THE SPIDER'S WEB
The Spider's Web is a 1938 Columbia Pictures movie serial based on the popular pulp magazine character The Spider. The first episode of this 15-chapter serial was double-length and directed by serial and western specialist Ray Taylor and by comedy and serial veteran James W. Horne; it was the fifth of the 57 serials released by Columbia.
PLOT[]
"The Octopus," a masked crime lord, is bent on crippling the U. S. with a wave of terror. He starts with the transportation system and then moves onto industry. He demands tribute from railroad magnates and other captains of industry. Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), an amateur criminologist who is friendly with the police and is secretly "The Spider," a masked vigilante, is equally determined to destroy the Octopus and his gang. Pleasant and smiling in civilian life, Wentworth is frequently ruthless as The Spider, using his two .45 automatic pistols against any public enemies who attack him.
Wentworth also masquerades as affable underworld lowlife Blinky McQuade. Disguised as McQuade, Wentworth can infiltrate gangland when needed as a gun-for-hire and keep current on their illegal activities.
The only people who know Wentworth's various identities are his assistants Jackson (Richard Fiske) and Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan), his butler Jenkins (Don Douglas), and his fiancée Nita (Iris Meredith).
The Octopus was a pulp villain written by Norvell Page, who also wrote most of The Spider pulp novels. He is garbed completely in white and is only ever seen by his henchmen while sitting in his throne-like chair. Unlike the pulps, where The Spider is dressed in an all black cape, mask, suit, and wide-brimmed fedora, in the serial he is garbed in a black suit and fedora, but with white web-like markings on his lightweight cape and full face mask. The serial follows the standard formula of fights, shoot-outs, Wentworth's friends being kidnapped at various times and needing to be rescued. Each chapter ends with The Spider or his friends in deep trouble, often about to be killed, but the effect is spoiled by a trailer for the next episode which follows, showing them rescued and continuing to fight the villains. The secret headquarters of The Octopus is found by The Spider in the final chapter; he has unwittingly given himself away to Wentworth and realizing this, Wentworth must now die; but as The Spider, Wentworth is triumphant in the end, unmasking The Octopus and ending his national reign of terror.
During the serial The Spider uses his web line a number of times to get out of trouble. Commissioner Kirk (changed from Kirkpatrick in the pulps) suspects that Wentworth is The Spider during one chapter. The Octopus' gang, like their boss, wear robes when they gather together in his presence. The Octopus ruthlessly executes all who failed him; in case of trouble, The Octopus always uses a false arm and hand, which allowed him to conceal a pistol in his real hand hidden beneath his robes.
CAST[]
- Warren Hull as The Spider, secret identity of Richard Wentworth, along with Blinky McQuade
- Iris Meredith as Nita Van Sloan, Richard Wentworth's fiancée
- Richard Fiske as Jackson, Ruchard Wentworth's driver
- Kenne Duncan as Ram Singh, Richard Wentworth's Sikh bodyguard
- Forbes Murray as Police Commissioner Stanley Kirk
- Don Douglas as Jenkins, Richard Wentworth's butler
- Marc Lawrence as Steve Harmon
- Charles C. Wilson as Chase
- John Tyrrell as Grafton, one of The Octopus' henchmen
- Eugene Anderson Jr. as Johnnie Sands
- Ann Doran as Mason's secretary
- Paul Whitney as Gray, a banker
- Beatrice Curtis as Kate Sands
- Gordon Hart as J. Mason
- Byron Foulger as Allen Roberts
MOVIE[]
The Spider's Web 1938 Cliffhanger Serial (Chapter 1 - Night of Terror)-0
The Spider's Web 1938 Serial (Chapter 2 - Death Below)
The Spider's Web 1938 Cliffhanger Serial (Chapter 3 - High Voltage)
The Spider's Web 1938 Cliffhanger Serial (Chapter 5 - Shoot to Kill & Chapter 6 - Sealed Lips)