Sharad of Atlantis (1936)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Fantastic!

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

This serial was cranked out even quicker than usual for Republic, in direct response to Universal's instant classic, Flash Gordon, and is, overall, rather sub-par for a Republic production.Our hero, Crash Corrigan, is an attempt at creating a poor man's Buster Crabbe, and while he is likable, adequate and has the right build and physical abilities to be a serial hero, he does not exude sufficient charisma, charm, virtue or cleverness so as to have us in our seats cheering him on.The main villain, Unga Khan, is an unsuccessful attempt to create an ersatz Ming the Merciless, looking more brain-damaged than sinister.And while Crash is adequate, most of the rest of the cast are either bland or sub-par, the exception being guy who played Unga Khan's main henchmen, who was pretty good. There is a just awful kid, Billy, the son of a geriatric scientist, who you keep hoping will get killed off, but no, he survives.And there is a nice-looking female lead who gets almost nothing to do the entire serial, and there are no romantic sparks between her and our hero, until the final chapter.Speaking of romantic sparks or the lack thereof, it is interesting to note that in the Kingdom of Atlantis, wherein our adventure occurs, there appear to be exactly zero women, until our aforementioned heroine arrives. I mean, in a literal sense, that although this serial has many male actors and extras, there is only 1 female throughout the whole 12 chapters. How this city's population has perpetuated itself these many thousands of years is a mystery not discussed, nor is the means by which the many, many male inhabitants of Atlantis relieved their sexual urges.This aspect of Atlantean life, plus the many scenes of our hero stripped down to his trunks wrestling other men stripped down to their trunks, not to mention the fact that Corrigan's Atlantean costume greatly resembles that of a Las Vegas showgirl, gives rise to much speculation.This serial has neither the verisimilitude of the classic Republic serials, nor the delirious phantasmagoria of Flash Gordon. Thus, it is amusing to see a couple chapters, but, and I say this as a fan of the classic serials, I found it tiresome to watch in its entirety.I should, however, give due praise to the fine miniature work by the Lydecker Brothers, and note that this serial marks the premier of the great Republic "water heater" robots, who would continue to appear in serials for the next 20 years. Thus, fans of Republic should see at least a chapter or two, and fans of serials, B-films, and kitch can also enjoy a couple chapters. But the whole things will probably be more than you need.

I have only seen episode two which was included as the short on the MST3000 episode where they watched the Indestructible Man. The likely reason it was included was the presence of Lon Chaney Jr in both. Lon's the key. Anyway.I think that is the most memorable aspect of this episodic serial from the 1930's, as the rest appears to be rather common and what one would expect out of a serial of the period (cheap sets, cheap costumes and props, atrocious acting and simple plot lines). If you have seen the Flash Gordon or Batman serials of the same period, then you know what to expect. These serials have not aged well and can be especially (and usually unintentionally) comedic.Atlantis. Unga Khan (think Ming). Ray Corrigan as Crash Corrigan. Thats an easy one to remember. You're playing yourself, dummy. Horses. Fighting. Robots. "Lasers". What's more to tell? It's not as exciting as it sounds. Outside of a 5 year old, the only entertainment value that can be derived from this as an adult is as some sort of stress relief comedy. Accompany the viewing with others and include at least 3 shots of Gentleman Jack.

It's incredible that there are so many contributors to this ancient hokum. It's unbelievable that so many remember it. When I was a youngster in the 1950's, the local ABC cinema - a fleapit ironically called 'The Royalty' - ran an excellent programme for kids on Saturday mornings. Called the ABC-minors club, every Saturday, at supporting cinemas, the local youth turned out for a 9.30am start. The program contained a kids movie, a serial, cartoons, and trailers for upcoming stuff. And it was a damn good idea. As a 5 or 6-year-old, I was hauled off by my brother and sister to this regular weekly bedlam. And believe me; even in the dour 1950's a cinema full of kids (no adults at all) could become a vigorous experience. There were times when so many Kia-Ora cartons, empty ice-cream tubs,and popcorn packets took to the air that an observer might have supposed the Gremlins had invaded. In extremis, the feature was suspended and the manager came on stage to demand order. A threat to miss out the cartoon would quickly plunge the place into silence. But it didn't last. Enter 'Crash Corrigan' and there would be a deafening uproar of cheers. How on Earth has this feature been remembered, let alone transferred to DVD? God really must have a sense of humour.STOP PRESS: Crash Corrigan was an able-seaman in the Oscar-winning 1935 production of 'Mutiny On The Bounty.' I suspect those outrageous underpants of his were the cause of the rebellion amongst so many desperate and deprived shipmates!

UNDERSEA KINGDOM must rank at the very bottom of the cliffhanger serials. Why`s it so bad ? Well it was shown on consecutive nights on BBC2 many years ago and watching every episode less than 24 hours apart it becomes patently obvious that the audience are being cheated . Every single cliffhanger is re-edited at the reprise , the worst example is an episode that finishes with a tank that has the hero strapped to its front smashing through a wooden gate of a fort , a loud crash , splinters everywhere there is no way our hero could possibly have survived the impact - then the following episode shows ( !!!!POSSIBLE SPOILER !!!! ) the people inside the fort opening the gate before the tank crashes through . This goes beyond cheating and remains the worst resolution to a cliffhanger ever . So give this rubbish a miss unless you`re interested in seeing Lon Chaney Jr in a cameo in the first episode or you`re wanting to laugh at some bizarre robots who are obviously men with a water boiler over their heads