Distressed Damsels & Masked Marauders

The movie serial was a staple of cinema until the 1950s. Weekly episodes which ended on a cliffhanger to help draw the audience back next week to see how the hero managed to survive the seemingly impossible odds. This excellent book by Ed Hulse covers the serial from it's beginnings in the 1910s to the end of the silent era.

The influences and origins of the serial are also discussed, i found this most interesting. I'd never heard of the 10-20-30 melodramas popular on stage in the 19th century before and how they influenced the early serial. 

Much of the book is taken with a discussion of what happened in various serials. Many now lost, it is interesting that Charlie Chan first made his on-screen appearance in a late 1920s serial. Many more films were to follow in the following decades.

I enjoyed this book immensely, it is well illustrated with poster, lobby cards and on-set photographs from dozens of silent movie serials. A great book to introduce you to the serial, many of which can be seen on-line these days.

I reviewed a few silent movie serials on my old movie review blog. These include The Mystery Airmen and The Son of Tarzan.