Customer Reviews

Ace Drummond, Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a review of the 2 DVD release of the ACE DRUMMOND
serial titled THE SIGN IN THE SKY in 13 chapters featuring the Eddie Rickenbacker comic strip character "Ace Drummond," a singing pilot much like the singing cowboy heroes of that era.

This serial stars John "Dusty" King as Ace Drummond, Jean Rogers as Peggy
Trainer, Noah Berry Jr. as Jerry, Guy Baines Post as The Grand Lama, Lon Chaney Jr.
as Henchman Ivan and Jackie Morrow as Billy Meredith.

The story concerns an attempt by "International Airlines" to establish Mongolia to
its routes and the schemes of archvillian The Dragon to stop those plans and to find and keep a mountain full of jade from the western intruders and for himself.

This serial is fast paced with the appropriate cliff hanger climax at the end of each chapter. The picture and the sound in the early chapters is not the best but the quality improves as the story moves on to its exciting conclusion.

Just to give you a little flavor of ACE DRUMMOND hee are the chapter titles:

1) When East Meets West.
2) The Invisible Enemy.
3) The Doorway of Doom.
4) The Radio Riddle.
5) Bullets of Sand.
6) Evil Spirits.
7) The Truckless Trail.
8) The Sign In the Sky.
9) Secret Service.
10) The Mountain of Jade.
11) The Dragon Commands.
12) The Squadron of Death.
13) The Worlds Akin.


This serial is a total of 255 minutes of 1936 techno adventure, drama, thrills
and suspense. ACE DRUMMOND is quite enjoyable and I rate it four stars. I decided to overlook the early pictue and sound problems because they are soon amended and really don't take away too much from the total enjoyment of this entertaining serial adventure.

Ace Drummond. I saw this when I about 60 years ago, when I was a kid. It's amazing, I enjoyed it then, and I enjoyed it now. There were enough suspects for a massacre, and for we simple, the bad guy was under cover till the last chapter.. If you like singing heroes, suspense and cliff hanging action in the early orient, this is it.

I was one of those kids who walked or biked down to the neighborhood theater near Emory University on Saturday mornings to see John Wayne or Audie Murphy. Important parts of the presentation besides the cheap admission and popcorn were the News of the World, the Walter Lance cartoons and the Serials--two or three episodes in succession--that came before the feature. This brings it all back: the hero and heroine, both "pure" and strong, the wonderful old planes, the "prayer wheel," the exotic locations and improbable cliff-hangers. Can't be beat.

"Ace Drummond" is a 13-chapter Universal serial released in October of 1936, with screen play by Wyndham Gittens, Norman S. Hall and Ray Trampe. It was directed by Ford Beebe and Cliff Smith, based on the newspaper feature written by Eddie Rickenbacker and drawn by Clayton Knight.

The plot has International Airways attempting to establish a route to Mongolia, hampered by a mysterious evil genius known as "The Dragon" who has been bringing the planes down with high-tech electrical equipment, zapping the pilots through their headphones. He communicates his threats and commands mysteriously through prayer wheels, or other rotating objects. But despite the warnings and several crashes, board chairman William Meredith (Selmer Jackson) has another 'plane sent, loaded with passengers including his young son Billy (Jackie Morrow). Flying G-Man Ace Drummond (John King) is also on the 'plane, and is able to take over when the pilot (House Peters, Jr.) gets killed by The Dragon. Fortunately the co-pilot (Russell Wade) was just stunned by the shock, and can fly to the airport while Ace bails out to follow a small 'plane seen nearby. Landing, he rescues Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers), who was captured by some natives while searching for her missing archaeologist father (C. Montague Shaw), a prisoner held by another archaeologist, Dr. Bauer (Frederik Vogeding) and his assistant Paul Wycoff (Al Bridge) who want him to disclose a secret worth millions. Ace and Peggy escape in Bauer's 'plane, but The Dragon shoots them down, and they crash into a nearby Monastery. But who is The Dragon, and how are the archaeologists involved in the plot?

While the sets are impressive, being recycled from Universal's feature films, the plot is more like a Mascot serial with many suspicious characters that might be the main bad guy and mildly fractured logic in the way the story unfolds. The Monastery has secret passages and a collapsing room, discovery of which is a surprise to even the Grand Lama (Guy Bates Post). The Monastery is described as being some distance from the airport, or from The Dragon's hideout, but is suddenly just a short walk away when required by the plot. Wyndham Gittens is likely responsible for the style, since he was involved with Mascot's serials until 1934, and this was his first writing credit for Universal. Norman S. Hall and Ray Trampe also worked for Mascot, though not in as many credited positions as Gittens. But the continuity problems extend beyond the writing. Some of the airplanes change significantly between take-off and landing, or go down spewing smoke, which isn't present when they actually crash. House Peters, Jr., who was the pilot killed by The Dragon in Chapter One, returns flying another 'plane in a later chapter. The last chapter has two obvious problems; a film edit where an event is shown after its outcome is discussed, and an unexplained escape by our hero, though at least the bad guy wonders how he got free. Nothing really unusual for serials, though a higher count of these things than in most from Universal.

And a few reviewers don't seem to like singing heroes. It should be remembered that while singing cowboys had been in feature films for a couple years, they started contaminating the serials in 1935 with "Phantom Empire," Gene Autry's first starring role, a big success and strong influence on 'B' movies and serials that followed. Universal tried to make it appear that Grant Withers could sing in their next serial, "Jungle Jim," but gave up after a couple chapters, doing better in "Wild West Days" by hiring another singer, George Shelley as one of Johnny Mack Brown's sidekicks. And Republic had John Carroll sing in their 1937 serial "Zorro Rides Again."

As a serial hero, John King looks like a band vocalist, but if the outcome of the fist fights are sometimes hard to believe, he sings well enough. The musical interruptions are usually done with a little humor, though the only number he knows is "Give Me a Ship and a Song" by Kay Kellogg. Noah Beery Jr., as his mechanic friend Jerry is the "comic relief" character, done well, with more restraint than his similar role in the "Tailspin Tommy" serials, the second of which had Jean Rogers as Betty Lou Barnes. She also had a good role as Shara Graustark in the 1937 serial "Secret Agent X-9." Here she is closer to her best-known role, Dale Arden in the first two "Flash Gordon" serials, mostly restricted to concern about her missing father, and screaming a lot, though at one point she manages to recover an important clue and get away from the evil Wyckoff with help only from young Billy. Jackie Morrow gets a little too much action; one wonders if it was allowed in Mongolia for 11 year old kids to drive automobiles and motorcycles, or whether he could actually reach the pedals. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays a fairly minor role, bad guy Ivan, with only a little more screen time than his associates Nicolai (Edmund Cobb), Boris (Dick Wessel) and Sergei (Stanley Blystone). At the Monastery, in addition to the Grand Lama are Kai-Chek (Chester Gan) who has a dislike for the foreigners, and the Lama's learned disciple Chang-Ho (Arthur Loft). Working for International Airways are board members Winston (Robert Warwick) and Henry Kee (James Leong), with airport radio operator Johnny Wong (James Eagles).

Alpha's DVD edition is in two volumes, 4302D and 4303D, or both, shrinkwrapped as 9530D. It is from a print with main titles having "Filmcraft Presents" and a still-frame background. The image isn't razor sharp, but fairly good in most chapters, and no problems with the gray scale. It is a little larger than the frame, which is restricted by a dark band at the top and bottom, often clipping off the last line of the "comic strip" chapter introduction text, but not a problem otherwise. A head-switch glitch just above the somewhat wide blanking bar shows that the source was a videotape, and there are a couple places where minor loss of sync occurs. The sound is reasonably free of distortion, but the frequency balance is somewhat uneven, a bit "boomy" though with sufficient high-frequency content; the dialogue is fairly clear, and there is little noise. Overall the quality is quite good for an Alpha edition, and it was released before they started putting their logo on-screen during the credits, another plus.

Grapevine's version, on two DVD-R discs is even cheaper than the Alpha's, but sadly, it isn't as good. The image is slightly sharper, though not by much. The framing is better, allowing the bottom line of the comic-strip introductions to be read, though the actual size of the image is about the same. The gray scale isn't quite as good as Alpha's, contrast being a little high washing out some highlights, and the white lettering of the titles sometimes become blurry due to overexposure. Still, the overall image quality isn't worse than Alpha's, it just has different problems. Unfortunately the print, also from Filmcraft, has a number of splices interrupting the dialogue, along with some dirt and minor scratches. But the worst problem is the sound, garbled by noise and/or noise-reduction processing, some chapters sounding like heavy machinery was in operation nearby. A few short pieces of the film are missing, such as the very end of the cliffhanger of Chapter 10, along with a couple of the "next week" titles.

While far from Universal's best, this is an enjoyable serial, when watched with a day or so between chapters, for those who like the old serials from Mascot and are tolerant of singing heroes. The action is lively if not especially logical, and the comic relief is well-handled. While neither DVD edition is ideal, Alpha's is reasonably good, preferable to Grapevine's despite the framing problems.

Skip the special effects, sing the same song in every episode, keep it to 15 minutes, and you know the hero will always survive. I guess it was just a more innocent world in 1936, but these Ace Drummond oldies are just fun, and much safer for the kids than most of what they'll find on today's video store shelves. So get out the popcorn and enjoy!

VCI Entertainment and Universal Pictures present "Ace Drummond" (1936) (Dolby digitally remastered), featuring 13 Chapters based on the newspaper comic strip of the exploits of America's WWI Aviation Ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker (America's beloved Ace of Aces, the inspiration of Youthful Airmen the World over)...who is this mastermind who calls himself "The Dragon", and why is he trying to stop a certain airline of International importance...is there a treasure that is just waiting to be plucked from a nearby mountain...why is Ace Drummond (King) traveling to Mongolia and will his secret identity be discovered before his work is done...what is the real reason Peggy Trainor (Rogers) has entered the picture, could her archaeologist father be the answer..why is Jerry (Beery) and Little Billy (Morrow) enlisting the "Holy One" (Post) to join the fight against this evil villain....who can explain Lon Chaney Jr's performance as the oriental henchman without the aid of a full moon to rely on...don't leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "The World Akin"....just remember double thrills, chills, mystery and suspense...hitting the bull's eye with excitement...don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter.

Under director's Ford Beebe and Cliff Smith two of the best in the serial genre, producer Bud Koenig and Barney A. Sarecky, Original screenplay by Wyndham Gittens, Norman S. Hall, Ray Tramps and Eddie Rickenbacker (character), musical score by Clifford Vaughan, Arthur Morton, Sam Perry and Heinz Roemheld, Franz Waxman, the song "Give Me A Ship and A Song" by Kay Kellogg ...the cast include John "Dusty" King (Ace Drummond), Jean Rogers (Peggy Trainor), Noah Beery Jr (Jerry), Guy Bates Post (The Grand Lama), Lon Chaney Jr ( Ivan-henchman), Jackie Morrow (Billy Meredith), Selmer Jackson (William Meredith, Sr.), Robert Warwick (Winston), James B. Leong (Henry Kee), Chester Gan (Kai-Chek), Arthur Loft (Chang-Ho, The Dragon), James Eagles (Johnny Wong, Radio Operator), C. Montague Shaw ( Dr. Trainor), Edmund Cobb (Nicolai-henchman)....the great stuntman Eddie Parker (stunt double for John "Dusty" King and Noah Beery Jr)....after appearing in the serial "Ace Drummond" (1936), John King was signed as one of the trio leads in Monogram B-Westerns "The Range Busters" (1940), as "Dusty" for 18 films that gave us many thrill...Jean Rogers was a leading lady in 30s and 40s in Hollywood, but best remembered as Dale Arden, the hero's girlfriend, in two of the three "Flash Gordon" serials...must make mention the great flying sequences, outstanding vintage aircrafts with plenty of action...meanwhile back to our Universal Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. Where East Meets West
2. Invisible Enemy
3. Doorway of Doom
4. The Radio Riddle
5. Bullets of Sand
6. Evil Spirits
7. The Trackless Trail
8. The Sign in the Sky
9. Secret Service
10.Mountain of Jade
11.The Dragon Commands
12.Squadron of Death
13.The World Akin

BIOS:
1. John "Dusty" King (aka Miller McLeod Everson)
Birth Date: 7/11/1909 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Died: 11/11/1987 - San Diego, CA
2. Jean Rogers (aka Eleanor Lovegren)
Birth Date: 3/25/1916 - Belmont, Mass.
Died: 2/24/1991 - Sherman Oaks, CA
3.. Noah Beery Jr
Birth Date: 8/10/1913 - New York New York
Died: 11/01/1994 - Tehachapi, CA
4. Cliff Smith (Director)
Birth Date: 8/22/1894 - Richmond, Indiana
Died: 9/17/1937 - Los Angeles, CA
5. Ford Beebe (Director)
Birth Date:11/26/1888 - Grand Rapids, Michigan
Died: 11/26/1978 - Lake Elsinore, CA

If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
4. Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien)
5. Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (Judd Holdren & I. Stanford Jolley)
6. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
7. Don Winslow of the Navy (Don Terry)
8. Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (Don Terry)
9. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
10.Fighting Kit Carson (Johnny Mack Brown)
11.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
12.The Green Archer (Victory Jory)
13.Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
14.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
15.Lost City of the Jungle (Russell Hayden & Keye Luke)
16.Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull & Dick Curtis)
17.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
18.The Painted Stallion (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
19.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
20.The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi)
21.Riders of Death Valley (Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo & Buck Jones)
22.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
23.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
24.Sky Raiders (Donald Woods & Billy Halop)
25.Undersea Kingdom (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
26.Winners of the West (Dick Foran, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft & Charles Stevens)
27.Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
28.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)

Coming soon January 2006 from VCI Home Video on DVD..."FLAMING FRONTIERS" (1938), Universal Serial with 15 chapters, featuring Johnny Mack Brown, Eleanor Hansen, John Archer, James Blaine and Ralph Bowman..."OREGON TRAIL" (1939), another Universal Serial with 15 exciting chapters featuring Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, Roy Barcoft and Charles King..."THE TALL TEXAN" (1953), full length feature starring Lloyd Bridges, Lee J Cobb, Luther Adler and Marie Windsor...watch for more details on VCI Entertainment and Amazon your two favorite sites for serials and B-Westerns.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Ace Drummond" (1936), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just the way we like 'em

This is a very early serial that people still tend to talk about a lot. In my view it's famous mainly because the hero breaks out into a really dumb little song in the middle of an airplane in Chapter One, and again a couple of times later in the picture. "Ace Drummond" was a comic strip created by World War One flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.

John King was better known for Westerns--he should have stuck to them. Jean Rogers, of course, was Dale Arden in the first two Flash Gordon serials, and also appeared in "Secret Agent X-9" (1937). Guy Bates Post, a great old character actor, is great as the Grand Lama. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays a small part as a henchman, which he often did in serials.