Welcome to part deuce of the Midnight Ramble's look back at the classic 1940 serial Mysterious Doctor Satan!
When we last left our hero, the Copperhead, he was onboard a remote-controlled yacht that was about to explode. Will he escape?
Let's find out.
Meanwhile, despite what happened with the remote controlled yacht last time, Professor Scott is determined to do another test - on a plane. Thankfully, he will be using a different radio frequency, and the guiding mechanism will be installed just before takeoff. There will also be no one on the plane.
Bob is suspicious and hides onboard the plane as the Copperhead.
As the test commences, Dr Satan realises what the professor has done and orders his henchmen to tail the plane in another aircraft and capture it.
The test is a foreshadowing of drone warfare as Scott uses his remote-controlled plane to drop bombs on some abandoned shacks. A military officer declares that Scott has made every other method of warfare 'obsolete'.
Dr Satan's henchmen attempt a mid-air hijacking. Based on the first episode's impressive collection of stunts, I was expecting some ridiculous aerial acrobatics but instead it was just some back projection inserts as one of the Doctor's henchmen climbs down a rope ladder(!) and then enters the plane by kicking in the window (!!).
Once inside the cockpit, he disables the professor's radio link and tries to pilot the aircraft. Before he can do anything however, the Copperhead attacks him and the poor SOB gets kicked out of the plan (that fall appears to be a real stunt or at least a real dummy - either way it is real).
Bob takes off his mask and lands the plane - the mask-less part becomes more important when he is captured by Dr Satan's men. One of them asks Bob where their man went. Now, up to this point I had found myself funnelling the story through the conventions I have accepted from watching OTT action movies. In this particular moment, I expected a one-liner. And?
"I don't know."
Anyway, Bob is taken to Dr Satan's lair, escapes, puts his mask back on and ends up holding Dr Satan and his henchmen up with a gun in his laboratory. After taking the plane's control mechanism from the Doctor, the Copperhead backs away as he heads for an exit.
What he does not realise is that his path falls directly in the path of the Doctor's death ray. As the Copperhead steps under it, the Doctor darts for the switch and...
...the Copperhead shoots the switch!
In the ensuing chaos, he jumps out the window and hides in the boot of one of the bad guy's cars. In the melee, Professor Scott's device was destroyed. In a panic, Doctor Satan and his gang head to a second hideout.
One of the funny things I have noticed in the serial thus far is how blunt it can be - when the gang are inside in the warehouse, the Copperhead pops out of the trunk, runs at the lone sentry and knocks him out with a haymaker. There is no subterfuge or even waiting - he just pops out and gets it done. No time wasted (the episode is less than 20 minutes).
What he does not realise is that his path falls directly in the path of the Doctor's death ray. As the Copperhead steps under it, the Doctor darts for the switch and...
...the Copperhead shoots the switch!
In the ensuing chaos, he jumps out the window and hides in the boot of one of the bad guy's cars. In the melee, Professor Scott's device was destroyed. In a panic, Doctor Satan and his gang head to a second hideout.
One of the funny things I have noticed in the serial thus far is how blunt it can be - when the gang are inside in the warehouse, the Copperhead pops out of the trunk, runs at the lone sentry and knocks him out with a haymaker. There is no subterfuge or even waiting - he just pops out and gets it done. No time wasted (the episode is less than 20 minutes).
The filmmakers establish this location with a dramatic tilt from the top floor to the street, and one guard mentions to the Doctor (who owns this building) that his stuff is on the 12th floor. It is pretty clear that the Copperhead and/or Bob is going to be engaging in some vertigo-inducing hijinks very soon.
After dispatching the car guard so, uh, straightforwardly, it is a surprise when the Copperhead does not repeat that move with the sentry at the door. Instead, Bob removes his mask and saunters past the doorway.
Once he is around the corner, Bob scales the building and climb to the 12th floor. It would have been easier to just punch out the sentry.
In the most terrifying moment in the serial thus far, Bob stands on a ledge and puts on his Copperhead hood. A light breeze (or somebody opening a window) could send him plummeting to his death.
While the Copperhead eavesdrops outside, Dr Satan confers with one of his lackeys. With Professor Scott's device destroyed, he cannot move forward with his plans to unleash his (thus far unseen) robots on the nation. His one solution is to locate the wreck of the ship from the first test, and remove the remote control device.
Having figured out the plot, the Copperhead spider walks along the wall. He makes some noise, alerting Doctor Satan and his men. They open fire on the Copperhead who falls backwards through a window into an empty office. As the thugs batter their way inside, the Copperhead heads back out onto the ledge and begins climbing to the roof.
The gang follows him and he does the Depression era equivalent of parkour to get away from them.
The Copperhead is quickly re-cornered and engages in a marvellous fist fight. Shot on a rooftop set, and slightly sped-up, there is a freneticism to the combat that is very exciting. As with the office punch-up from Chapter One, there are plenty of exaggerated moves and reactions. It almost feels like if a stunt team choreographed the rooftop set-piece from Mary Poppins.
The sentry we left on the ground floor re-enters the action here. He spots the action going on on the edge of the roof, and fires at the tiny silhouettes with his pistol. he hits the henchman, who plummets to the ground.
The Copperhead then makes his escape by sliding down the elevator cables. While it may seem like I have been mocking the plot contrivances, the action in Mysterious Doctor Satan is so well-staged, and delivered with such consistency that it does not matter. That would be like mocking the Fast & Furious movies for being about car stunts.
The Copperhead alerts Professor Scott, who arranges an expedition to beat Doctor Satan to the wreck. Doctor Satan learns of Scott's plans and decides to hijack his expedition.
Satan's band take over the boat just as Bob and Lois descend to the ocean bed in a diving bell - the copy of the serial I am watching is of very poor quality so I cannot confirm this, but I believe the MVP of the first instalment, Rose, shows up and attacks the hijackers by swinging at them on a rope Errol Flynn-style.
An explosion damages the diving bell and the episode ends with our heroes struggling to patch the holes in the diving bell. One of the portals breaks and water floods the chamber. Is this the end of the Copperhead and Lois?
Satan's band take over the boat just as Bob and Lois descend to the ocean bed in a diving bell - the copy of the serial I am watching is of very poor quality so I cannot confirm this, but I believe the MVP of the first instalment, Rose, shows up and attacks the hijackers by swinging at them on a rope Errol Flynn-style.
An explosion damages the diving bell and the episode ends with our heroes struggling to patch the holes in the diving bell. One of the portals breaks and water floods the chamber. Is this the end of the Copperhead and Lois?
Final thoughts
While 'Thirteen Steps' does not boast the set pieces of the first chapter, this episode is still loads of fun - we get another execution by gadget (setting up the cliffhanger) and some extra peril for Bob. And while the lead-up is contrived (the Copperhead's career would be over if anyone bothered to check Bob's pockets), the cliffhanger is genuinely tense.
The simple, action-focused 'Undersea Tomb' is good pulpy fun, with plenty of stunts and a cliffhanger that manages to beat the stakes of its predecessor.
Overall, the format of the episodes follow a familiar pattern: The Copperhead foils the Doctor's latest scheme and escapes, the Doctor formulates a new plan, the Copperhead foils that scheme but then lands in greater peril.
While this is only Parts 2 and 3, the variety of set pieces, and the craftsmanship of their presentation make for pulpy, suspenseful fun. Bonus points for Rose, who saves the day again. Hopefully, she becomes a bigger presence in future episodes. She is the closest thing to an action utility player this series has. It is quite interesting to see a minor female character whose sole reason for being is to do badass stunts that push the story forward. I am very interested to investigate the genre further, and see if characters like Rose are rare or familiar archetypes, like the take-charge women of screwball comedies.
Enough rambling! I will be back with reviews of the next chapter in the dastardly tale of Doctor Satan, The Human Bomb!
Related reviews
Return of the Copperhead
The simple, action-focused 'Undersea Tomb' is good pulpy fun, with plenty of stunts and a cliffhanger that manages to beat the stakes of its predecessor.
Overall, the format of the episodes follow a familiar pattern: The Copperhead foils the Doctor's latest scheme and escapes, the Doctor formulates a new plan, the Copperhead foils that scheme but then lands in greater peril.
While this is only Parts 2 and 3, the variety of set pieces, and the craftsmanship of their presentation make for pulpy, suspenseful fun. Bonus points for Rose, who saves the day again. Hopefully, she becomes a bigger presence in future episodes. She is the closest thing to an action utility player this series has. It is quite interesting to see a minor female character whose sole reason for being is to do badass stunts that push the story forward. I am very interested to investigate the genre further, and see if characters like Rose are rare or familiar archetypes, like the take-charge women of screwball comedies.
Enough rambling! I will be back with reviews of the next chapter in the dastardly tale of Doctor Satan, The Human Bomb!
Return of the Copperhead
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