The Master Key (1945) trailer

Set in 1938 with Nazi agents kidnapping scientist Professor Ellwood Henderson in order to get his Orotron machine that can extract gold from seawater.

The Fighting Devil Dogs (1945)

In Singapore, two Marine Lieutenants, Tom Grayson and Frank Corby, uncover the threat of a masked terrorist called The Lightning, who uses an arsenal of powerful lightning-based weaponry in his bid for world conquest. These electrical fireballs are similar to the Foo Fighters that appeared during WWII. The battle becomes personal when The Lightning annihilates the officers’ unit and later kills Lt. Grayson’s father as he was helping the investigation of the weapon. Now, the marines have dedicated themselves to stopping The Lightning and bringing him to justice… This movie is famous for its main villain, The Lightning—the very first costumed supervillain. There is some speculation that George Lucas used The Lightning as a template for Darth Vader. Starring Lee Powell, Bruce Bennett, and Eleanor Stewart. A great action serial!

Adventures of Red Ryder (1940)

Mesquite banker Calvin Drake plans to profit from the Santa Fe Railroad’s acquisition of right-of-way by gaining control of the land in the territory. In the ensuing war of intimidation against the ranchers, Ira Withers is killed and Red Ryder and his father, Colonel Tom Ryder, form an organization to drive the gunmen and outlaws out of the territory. Colonel Ryder is killed by One-Eye Chapin and Red vows vengeance. Sheriff Dade is in league with the Drake faction, including Ace Hanlon. The Duchess, Red’s aunt, is about to lose her ranch. Red learns of a plan to dynamite a dam providing the water supply, and saves Beth Andrews, daughter of the former sheriff, Luke Andrews who was also murdered by Drake’s men. Starring Don ‘Red’ Barry, Noah Beery, Tommy Cook. One of the great Western serials!

Secret Agent X9 (1945)

On a neutral island in the Pacific called Shadow Island run by American gangster Lucky Kamber, both sides in World War II attempt to control the secret of Element 722, which can be used to create synthetic aviation fuel. The U.S. sends in Secret Agent X-9 to foil the plot. Chinese agent Ah Fong becomes X-9's partner. A Japanese submarine is standing by to take a surgically altered spy to America. A French couple, Hotel owners Papa and Mama Pierre also figure in the plot. A mysterious figure known only as Solo spends most of the picture playing tiddley winks on Kamber's bar. Double crosses and triple crosses abound as X-9 tries to gain the secret of “Element 722". Staring Lloyd Bridges as Phil Corrigan aka Secret Agent X-9; Keye Luke as Ah Fong, Chinese agent; Jan Wiley as Lynn Moore, Australian agent; Victoria Horne as Nabura, villainous Japanese agent; and Samuel S. Hinds as Solo. Before there was James Bond there was Secret Agent X-9. Before Element 115, there was Element 722! An action-packed movie!

Manhunt on Mystery Island (1945) trailer

A breakthrough scientific device will revolutionize the world's energy usage if the kidnapped creator can be found. To rescue her father, Claire Forrest enlists the help of private detective, Lance Reardon. Clues lead them to a remote Pacific isle known only as Mystery Island, where the two confront sinister and astonishing forces.

Scapolamine Shock (1946)

Starring Vincent Price and Lynn Bari. This is the first movie to show the effects of the powerful mind-control drug scopolamine. Scopolamine was used in Nazi Germany as an interrogation tool and is widely used by intelligence agencies around the world. Lynn Bari is an anxious housewife who witnesses a murder and turns to a psychiatrist to help her mental anxiety. Unfortunately the psychiatrist is also the murderer and begins to drive the unfortunate woman insane with scopolamine. A great film noir on the dangers of mind-control drugs.

The Phantom (1943)

The Phantom is a 1943 Columbia Pictures 15 chapter black-and-white cliffhanger superhero serial, produced by Rudolph C. Flothow, directed B. Reeves Eason, and starring Tom Tyler in the title role. It is based on Lee Falk's comic strip The Phantom, first syndicated to newspapers in 1936 by King Features Syndicate. The serial also features Jeanne Bates as the Phantom's girlfriend Diana Palmer, and Ace the Wonder Dog as the Phantom's trusty German shepherd Devil (who is a wolf in the original comic strip).

The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941)

A newspaper publisher and his Korean servant fight crime as vigilantes who pose as a notorious masked gangster and his aide. Wealthy publisher Britt Reid and his trusted Korean valet and sidekick disguise themselves as the crime fighting vigilantes, The Green Hornet and Kato. They battle the growing power of a ruthless crime lord "Boss" Crogan and his varied rackets across the city, all of which have strong links to unfriendly foreign powers... With Warren Hull, Wade Boteler and Keye Luke. Look out Bruce Lee, here come Keye Luke as Kato.

Manhunt in the African Jungle (1943)

In a story-line very similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark, American agent Secret Service Agent Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron), along with British reporter Janet Blake (Joan Marsh) and Chief of Police Captain Pierre LaSalle (Duncan Renaldo) attempt to thwart the Nazis from obtaining a sacred Arab religious artifact that will unite all the Arabs and they will serve the Third Reich. In order to do this Nazi agent Baron von Rommler (Lionel Royce) captures and impersonates Sultan Abou Ben Ali (also Lionel Royce), leader of all the Arabs. One of the most action-packed of all the serials and the inspiration for the most-watched film of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Jack Armstrong: The All American Boy (1947)

John Hart stars as Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, who battles the evil Dr. Grood, who has placed a death ray aboard his spaceship orbiting Earth. In this exciting serial, Jack Armstrong and his friends attempt to rescue a renowned scientist, the inventor of a revolutionary atomic engine, from the clutches an arch-villain bent on world-dominion by means of a death ray place on board a aircraft capable of flying into the ionosphere. Their quest takes the adventurers to a remote island where they must not only contend with the criminal mastermind's henchmen, but a fierce tribe who have their own reasons for thwarting our heroes. One of the great radio shows and exciting serials of the 1940s.

Captain Midnight (1942)

Secret Service Major Steel (Joseph W. Girard), is one of the few men in America aware of the fact that Captain Albright (Dave O'Brien) is also Captain Midnight, daring masked aviator dedicated to fighting gangsters and enemies of America. When murderous bombing attacks are made on West Coast munitions plants, Steel sends for Albright and asks him to track down the mysterious Ivan Shark (James Craven), the foreign agent mastermind behind the attacks. Shark has learned about an ingenious range finder, invented by John Edwards (Bryant Washburn, and makes plans to obtain a model of the invention. Edwards instructs his daughter, Joyce (Dorothy Short), to bring the model to Albright for safekeeping in his mountain laboratory. Shark takes Edwards prisoner by Albright assures Joyce that her father will be saved and an end put to Shark's reign of terror. Dressing as Captain Midnight and enlisting the aid of his friends, Chuck (Sam Edwards) and Ichabod Mudd (Guy Wilkerson), Captain Midnight delivers on his promises fourteen chapters later. An action-packed serial!

Nabonga (1944)

Nabonga-1944. Starring Buster Crabbe with Julie London in her first film role, is the story of young Ray Gorman who travels to Africa to try to track down the money embezzled from his father’s bank years earlier. After a long trek through the jungle Gorman finds the money in the care of beautiful ‘white witch’ Doreen, daughter of the now long-dead embezzler. Gorman finds his goal difficult to accomplish as not only does Doreen, guarded by a huge, ferocious gorilla, not want to give up the money, but greedy guide Carl Hurst has followed Gorman’s trail, intent on getting the money himself by any means necessary. A great jungle-girl-lost city-gorilla movie!

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Jesse James Rides Again (1947) Part 2

Outlaw Jesse James and his friend, on the run from Missouri, ride into a town where a gang is trying to drive area ranchers off their land because there's oil underneath it. They take particular interest in the situation of a pretty young woman and her elderly father, whose ranch is being regularly attacked by the gang. Starring Clayton Moore, Linda Stirling, and Roy Barcroft. A great western serial that brought Jesse James back to life!

Jesse James Rides Again (1947) Part 1

Outlaw Jesse James and his friend, on the run from Missouri, ride into a town where a gang is trying to drive area ranchers off their land because there's oil underneath it. They take particular interest in the situation of a pretty young woman and her elderly father, whose ranch is being regularly attacked by the gang. Starring Clayton Moore, Linda Stirling, and Roy Barcroft. A great western serial that brought Jesse James back to life!

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

A gang of criminals, which includes a piano player and an imposing former convict known as 'Gruesome', has found out about a scientist's secret formula for a gas that temporarily paralyzes anyone who breathes it. When Gruesome accidentally inhales some of the gas and passes out, the police think he is dead and take him to the morgue, where he later revives and escapes. This puzzling incident attracts the interest of Dick Tracy, and when the criminals later use the gas to rob a bank, Tracy realizes that he must devote his entire attention to stopping them. Starring Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, and Anne Gwynne. Karloff is great as Gruesome. The comic strip come to life!

Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)

On a scientific expedition to Siam young Billy Batson is given the ability to change himself into the super-powered Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam, who tells him his powers will last only as long as the Golden Scorpion idol is threatened. Finding the idol, the scientists realize it could be the most powerful weapon in the world and remove the lenses that energize it, distributing them among themselves so that no one would be able to use the idol by himself. Back in the US, Billy Batson, as Captain Marvel, wages a battle against an evil, hooded figure, the Scorpion, who hopes to accumulate all five lenses, thereby gaining control of the super-powerful weapon. Captain Marvel's is granted his powers by 6 patron deities, whose name spells his catch-phrase “Shazam.” The deities are Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. With Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel, Frank Coghlan Jr. as Billy Batson, plus William 'Billy' Benedict, Louise Currie, and Robert Strange.