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Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion
Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion
Directed by	Fred C. Brannon
Written by	Ronald Davidson
Produced by	Franklin Adreon
Starring	Walter Reed; Mary Ellen Kay; John Pickard; Dick Curtis; Fred Coby; Pierce Lyden; George Meeker
Cinematography	John L. Russell
Edited by	Cliff Bell
Music by	Stanley Wilson
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date	July 4, 1951;
Running time	12 chapters / 167 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$153,083 (negative cost: $153,612)

Government Agents vs Phantom Legion (1951) is a 12-chapter American black-and-white action film serial produced and distributed by Republic Pictures Corporation in 1951. It is an original, studio-commissioned screenplay by Ronald Davidson, produced by Franklin Adreon and directed by Fred C. Brannon.

Plot

Two American government agents, Hal Duncan and Sam Bradley, must prevent agents of a foreign power, led by Regan and Cady, from hijacking trucks and stealing defense materials being transported by truck. They are hired by an interstate trucking association whose constituent truck lines have been principal targets of the hijacking, and it becomes evident that one of the four directors of the association is "the Voice," the secret leader of the gang who provides them with shipment and route information necessary for the gang's success.^[2]

Cast

Walter Reed as Hal Duncan
Mary Ellen Kay as Kay Roberts
John Pickard as Sam Bradley
Dick Curtis as Regan
Fred Coby as Cady
Pierce Lyden as Armstrong
Arthur Space as Crandall
Mauritz Hugo as Thompson
George Meeker as Willard

Stunts

Dale Van Sickel as Hal Duncan/Brice/Kern (doubling Walter Reed)
Tom Steele as Regan/Armstrong/Brandt/Warehouse Thug (doubling Dick Curtis and Pierce Lyden)
Eddie Parker as Payne
Duke Taylor as Kirk
David Sharpe

Production

Republic had been economizing on its serials, shortening the running time from an average of 18 minutes per chapter to 13, and reusing cliffhanger endings from older serials to avoid staging new ones. The studio also stopped licensing expensive comic-strip and radio properties (like The Lone Ranger, Dick Tracy, and Captain America) and instead filmed generic cops-and-robbers adventures and original science-fiction stories. The studio scaled back production as well, from four new serials per year to three. (The fourth would now be a reissue of an older serial.)

Republic's serials of the 1930s and 1940s had been scripted by writers working in teams, with as many as seven authors contributing to a single screenplay. Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion was written by only one man: Ronald Davidson. Davidson was the ideal choice because he had written and/or produced many Republic serials, and therefore knew where to consult the old film footage, and how to work it into his new screenplay.

Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion was budgeted at $153,083 although the final negative cost was $153,612 (a $529, or 0.3%, overspend). It was the least expensive Republic serial of 1951,^[1] filmed between May 1 and May 23, 1951 under the working title Government Agents vs. Underground Legion.^[1] The serial's production number was 1931.^[1] All special effects in Government Agents vs Phantom Legion were produced by Republic's in-house team of the Lydecker brothers.

Release

Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion's official release date was July 4, 1951, although this was actually the date upon which the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.^[1]

The film was followed by a re-release of Haunted Harbor, retitled Pirates' Harbor, instead of a new serial. The next new serial, Radar Men from the Moon, followed in 1952.^[1]

Chapter titles

River of Fire (20 min)
The Stolen Corpse (13 min 20s)
The Death Drop (13 min 20s)
Doorway to Doom (13 min 20s)
Deadline for Disaster (13 min 20s)
Mechanical Homicide (13 min 20s)
The Flaming Highway (13 min 20s)
Sea Saboteurs (13 min 20s)
Peril Underground (13 min 20s)
Execution by Accident (13 min 20s) (a recap chapter)
Perilous Plunge (13 min 20s)
Blazing Retribution (13 min 20s)

_Source:^[1]^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Mathis, Jack (1995). Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement. Jack Mathis Advertising. pp. 3, 10, 126–127. ISBN 0-9632878-1-8.
^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 364. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 252. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.

External links

Government Agents vs Phantom Legion at IMDb

Preceded by Don Daredevil Rides Again (1950)	Republic Serial Government Agents vs Phantom Legion (1951)	Succeeded by Radar Men from the Moon (1952)