Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Prof Popinjay

There’s a lot to unpack here. This is a 1952 serial played in episodes at the start of a feature presentation back when for 15 cents you got a live dance, a newsreel, and a cartoon before the movie or you could legally burn down the theater.

It starts each episode with a dutiful call to real law enforcement and honors the men and women who sacrifice their time and energy to stopping the forces of crime what plagues every city! Then it gets right into a plot involving an anarchist evil scientist who resurrects deceased criminals to be a part of his gang… you know, regular police stuff. It’s a plot right out of Batman but with average Joe detectives using fancy gadgets like two-way radios and phones and wrist watches. Think Dick Tracy but less so.

Taking all this into consideration, this series was mildly entertaining at least as a lesson in film history. I find the format of these old serials fascinating but the plots can be tedious as they draw things out to keep you coming back to the theatre. I don’t know why I endure things like this. I’m just curious and very patient when it comes to weird old drawn out b-rate film. You never know when you’ll stumble upon something amazing like “Meet John Doe”.