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THE PHANTOM CREEPS
ULTIMATE EDITION HD BLU-RAY
(1939, 12 Chapters)
Featuring BELA LUGOSI and ROBERT KENT with DOROTHY ARNOLD
After his wife is killed in an accident for which he feels responsible, embittered scientist Dr. Alex Zorka, who has discovered a new powerful element that fell to Earth as a meteorite, becomes an insane megalomaniac. He plans to rule the world with an army of invincible robots and his invisibility device which he uses as "the Phantom." He is assisted in his mad schemes by an ex-crook named Monk he has sprung from prison and his "iron man," a ferocious robot. A military intelligence agent supported by a persistent and attractive reporter and his former partner, a benevolent scientist, stand against Zorka and his arsenal of scientific weapons, which include explosive spiders and a "Z-Ray," while at the same time a group of enemy agents led by DRACULA's Edward Van Sloan try to steal the secret of the meteorite for themselves.
The result is cliffhanger serial madness designed to thrill 10-year-old moviegoers in 1939, which has never had a decent video release and will be seen in superb original condition in the new Squadron HD Blu-Ray edition. It was fully transferred in HD from an original "pristine" print made from the Universal Pictures negative as it existed in the 1950s/60s before the "Commonwealth" TV/Re-release titles were cut into it and decomposition damage set in to that negative and destroyed some chapters.
This edition is the Best quality ever made available of this serial, and will very likely be the best quality that it is even possible to create. It is the first and only release ever to include the original Universal Pictures titles, which apparently exist nowhere else but in the print the Squadron has used for this transfer.
The Black and White transfer and restoration are complete and Blu-Rays are shipping now. Squadron logos are not present on the Blu-ray. A color version is currently being worked on and will be available when finished.