The Crimson Ghost

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The Crimson Ghost
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date(s)	1946
IMDb profile

The Crimson Ghost (1946) is a Republic Movie serial.

One of the most entertaining serials to be released by Republic Pictures, this mystery employed yet another inscrutable invention, a counter atomic device known as Cyclotrode X, sought after by yet another cloaked villain, The Crimson Ghost of the title. But just like the well-known criminologist Duncan Richards (Charles Quigley) and his lovely assistant Diana Farnsworth (Linda Stirling), the Saturday Matinee kids had a tough job spotting the person hiding behind the hideous disguise. The studio took no chances this time and ingeniously cast stunt-man Bud Geary to embody the villain while several actors supplied the voice, including I. Stanford Jolley, whose role was minor but who received fourth-billing and was therefore highly suspect. When The Crimson Ghost was unmasked in the 12th and final chapter, he proved to be yet another actor, Joseph Forte, who had enacted a character seemingly above suspicion. Instead of feeling cheated, however, the young target audience subconsciously enjoyed the above-average writing and fine direction by the talented William Witney and Fred C. Brannon, and no one complained. Quigley and Stirling were at the top of their serial game, and to the bemused surprise of more recent viewers, television's Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, played one of the master villain's henchmen, a cold-hearted gangster. The Crimson Ghost was also released in an edited feature version, retitled Cyclotrode. In 1966, yet another edited version was given the title Cyclotrode X.

[edit] Trivia

Since their inception in 1977, the punk band The Misfits have used the Crimson Ghost as a type of logo and mascot. The logo has been used to the point that certainly more fame has been granted to the icon as a facet of the Misfits than as a serial supervillain. Bootlegs of the original Crimson Ghost serial have become somewhat of a collector's item for Misfits fans.
Iron Maiden also used the Crimson Ghost in their "The Number of the Beast" music videos.
A trailer has been released for an assumed remake of the film.[1]