The Spider Returns (1941) film series (film series review)
Despite assuring his wife Nita (actress Mary Ainslee) that he had put his Spider identity to rest, Richard Wentworth (actor Warren Hull) is on the prowl again, this time against the Gargoyle and his gang. More so when a theft of secret documents and ignoring the cash is carried out. The Spider leaves two of the gang for the police and takes the documents himself, figuring they would be safer with him.
For a change from the first Spider serial, Wentworth’s intention this time is to infiltrate the Gargoyle’s gang in his guise as the criminal Blinky McQuade. Seeing Wentworth put on his disguise by padding his cheeks, a set of missing teeth and one blinkered eye, plus a padded suit and raspy voice certainly does that. Considering the Gargoyle’s policy of not trusting new recruits, even voluntary ones, and planning to kill them, its amazing he has a gang at all.
Its never made particularly clear if the Gargoyle is a foreign agent with his desire to take over America’s utilities or just an American opportunist wanting to monopolise. More so as the heads of these utilities regularly meet up with Commissioner Kirk (actor Joseph W. Girard) who brings in Wentworth as crime consultant with his own ‘plans’. He also has to watch himself because Kirk suspects he’s not only the Spider but possibly even the Gargoyle.
There’s a lot of thwarting and perils over the 15 episodes. Wentworth has to be rescued by his team from time to time and has a lot of buildings’ roofs fall on him, fires and chemical spillages. The Spider frequently gets into fights and I guess his mask stops him getting too many facial bruises. The repeat of the last scene from the previous episode occasionally shows how he escapes. The cliff-hanger is frequently spoilt by showing scenes further into the next episode which sort of ignores the danger.
So who is the Gargoyle? Hints are given three episodes from the end with a lot of shifty eyes and practically skipped in the final episode as to what his motivation actually was. Then again, this was released in 1941 and such things weren’t really deemed that important to that generation who, after 15 weeks, probably wanted it to end.
Although there were some 54 Republican film serials and this is the fourteenth. I doubt if I’ll see all of them or if they are all available in one format or other. However, if you are interested in seeing what your grandparents might have seen in the cinema when young, then its worth pursuing these boxsets. Who knows, the fedora might become fashionable again.
GF Willmetts
October 2023
(pub: Trip Discs. 2 DVDs 15 episodes – first * 30 minute and 14 * 22 minute episodes)
cast: Warren Hull, Mary Ainslee, David O’Brien, Joseph W. Girard, Kenne Duncan, Corvet Morris. Bryant Washburn, Charles Miller and many more,
check out website: www.tripdiscs.com
