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The Phantom - No Escape
USA 1961
produced by Robert Gilbert, Adrian Weiss (associate) for Tele Screen Productions
directed by Harold Daniels
starring Roger Creed, Paulette Goddard, Lon Chaney jr, Reginald Denny, Allan Nixon, Chaino, Richard Kiel, Morgan Lane, Robert Curtis, Glen Marshall, Ewing Miles Brown, Marilyn Gilbert, Bob Guthrie
screenplay by John Carr, based on the comic strip created by Lee Falk, Ray Moore, published by King Features, music by Gene Kauer
TV-pilot Phantom
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Some jungle, somewhere: Masked superhero the Phantom (Roger Creed)
saves a convict from a nasty crocodile bite and later learns that he was
an undercover agent at Mrs Harris's (Paulette Goddard) plantation that
employs convicts (for costcutting measures, I suppose) who are kept under
the most inhumane conditions. The Phantom decides to become the undercover
agent's successor in his human disguise as Mr Walker, and soon he
experiences the inhumane conditions first hand, and also learns why it's
not a good idea to escape from the plantation, because all the workers are
covered in leopard bait and whenever one escapes, Mrs Harris just releases
her leopards, who never fail in hunting the escapee down and killing him.
But through his dog, the Phantom keeps in touch with the outside world,
mainly commissioner Mallory (Reginald Denny). Mrs Harris soon grows wise
to the Walker's snooping around, so she convinces a convict of her trust,
Big Mike (Richard Kiel), to kill him - but the Phantom wouldn't be a good
superhero if he wasn't able to teach someone called Big Mike a lesson.
Then he escapes, and while he gets his dog to get rid of the leopard
bait-covered cloths, he changes into his superhero outfit and gets hold of
Mrs Harris and her gang. Veteran Lon Chaney jr plays Mrs Harris'
right-hand man who gets mauled by a leopard in the end. A pilot
that was never developed into a series, based on Lee Falk's popular
comicstrip character The Phantom - and when you see this,
you're not really surprised: Basically, this story isn't about the Phantom
at all, it's about an undercover agent who just happens to slip into a
purple outfit every now and again for no apparent reason - and actually,
the whole thing might have worked just as well if he never did. Plus,
though the story is supposed to be set in the jungle, the thing seems to
be filmed in just some forest (my guess is Corriganville, but I literally
have nothing to verify my claim) and no effort was made to give it any
exotic atmosphere. So what we're left with is just a pedestrian crime
thriller, definitely nothing to write home about ...
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