G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON (1943)

 

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




In earlier years I'd seen G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON in a re-edited TV version. Now that I've seen the entire film, I'd say that it ranks with the best of the sound serials. True, it doesn't have a really memorable starring hero, like THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, or starring villain, like the MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR SATAN. But like most of the serials directed or co-directed by William Witney, G-MEN delivers a great variety of well-mounted action scenarios, some of which are pleasingly shot on location rather than on studio sets.

During the height of WWII, G-Man Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron) is assigned to seek out agents of the infamous Black Dragon espionage society. This spy-ring is bent on acts of sabotage, directed by its mastermind Haruchi (Nino Pepitone), who's smuggled into the U.S. inside a mummy case. Aiding Bennett throughout the serial is a resourceful female agent, Vivian (Constance Worth, memorably seen wielding a machine-gun against some thugs) and a Asian fellow named Chang Sing-- though the latter character doesn't do very much after the early chapters. He may have been introduced largely to remind American audiences of the period that not all Asians were identical with the nation's Japanese enemies-- though the opening chapter of the serial does itself no favors in modern eyes by boasting the chapter-title "The Yellow Peril."

That said, in contrast to some of the more notorious wartime films-- notably the first BATMAN serial, which came out the same year-- there's no racial derogation of the Japanese, though Haruchi is not played by an Asian (unlike the aforementioned Chinese agent) and his main servants are Caucasians. If anything, the Black Dragons seem a pretty formidable bunch, and in one episode the husky Bennett has a lengthy struggle with a smaller enemy agent, who equalizes the size differential with judo moves.

As for the gimmicks, Haruchi avails himself of three. A Black Dragon uses a pen full of knockout gas to stun a guard, and one of his agents employs a trained raven whose talons have been poisoned to get rid of yet another guardsman. I have to mention one of the serial's death-traps not because it's uncanny, but because it's a hearkening back to the silent serial era: Haruchi's men tie Vivian to a sawmill-like contraption and threaten to split her differences. However, Haruchi also puts together his own more ingenious trap in one of his hideouts-- an "infernal machine" set with a timer so that at a certain point it will shoot forth a metal spear to impale a bound victim-- Vivian again, seen in the above still waiting for her fate.

Cameron is quite good as the practical-minded, square-jawed hero, and Worth provides a fine backup. Pipitone's villainous spy, however, is more than a little monotonous, and the actor's performance gives no evidence that he sought to emulate the sound of real Japanese speaking English.