The Ghost of a Christmas Present

Wrapped under the Christmas tree this season is The Crimson Ghost (1946), a good serial that in many ways signals the end of the Golden Age of American sound serials.

This is the last of William Witney's serials, co-directed with Fred Brannon, and made after his return from serving as Lieutenant in a Marine combat photography unit during WW2. His direction is up to par, staging wild slugfests and fluid camera movement that gives scope to the confines of lab sets and sweep to the action.

Compare the fights here to later Spencer Bennet and Brannon directed serials. The stuntmen hurtle over tables and slide along their lengths. In one bravura moment a stuntman half-runs up a wall to gain momentum then hurls himself back into the fray. The cutting is quicker, the angles more varied and Witney always seemed to get just that bit more from the very same stuntmen as other directors.

Of course, what makes this chapterplay truly memorable is its grisly villain. The Crimson Ghost's skull-mask and skeletal gloves look eerie enough in stills. Add in a distorted voice and his propensity for brandishing hypodermic needles, held menacingly up to the wide eyes of his victims before he administers a drug that robs free will, and you have the true stuff of nightmares. No wonder "The Fiend" has become the iconic logo of punk rockers The Misfits, his death grin leering at fans since 1979.

Fast-paced and loaded with varied thrills, The Crimson Ghost never ascends to the heights of Witney's golden age serials, especially his work in tandem with John English from 1937-1941. Post-war budgets grew smaller and, crucially, the length of individual chapters became shorter and shorter. Shrinking from 20-minute instalments to a mere 12, moments of character and mood vanished altogether. Frenetic pace, superb stunting and Lydecker effects masked the loss for years. But by 1946 the golden days were over.

The serial had begun its inevitable decline. But like its own heroes escaping from exploding cars and certain doom every week, the serial would rise up and dust itself off and more than once. You just have to know where to look to see it return...

TO BE CONTINUED