable, and remarkably sharp throughout.

This title was only ever released by Republic Home Video 30 or so years ago as a VHS tape and all existing on or off-line versions are copies of that tape, in which contrast may be more even than in this edition but which is not sharp. The Squadron edition is a new transfer from film which has three times that resolution and is the sharpest video version of this serial in existence, appropriate for large-screen TV viewing.

The Fighting Devil Dogs new restored state-of-the-art HD film-scanner transfer is now available as a 1440 x 1080 Blu-Ray


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THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS Blu-Ray $21.95
Black and white, Widescreen with pillar-boxing, Menus, 3 hours 19 minutes.