Fighting Devil Dogs, The
Entry updated 1 September 2025. Tagged: Film.
US Serial Film (1938). Republic Pictures. Directed by William Witney and John English. Written by Franklin Adreon, Ronald Davidson, Barry Shipman and Sol Shor. Cast includes Herman Brix, Lester Dorr, Sam Flint, Perry Ivins, John Picorri, Lee Powell, Hugh Sothern and Eleanor Stewart. Twelve chapters, each 13-16 minutes, save for the double-length opener. Black and white.
A US marine unit arrives at a military outpost in Linchuria (not far from Singapore) to find the occupants dead, the cause unclear. As they look around a flying object approaches and bathes the building in lightning, killing the troops within: only Tom Grayson (Powell) and Frank Corby (Brix), two Lieutenants who were outside, survive. The viewer sees the attack was ordered by a caped, helmeted man dressed in black. Back in the US, his tale of a lightning Weapon disbelieved, Lieutenant Grayson is charged with negligence; but the Linchurian consul in San Diego phones the court of inquiry's head to say that "The Lightning" (Dorr) (see Supervillains) plans to "control all nations" and what happened in Linchuria was but a demonstration of his power. Before he can go into detail the helmeted man kills him with a lightning-emitting Ray Gun.
Grayson and Corby – plus the former's father (Flint), a colonel on the court of inquiry – investigate, discussing the matter with engineer and businessman Ben Warfield (Sothern), who says an aerial torpedo that releases lightning on impact is "not entirely outside the realm of electrical engineering". With his Scientists, Warfield begins researching The Lightning's weapon – only for their laboratory to be hit by a torpedo; Grayson's father is one of those killed. Talking to Professor Gould (Picorri), a hunchbacked Mad Scientist who assists him, The Lightning boasts that "The power of electricity can rule the world, professor, and we control that power!", adding "I move amongst those most anxious to find me ... perhaps they think I'm too unimportant for them to suspect." We are given three red herrings, all of whom act very suspiciously: meek scientist Crenshaw (Ivins), Warfield's butler and Warfield's gardener.
There follows the usual back-and-forth with cliff-hanger endings and fisticuffs as Grayson and Colby seek The Lightning, who works to foil them and travels in a four-propellered flying-wing aeroplane (see Transportation). There are scientific and quasi-scientific elements, such as trying to work out how the "electrical thunderbolt" operates so a Ray might be devised to deactivate it; the torpedoes' directional gyroscope proves vital for this and the hunt for one occupies a sizeable chunk of the serial. A device is also built, based on those used to detect electrical storms, that can tell when a lightning torpedo attack is imminent. We also see scopolamine used as a truth Drugs: a dosed henchman goes into a stupor with his subconscious answering the questions put to him, until the lights go out and he is murdered.
The Lightning is identified after he kidnaps Warfield's adopted daughter, Janet, who unmasks him. She is rescued by Grayson who sets a trap (her word alone presumably not being sufficient to convict him). When Janet announces she will name The Lightning, the lights go out and the lightning ray-gun is fired at her; but it is only Janet's reflection and the Lightning is revealed to be Warfield. He flees to his flying wing, takes off and with his cohorts prepares to launch a lightning torpedo at the house. However, the inhabitants, forewarned by the previously mentioned device, are able to use a ray built by Crenshaw to detonate the torpedo before it is fired. The aeroplane explodes.
Though co-director Witney considered this one of his poorer serials, The Fighting Devil Dogs is moderately enjoyable: as with many serials the beginning and end – the set-up and conclusion – are the best parts, with the middle episodes full of padding as much water is trod (not to mention two recap chapters); but the search for the gyroscope does maintain some impetus during this stretch. It was one of the cheaper serials, making heavy use of footage from newsreels and other serials (for example, the external flying wing scenes were from a 1937 Dick Tracy serial), as well as the recaps. Subsequently it was edited down to a 69-minute 1943 feature film and a 100-minute 1966 television movie, the latter retitled Torpedo of Doom. It has often been pointed out that The Lightning's appearance bears a strong resemblance to Darth Vader's in Star Wars (1977); it is certainly close enough to suggest some influence. [SP]
links
previous versions of this entry