| Brenda Starr, Reporter | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Wallace Fox |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Written by | Ande Lamb Dale Messick George H. Plympton |
| Starring | Joan Woodbury Kane Richmond Syd Saylor Joe Devlin Wheeler Oakman |
| Music by | Edward J. Kay |
| Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
| Editing by | Charles Henkel Jr. |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 26, 1945 |
| Running time | 13 chapters 243 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945) was the 25th film serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was inspired by Brenda Starr, a popular comic strip created by Dale Messick.
Contents |
The hunt is on for a $250,000 payroll robbery. The police are looking for it, and—mostly just to be annoying—so is ace reporter Brenda Starr and sidekick relief photographer Chuck Allen. The main clue is a man named Joe Heller. As the serial begins, Heller is trapped in a burning building. Henchman Kruger guns him down and sticks Brenda in a closet so she'll burn. Lucky for her, her boyfriend Lt. Lawrence Farrell manages to rescue her. And we're off and running! Brenda has her usual knack for getting into tight situations –exploding mines, burning buildings, and the like. Chuck bounces between useless and useful, thereby making it hard to hate the character like so many other comic relief characters. Lt. Farrell constantly ends up berating Brenda and Chuck and their editor.
The serial's theatrical release date was 26 January 1945.
Brenda Starr, Reporter is one of the last sound serials to be made available commercially. For many years, the serial was considered lost, with only a single known print in the hands of a private collector. The serial was released on DVD by VCI Entertainment in March 2011.
Cline writes that Woodbury "managed to carry the story from one episode to another in fine style, leaving herself in jeopardy just enough to require [Richmond's] services as a rescuer each week... [she] salvaged by her beauty and charm what might have been Katzman's greatest fiasco except for Who's Guilty?"[1]
Source:[2]
| Preceded by Black Arrow (1944) |
Columbia Serial Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945) |
Succeeded by The Monster and the Ape (1945) |