The Perils of Pauline (1933 serial)
| The Perils of Pauline | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Ray Taylor |
| Produced by | Henry MacRae |
| Written by |
Basil Dickey Jack Foley Ella O'Neill George H. Plympton Charles W. Goddard (original story) |
| Starring |
Evalyn Knapp Craig Reynolds James Durkin John Davidson |
| Cinematography | Richard Fryer |
| Edited by | Saul A. Goodkind |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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12 chapters (231 minutes) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Perils of Pauline is a 1933 American Pre-Code film serial, and sound film remake, of the Pathé original. The 12-chapter "cliffhanger" was produced by Universal Studios. Evalyn Knapp, herself a graduate of Pathé silent short subjects, starred as the heroine, Pauline Hargraves. Historic newsreel footage of the 1930 flight of the Dornier Do X seaplane is featured in chapter eight.
Each episode in the serial is approximately 20 minutes long. The first one to two minutes of each episode are taken up with a title sequence and an intertitle describing the action from the previous serial. This is followed by about three minutes of the previous serial's closing moments.
Pauline Hargraves (Evalyn Knapp) is the intrepid daughter of Professor Hargraves (James Durkin), a noted doctor of chemistry and archeology. She and Willie Dodge (Sonny Ray), her father's cowardly secretary, have accompanied Prof. Hargraves to Asia in search of a legendary ivory disk which may contain the chemical recipe for a deadly gas created by an ancient Egyptian named Confu. Unfortunately, the villainous Asian warlord, Dr. Bashan (John Davidson), is also after the disk, along with his right-hand-man and assassin, Fang (Frank Lackteen).
In "The Guns of Doom," the Hargraves party arrives in China, where the disk is in the Tsai Tsin temple. Civil war has broken out, and the city is under attack. Dr. Hargraves and Dodge go to the temple, followed by Fang and his gang of thugs. Pauline goes to warn her father he's being followed, but is attacked by Fang. She's rescued by Robert Warde (Robert "Tex" Allen), an American railroad engineer. As shells fall all around, Pauline and Warde go to the temple, where Pauline finds the disk. But only half the disk exists; a map shows where the other half may be found. Dr. Bashan kidnaps Pauline while Warde takes her wounded father to a hotel. Bashan takes the disk, but Pauling escapes. Bashan takes a ship to Sarawak, where the map shows the rest of the disk is located. The Hargraves party follows Bashan in "The Typhoon of Terror", narrowly escaping a government gunboat which fires on them. Bashan's ship is caught in a hurricane, allowing the Hargraves' ship to catch up. The disk is retrieved, although Pauline is nearly washed overboard. Dr. Bashan is locked in a cabin. In "The Leopard Leaps", the Hargraves team arrive in Sarawak and travel upriver toward an ancient Egyptian temple. The ship's captain frees Dr. Bashan (having no reason to imprison him), and Bashan pursues the Hargaves in a faster ship. Bashan catches up to the Hargraves party at night, and Fang attempts to kill Pauline. But a prowling leopard attacks him and he is captured. Fang escapes into alligator-infested waters and is presumed dead—but again escapes to safety. Pauline and Warde discover the Egyptian temple and retrieve the other half of the disk in "Trapped By the Enemy." On their way back to the professor in "The Flaming Tomb", they run into Tim Sullivan (Pat O'Malley), an old friend of Warde's who was building a railroad nearby some years ago but stayed behind to live with the natives. Dr. Bashan, accompanied by a band of evil natives, captures everyone but Warde (who is in the jungle with Sullivan, helping a wounded native) and seizes both halves of the disk. Pauline escapes, finds Warde, and rouses a tribe of good natives to help attack the village. Dr. Bashan flees. Pauline saves her father and Dodge from a burning native hut. The Hargraves group tries to fly out of the jungle in Sullivan's plane in "Pursued by Savages". The plane has engine trouble, and lands. Pauline goes exploring, and discovers Dr. Bashan (who has been traveling on foot) in the nearby jungle. Pauline steals the disk and tries to take it back to her father. But Prof. Hargraves and Dodge are seized by natives, who also pursue Pauline through the jungle.
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