PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*
FEDERAL follows roughly the same approximate pattern, but generates its uncanny aspects via references to the past rather than to futuristic technology. FEDERAL begins in the made-up country of Abistahn, where villainous revolutionary Nila (Carol Forman) seeks to obtain two artifacts-- human hands made of gold-- which can be used in conjunction with an ancient statue so as to reveal a massive treasure. With that treasure, she plans to found a criminal organization of mammoth scope, "Underworld Inc." It sounds like something on the scale of Fu Manchu's "Si-Fan," but unfortunately Nila's only allies are dimwit gangster Gordon (Roy Barcroft) and a few other plug-uglies. Still, Nila's mini-organization is only matched by a couple of "federal men" and a female ally, so the sides are evenly matched.
The fights are better staged than those of the same year's RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING, and Alyn's character is a little more breezy, but the cliffhangers are still lifeless, until the last few chapters, by which time the action has moved back to Abistahn. The introduction of a new villain at the eleventh (serial) hour injects some added life in the story, as he dopes out how the "golden hand" artifacts can be used to activate ancient mechanisms in the statue so that it will disclose the treasure. The doom of Nila comes about due to the activation of the statue, which also contributes to the final chapter's stronger showing.
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