If you're old enough you might remember a time when the old serials from the 1930s and 40s were still being shown in the cinema. As a nipper in the 1970s, we might not have had smart phones, PCs or consoles but we still had Saturday Matinee to look forward to. It was often mayhem in the cinema with ice cream, peanuts and all other manner of things being weaponised and hurled across the seats. The ushers did their best to keep control but it was often a losing battle for them. The only thing that made for a change in mood was when the music started, signalling the latest episode of the serial, which would run before the main feature. It was where I first experienced Flash Gordon among others. Opening credits meant cheering, whistling and stamping of feet. Our antics would almost shake the building off its foundations and would only subside as we settled down to watch the latest daring escape our hero would make from the deathtrap that was the previous episode's cliffhanger ending.
I fell in love with serials then and still love them today and, let's face it, so did Speilberg and Lucas. The serial DNA running through Star Wars and Indiana Jones is there for all to see.
I recently did a bit of tidying up and gave my collection a bit of a dusting. It was then that I thought, perhaps, these would reignite memories for others. So here, without further ado, is my small collection of serials (note Bela lugosi in The Phantom Creeps).
In the next shot, take a close look at the spine of The Three Musketeers (a serial about the French Foreign Legion). Mister John Wayne. Lon Chaney jnr. is another who began in serials (Crash Corrigan's Undersea Kingdom)
And, of course, how could I have this collection without the immortal Flash Gordon?
P.S. I forgot to include my Batman serials from 1943 and 1949.
I fell in love with serials then and still love them today and, let's face it, so did Speilberg and Lucas. The serial DNA running through Star Wars and Indiana Jones is there for all to see.
I recently did a bit of tidying up and gave my collection a bit of a dusting. It was then that I thought, perhaps, these would reignite memories for others. So here, without further ado, is my small collection of serials (note Bela lugosi in The Phantom Creeps).
In the next shot, take a close look at the spine of The Three Musketeers (a serial about the French Foreign Legion). Mister John Wayne. Lon Chaney jnr. is another who began in serials (Crash Corrigan's Undersea Kingdom)
And, of course, how could I have this collection without the immortal Flash Gordon?
P.S. I forgot to include my Batman serials from 1943 and 1949.
