G-Men Never Forget - Chapter 9: The Death Wind

OUR STORY SO FAR: It’s going to be short and sweet this week, kids – details below…

Chapter 9 of our death-defying thrill saga, G-Men Never Forget (1948), is what as known in the serial biz as a “cheater.” It was a common practice at motion picture studios whose specialty was cranking out cliffhangers—though in all honesty I think it was considerably more noticeable at Republic (Columbia relied on them, too—but since the Columbia serials were so dirt-cheap you rarely paid any attention)—that allowed the filmmakers to economize a bit and feature a chapter that had the main principals sitting around and discussing what had transpired in the chapter play so far. In “The Death Wind,” we witness the escape of Ted O’Hara (Clayton Moore) and Francis Blake (Ramsay Ames) from the farmhouse just before it’s bombed by Murkland’s pilot (Tom Monroe), and then the scene switches to Benson’s Sanitarium, where Duke (Drew Allen) and “Doc” Benson (Stanley Price) are seated around a desk in Benson’s office bellyaching about how O’Hara lives a charmed life:

BENSON: O’Hara seems to outguess us at every turn…
GRAHAM: Yeah…he must carry a rabbit’s foot…but that kind of luck’s gotta change sometime…

Either that or you two really, really suck at heading up a criminal operation. Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft), the master criminal whose undergone plastic surgery in order to pass himself off as Commissioner Angus Cameron, enters the room at the tail end of Duke’s remark.

MURKLAND: What are you talking about…it’s not luck…it’s shrewd, quick-thinking…

Something that’s in relatively short supply at Murkland, Inc…but I digress…

MURKLAND: Every time he strikes, he gets a little closer…another thing…he’s asking his chief in Washington to fly out here for a special conference…
BENSON: You don’t think he suspects you, do you?
MURKLAND: I don’t know…I don’t see how he could, unless we made a slip-up somewhere…let’s go back over everything from the time I told you to pick up Cameron…now what was it?

And so, the recycled footage from Chapter One commences…from Cameron being gassed in the taxi cab to seeing his exact double in Murkland’s completed plastic surgery. Duke has his own flashbacks to contribute as well, centering on the big “breakout” from the police hospital with a disguised O’Hara and Blake.

GRAHAM: It’s like I say—O’Hara’s been lucky…
MURKLAND: Okay, maybe you’re right…I still can’t figure out why he sent for Special Deputy Roberts and is holding a meeting in my office tonight…
GRAHAM: A trap…to make you give yourself away!
MURKLAND: Well, if it is a trap…I’ll be the only one who comes out of it alive…

Later that evening, in Cameron’s office, Ted and Francis fill Roberts (Phil Warren) in on what he missed in the previous eight chapters—though this is not necessarily a bad thing, because we do get to see the exciting Daredevils of the Red Circle tunnel footage from Chapter One again. Once “Cameron” arrives at the meeting, O’Hara starts with the reminiscing. As O’Hara tells his story, there is much deviltry afoot: Duke and another member (Dale Van Sickel…again) of the voluminous Murkland henchman stable stick a hose into the building’s ventilation system and begin to pump in a powerful knockout gas…that threatens to put our heroes out of circulation…permanently!

Next Saturday, Chapter 10: The Innocent Victim!