The Phantom Empire

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The Phantom Empire
Screen Capture: Gene is captured by Muranian revoltionaries
Directed by	Otto Brower B. Reeves Eason
Produced by	Nat Levine
Written by	Wallace MacDonald Gerald Geraghty Hy Freedman John Rathmell Armand Schaefer Maurice Geraghty
Starring	Gene Autry Frankie Darro Betsy King Ross Dorothy Christy Wheeler Oakman
Cinematography	Ernest Miller William Nobles
Editing by	Earl Turner Walter Thompson
Distributed by	Mascot Pictures
Release date(s)	23 February 1935 25 July 1952
Running time	12 chapters (245 min)
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Phantom Empire, starring Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935 Mascot serial that combined the western, musical, and science fiction genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes.

This was Gene Autry's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Chapter titles 4 Cultural references 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Gene Autry plays a singing cowboy named Gene Autry, who runs Radio Ranch, a dude ranch from which he makes a daily live radio broadcast at 2pm. This is a "modern" cowboy story, with planes and such. Gene has two kid sidekicks, Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross, who lead a club, the "Junior Thunder Riders," in which the kids play at being armoured knights of an unknown civilization, the mysterious Thunder Riders who make a sound like thunder when they ride. The kids, dressing up in capes and water-bucket helmets, play at riding "to the rescue!" (to quote their motto).

A chance to be real heroes occurs when Betsy, Frankie and Gene are kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders, from the super-scientific underground empire of Murania, complete with towering skyscrapers, robots, ray-guns, elevators tubes that extend miles from the surface, and an icy, evil blonde Queen Tika. On the surface, a group of crooks under Prof Beetson plan to invade Murania and seize its radium wealth, while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow Queen Tika.

The inhabitants of Murania are the lost tribe of Mu and went below the surface in the first Ice Age, 100,000 years ago and now live in a fantastically advanced city 20 or 25,000 feet underground and cannot now breathe the air at ground level so must wear masks. Gene Autry however has no trouble breathing their air. The Thunder Guard (Riders) emerge into the surface world from a cave where a huge rock door opens upwards, remindful of Ali Baba. Both Muranians and Prof Beetson's team want to get rid of Autry so he loses his radio contract and Radio Ranch becomes vacant.

[edit] Cast

• Gene Autry as Gene Autry, singing cowboy at the Radio Ranch
• Frankie Darro as Frankie Baxter, one of Gene's sidekicks
• Betsy King Ross as Betsy Baxter, one of Gene's sidekicks
• Dorothy Christy as Queen Tika, evil queen of Murania
• Wheeler Oakman as Lord Argo, the Muranian High Chancellor and leader of the rebels
• Charles K. French as Mal
• Warner Richmond as Rab
• J. Frank Glendon as Professor Beetson, villainous scientist after the land's Radium deposits
• Smiley Burnette as Oscar, comic relief (Burnette went on to be Gene Autry's partner in many more films)
• Peter Potter as Pete, comic relief
• Edward Peil Sr. as Cooper
• Jack Carlyle as Saunders

[edit] Chapter titles

1. The Singing Cowboy
2. The Thunder Riders
3. The Lightning Chamber
4. Phantom Broadcast
5. Beneath the Earth
6. Disaster From the Skies
7. From Death to Life
8. Jaws of Jeopardy
9. Prisoners of the Ray
10. The Rebellion
11. A Queen in Chains
12. The End of Murania

[edit] Cultural references

The 1979 television series Cliffhangers, which attempted to recreate the old movie serial feel by showing three serial chapters in each episode, included a serial titled "The Secret Empire," a pastiche of The Phantom Empire. Events in the underground empire were shown in color, but events on the surface were "in glorious black and white."

[edit] References

• The Phantom Empire at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

• The Phantom Empire at the Internet Movie Database
• Roaring Rockets: The Phantom Empire!
• "The Phantom Empire," by Gary Johnson
• "Classic Television: The Phantom Empire"
• Serial Robots: The Phantom Empire
• NY Times Review: The Phantom Empire
• Review of the 1986 version on DVD
• Watch the Entire Serial
• Download the Entire Serial

Preceded by Mystery Mountain (1934)

Mascot Serial The Phantom Empire (1935)

Succeeded by The Miracle Rider (1935)

v • d • e Mascot serials Silent Serials (1926-1929) The Silent Flyer • Heroes of the Wild • Isle of Sunken Gold • The Golden Stallion • The Vanishing West • Vultures of the Sea • The Fatal Warning Part-Sound Serials (1929) The King of the Kongo All-Sound Serials (1930-1935) The Lone Defender • The Phantom of the West • King of the Wild • The Vanishing Legion • The Galloping Ghost • The Lightning Warrior • The Shadow of the Eagle • The Last of the Mohicans • The Hurricane Express • The Devil Horse • The Whispering Shadow • The Three Musketeers • Fighting with Kit Carson • The Wolf Dog • The Mystery Squadron • The Lost Jungle • Burn 'Em Up Barnes • The Law of the Wild • Mystery Mountain • The Phantom Empire • The Miracle Rider • The Adventures of Rex and Rinty • The Fighting Marines Actors and Actresses Gene Autry • Edwina Booth • Harry Carey • Frankie Darro • Jack Mulhall • Rin Tin Tin • John Wayne Stunt Performers Yakima Canutt • Kermit Maynard Production Crew B. Reeves Eason • Nat Levine • Richard Thorpe • William Witney See also Film serials • List of film serials • List of film serials by studio