Spy Smasher (serial)

Lore & Background

Chapter 11 features what film historians Harmon and Glut consider the 'most unique chapter ending of them all': Spy Smasher is gunned down at point-blank range and falls from an office building. The resolution reveals that Jack, his brother, had knocked him out and stolen his costume, and the real Spy Smasher arrives too late to save his twin. This is notable because in nearly every other chapter ending, the person in danger survives. The serial's stunts were performed by Yakima Canutt, Carey Loftin, David Sharpe, and others, with Kane Richmond doing some of his own stunts.

Reader's Guide

Spy Smasher is considered by film historians Harmon and Glut to be the best serial in terms of special effects and stunts, and one of the best in general, described as the foremost cliffhanger example of a whole school of Hollywood filmmaking of the 1940s. The script is consistently logical and well-constructed with credible dialogue and good characterization, and the cinematography is atmospheric and often artistic. According to Cline, the screenplay is 'very tight' and 'fast-moving'. Grant Tracey, writing on the Images Journal website, called it one of the best serials of all time due to its stunning cliffhangers and unique innovations. In 1966, a television film was made from the serial footage under the title Spy Smasher Returns, cut to 100 minutes. The serial also appeared in a 2005 episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited entitled 'Patriot Act', in a World War II flashback drawn in black and white in the style of a movie serial.

Did You Know?

• Spy Smasher was the most expensive Republic serial of 1942, with a final negative cost of $156,431.
• Chapter 11 has what film historians Harmon and Glut consider the 'most unique chapter ending of them all', where the hero is seemingly killed and the audience later learns his twin brother had stolen his costume.
• The serial's aircraft from the comic, the Gyrosub, was changed to a secret Nazi aircraft called The Bat Plane.
• Marguerite Chapman had already appeared in several films before Spy Smasher, such as 'The Westerner' (1940) and 'The Lady Eve' (1941), establishing her career prior to this role.