THE IRON CLAW (1941)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

Though this 1941 serial sports the same name as a 1916 Pearl White chapter-play, there's probably no other connection between the two works. For one thing, the 1916 serial didn't sport only a mystery villain, but also a mystery hero, the Laughing Mask, who has been tagged by some as the first American-made "superhero," at least in cinema.

Because the 1916 serial is lost, I'll probably never know whether the serial was more focused upon the original Iron Claw or his nemesis, or even upon Pearl White's character. However, there's no such obscurity about the 1941 chapter-play. Though CLAW is just as full of unstinting action as any other serial, the story hearkens back to "old dark house" films in which a house-bound ensemble of   people-- often, but not always, members of a family-- are picked off one-by-one by an unknown, often masked killer. The villain is often unmasked by an outsider, often a journalist, whose role is essayed in CLAW by one Bob Lane (Charles Quigley). He also usually has a female aide, who may be an outsider like him or some sympathetic member of the ensemble, and this role too is filled by one Patricia (Joyce Bryant). Such viewpoint characters are seen in action-serials as well, but most such serials keep their pool of victims relatively sympathetic. CLAW resembles old dark house films like 1933's THE SHADOW in that most of the possible victims are grasping, disreputable types.

The main plot-- that there's a hidden treasure somewhere beneath the Bensonhurst estate, sought by both the Benson family and by the claw-handed stalker-- is perhaps a little more typical of silent serials than of the old dark house films. But then, CLAW's script doesn't stick close to any coherent plot. Once the Iron Claw starts killing people, Bob and Patricia start trying to track down his identity, only to be hindered by a small army of gold-hunting gangsters as well as the main villain. There's the usual comedy relief and the usual suspicious activities by the pool of victims, though the latter come to nothing since in the final chapter the Claw's ID is revealed but the viewer never knows why he assumed the guise of a hooded killer in the first place.

The charm of this barely coherent tale-- almost half of which seems to consist of heroes chasing villains, or vice versa, through the underground corridors beneath Bensonhurst-- is largely dependent on the charms of director James W. Horne. Horne spent many years directing two-reel comedy shorts, and only the last years of his career did he begin directing serials for Columbia. In other forties serials, characters rarely speak except to deliver exposition seasoned with slight touches of humanity, but here and elsewhere, Horne's characters are over-dramatic and given to peculiar lines that make the whole movie seem mock-serious.

Indeed, many serial afficianados view Horne's serials as covert comedies, and the estimable Jerry Blake even considers IRON CLAW an outright spoof of straight serials. While I acknowledge that there's a strong streak of the ludicrous in this and other Horne serials, that streak does not dominate the serial over the more pervasive elements of adventurous thrills and chills.

In addition to the Claw's uncanny appearance, he only uses a couple of gimmicks, like a mirror set up to make cars run off a road, and a pit filled with spikes-- though I don't remember if he creates the spike-pit himself or simply uses one created by an earlier generation.