The Crimson Ghost

The Crimson Ghost

1946

Director- Fred C. Brannon, William Witney

Cast- Charles Quigley, Linda Stirling, Clayton Moore, I. Stanford Jolley, Kenne Duncan, Forrest Taylor

            

    Chances are, you’ve never seen The Crimson Ghost. You may have never even heard of it. But the chances are excellent that you know the iconic image of The Crimson Ghost. It has been immortalized as the mascot for the punk band The Misfits and has been painted by horror art icon, Basil Gogos.

            

     It was originally a 12 part Republic serial that has been severely re-edited into a movie (as in like an hour shorter). But since the original 12 part series is easy to find on the internet you might as well enjoy it in its full glory. The film was really ahead of its time in several ways and had (obviously) one of the most visually memorable characters of that era.

            

      The Crimson Ghost is a super villain in the best traditions of villainy. A scientist has invented a new device ,the Cyclotrode, that will defend against the threat of atomic bomb by detecting and neutralizing the bomb. The Crimson Ghost intends to steal it and use it to wreak havoc.  Though the term “EMP” had not entered into popular fiction at that time, the Cyclotrode was essentially an EMP. It emitted a ray that disabled electrical devices and The Ghost planned to use it to extort money from businesses and countries. This concept would become popular in fiction decades later with films like Goldeneye, but as far as I know, it was used first here.

We know pretty early that the The Ghost is really a member of the same academic circle as the scientist who invented the Cyclotrode, but his identity remains a mystery. Assisting him is a gangster, Ashe (Clayton Moore, who would later be the Lone Ranger to a generation of kids in the 50s). He also uses slaves. He injects them with a drug to sap their will and fits them with a control collar that will kill them if anyone tries to remove it. The “death collar” is another tired concept in modern fiction but, as far as I know, it was used here first.

    

     Opposing The Ghost is Duncan (Charles Quigley) a criminologist who also seems to be physicist as well as an expert bare knuckle brawler. He is assisted by Diana (Linda Sterling) who likewise has that rare combination of scientific expertise and daring do (and beautiful). As the duo tracks down and fights The Ghost we are treated to car chases, plane crashes, shoot outs, death rays and some fight scenes that would make Jackie Chan proud. Seriously, hats off to the stunt actors in this film. The fights are long, energetic and realistic.

            

      The Crimson Ghost harkens back to a by gone era. The first thing you notice is the awesome respect that people had for science and scientists, a trend that would continue in fiction until the mid-60s when faith in authority figures was eroded by the counter culture movement. We get to hear a plethora of scientific jargon tossed around (whether the writers knew what any of it meant, I don’t know). Each of the 12 parts has a catchy title like “Atomic Peril” “Thunderbolt” “The Laughing Skull” “Flaming Death” and “Mystery of the Mountain.” Each episode ends with the hero or heroine seemingly meeting their end only to show, at the beginning of the next episode, how they escaped at the last second.

            

   

   Post World War 2, the gothic horror of the Universal Monsters had been replaced the very realistic fear of atomic annihilation and science gone astray. This was also balanced, though, by a hopeful optimism that there was no problem that science couldn’t solve. The Crimson Ghost captures all of this.

            

     A modern, cynical, audience would probably find the movie quaint. However, if you can sit back and enjoy its pulp, comic book feel, I think you can appreciate The Crimson Ghost for the exciting, and original, movie that it is.

           

    Fun fact: Linda Sterling, the heroine of the film, made a name for herself as the star of The Tiger Woman and then as the romantic lead in Zorro’s Black Whip. After a successful career in acting, she went back to school to study literature, earning her PhD at age 50! She spent the next 2 decade as college professor!