Viewed as a sub-genre, the best serials are various mixtures of good acting, an involving but non-repetitive story, a strong villain, (usually) a de-emphasis on endless fist fights, and an exciting musical soundtrack. Poor serials just try to fill in the lulls between fist fights.
'Tim Tyler's Luck' has several pluses, as well as a few minuses. On the plus side we get Frankie Thomas, doing a sincere, and wonderful job as Tim, the "All-American Boy" his compassion ("Let me get you some water!") towards the good, the bad and the animal drives his fearlessness: whenever he's on screen, we can't stop watching him. He's totally believable, especially with the animals. Norman Willis as the 'Master Outlaw' Spider Webb has a look and voice that is evil and menacing (he played over 100 villains in his career), but unfortunately, he's too stiff as an actor.
The story, by the serial king writer Wydham Gittens, is not a one-note plot ('finding the lost father'), but develops into the capture and rescue of Tim's father, the escape from the Ugambi swamp, a search for Spider Webb, the death of Tim's father, and finally, the search for the mythic cliché 'the Elephant Burial Grounds'. All of this is done with the added nonsensical elements of 'The Jungle Cruiser' (wasn't this taken from 'Undersea Kingdom'?) and the pseudo Western 'cavalry,' the Ivory Patrol. The story moves along pretty well without too many backward steps. It's a little weak on the cliff hangers, but thankfully, they're not all maulings by lions, panthers or leopards.
We get Jack Mulhall in his biggest serial role since 'Custer's Last Stand' (1936), the bad Anthony Warde is here, but almost wasted -- he is King Turan of the Forest people in 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938) and Killer Kane in 'Buck Rogers' (1939)-- the latter two both written by Wydham Gitten. Unfortunately, Killer Kane is no Ming the Merciless but a weak tool of his council; apparently Gitten couldn't write strong villains.
Now for the minuses. While we don't get endless fist fights, we do get too many chases and shoot outs by the Ivory Patrol, riding on horse back through Southern California's Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, after Spider Webb's Jungle Cruiser. Incidentally, the Southern California terrain is passed off as many locations such as Asia in 'Ace Drummond,' (1936), 'The Adventures of Captain Marvel' (1941), and as Atlantis in 'Undersea Kingdom' (1936) as well as, of course, as parts of the Southwest in countless western serials, films and TV shows.
The gorillas are men in gorilla suits! When I first saw this serial on TV when I was ten years old, it was okay -- they were scary! But as an adult their presence is lamentable. The soundtrack does not draw too much from the great Universal back log of movie or serial soundtracks and does not add much to the excitement. Frances Robinson, as the 'female,' almost just stands around, and contributes little. Give me Linda Stirling anyday! The final scene with the villain is too weak, almost anti-climactic.
For me, Frankie Thomas carries the film; with its large cast and visually interesting and well written chapters, I'd give it a six and half.
'Tim Tyler's Luck' has several pluses, as well as a few minuses. On the plus side we get Frankie Thomas, doing a sincere, and wonderful job as Tim, the "All-American Boy" his compassion ("Let me get you some water!") towards the good, the bad and the animal drives his fearlessness: whenever he's on screen, we can't stop watching him. He's totally believable, especially with the animals. Norman Willis as the 'Master Outlaw' Spider Webb has a look and voice that is evil and menacing (he played over 100 villains in his career), but unfortunately, he's too stiff as an actor.
The story, by the serial king writer Wydham Gittens, is not a one-note plot ('finding the lost father'), but develops into the capture and rescue of Tim's father, the escape from the Ugambi swamp, a search for Spider Webb, the death of Tim's father, and finally, the search for the mythic cliché 'the Elephant Burial Grounds'. All of this is done with the added nonsensical elements of 'The Jungle Cruiser' (wasn't this taken from 'Undersea Kingdom'?) and the pseudo Western 'cavalry,' the Ivory Patrol. The story moves along pretty well without too many backward steps. It's a little weak on the cliff hangers, but thankfully, they're not all maulings by lions, panthers or leopards.
We get Jack Mulhall in his biggest serial role since 'Custer's Last Stand' (1936), the bad Anthony Warde is here, but almost wasted -- he is King Turan of the Forest people in 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938) and Killer Kane in 'Buck Rogers' (1939)-- the latter two both written by Wydham Gitten. Unfortunately, Killer Kane is no Ming the Merciless but a weak tool of his council; apparently Gitten couldn't write strong villains.
Now for the minuses. While we don't get endless fist fights, we do get too many chases and shoot outs by the Ivory Patrol, riding on horse back through Southern California's Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, after Spider Webb's Jungle Cruiser. Incidentally, the Southern California terrain is passed off as many locations such as Asia in 'Ace Drummond,' (1936), 'The Adventures of Captain Marvel' (1941), and as Atlantis in 'Undersea Kingdom' (1936) as well as, of course, as parts of the Southwest in countless western serials, films and TV shows.
The gorillas are men in gorilla suits! When I first saw this serial on TV when I was ten years old, it was okay -- they were scary! But as an adult their presence is lamentable. The soundtrack does not draw too much from the great Universal back log of movie or serial soundtracks and does not add much to the excitement. Frances Robinson, as the 'female,' almost just stands around, and contributes little. Give me Linda Stirling anyday! The final scene with the villain is too weak, almost anti-climactic.
For me, Frankie Thomas carries the film; with its large cast and visually interesting and well written chapters, I'd give it a six and half.