Don Winslow of the Navy (1942) – Chapter 7: Bombed by the Enemy

OUR STORY SO FAR (taken directly from the “crawl” that opens Part the Seventh): Don Winslow, hot on the trail of the saboteurs, encounters a native revolt started by Scorpion Agent “M-22,” known to Winslow only as Merlin, superintendent of the Tangita Gold Mine.

Merlin, obeying the Scorpion’s orders, plots with Koloka, native witch doctor, and Don and his friends are imprisoned in a dungeon in the old temple ruins.  Overpowering the guards, they escape to a high balcony on the edge of a precipitous cliff, but with the sea hundreds of feet below.

I know it’s been over a month since we looked in on how things were progressing with Don Winslow of the Navy (1942)…and before you wisenheimers start in with the sarcasm, I think it’s only fair to point out that our hero was never in any real danger because, as was pointed out last time, the “man-eaters” menacing Winslow (Don Terry) were really just one “man-eater”: a dolphin with an ill-fitting fin.

As his friends look on from the balcony, Don does battle with the ferocious dolphin in a special underwater edition of Mostly Dark Theater™.  Truly, we don’t know who emerges victorious until stereotypical Irishman Michael Splendor (Wade Boteler) cries out: “By golly!  Don made it—he escaped those man-eaters!”  (I think this guy must be seeing double—there’s only one “shark” in the freakin’ water!)

Winslow manages to pull himself up on dry land despite the lack of a pool ladder, and he waves to his friends as if to say: “Yeah, who’s the big Kahuna now?”  But Spencer Merlin (John Litel), secret saboteur and all-around evil dude, is there to throw a damper on Don’s celebratory jig in the end zone.

MERLIN: His escape won’t do us any good…

RED: Why won’t it?

MERLIN: Those natives have worked themselves into a frenzy…

The above screen capture reveals the “frenzied” natives.  Honest to my grandma, that is the actual shot that follows Merlin’s line—I did not do that for comedy effect.  I’ve seen rowdier crowds at WVU tailgate parties.

MERLIN: We can’t get through those natives and that’s all there is to it!

RED: Well, we can try…

So Red Pennington (Walter Sande), Merlin and the rest of that sorry lot make their way downstairs to where the “unruly” natives are ready to tear up a few seats at the same time Winslow scales a wall of the ruins to dry gulch some guards.  He jumps one of them—or I should say more accurately his stuntman jumps one of them—and after a brief tussle manages to subdue the men with very little effort.  The others rush over to Don and he asks with a perfectly straight face: “Where’s my sarong?”  (You’ll remember from Chapter 6 that Winslow donned blackface to disguise himself as one of the members of the tribe.  What I have not been able to figure out is why his native tan did not wash off when he was wrestling with Flipper.)  Cloaking himself in what appears to be a large beach towel with a bandanna on his head, Don and the others head toward the great hall where the natives have finally gotten the hint and have started acting properly frenzied.

An elderly native starts speaking gibberish to the others, and it is quickly established that this is Tombana, the ruler of the natives whom the witch doctor Koloka (Frank Lackteen)—described in the last chapter by Merlin as “an ambitious old crook”—is anxious to depose.  Merlin and his thugs are helping Koloka accomplish this by rigging up a microphone and speaker system inside the temple’s idol to make the others think the idol is having a chinwag with them…because they are unfamiliar with the white man’s advanced public address technology.  The actor playing Tombana is not identified…though that may be to his credit, since I’m sure it probably wasn’t something he reminisced about openly at The Old Actors Home in his twilight years.

As the others look on, our hero asks bidnessman John Blake (Ben Taggart) to translate the lingo.

BLAKE: The big native is Tombana, their chief…he told his people that we are their friends…that Koloka the witch doctor lies…

He lies a lot.

DON: That means that we can depend upon Tombana to get us out of here…

RED: What are we waitin’ for?  Let’s get in there!

DON: Wait a minute, Red…we’ll have to plan some sort of defense…in the event that they attack us…

And in their frenzied state, that is a distinct possibility.  The voice of Koloka rings out over the PA system, and suddenly Splendor is a freaking translator.

SPLENDOR: The witch doctor’s usin’ that microphone to make the natives think their idol’s talkin’ to them…

BLAKE: He’s telling them that Munakai the idol wants the white men sacrificed…that the white men are about to drive them from their island…

RED: Faker…

Maybe Red is actually calling him a “fakir”…because as history has taught us, white men rarely drive indigenous people off of their lands, he said sarcastically.

BLAKE: He’s also telling them that Tombana is the friend of the white man and must be sacrificed with them…that Koloka must be their new king…

DON: This thing is getting plainer every minute…

I’m glad you think so.

DON: That witch doctor is working with the Scorpion’s agents, trying to turn the natives against us…

SPLENDOR: With faith, then—that’s the man we’ve got to lay our hands on!

DON: We’ll have to rush them…maybe the surprise of seeing us will hold them off for a minute…

Oh yeah…nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.  Don tells Mercedes (Claire Dodd) that she needs to stand back out of the way because, weaker sex.  The manly men then proceed down a corridor and spot Koloka yakking away on his talking box.  Don fires a shot at the witch doctor, which seems to wound him…and then Merlin, knowing that Koloka will sing like a canary if Don and the gang start in with the Spanish Inquisition, fires two more shots to insure Koloka crumples to the ground like wet laundry.

DON: Why did you kill him?

MERLIN: I thought you tried to get him and missed!

I am so using that excuse the next time the opportunity presents itself.  Well, the shots attract the attention of Tombana and the rest of that native mob and they’re soon come sprinting around the corner, where they see the lifeless body of Koloka on the ground.  As a couple of natives carry him off, the rest of them start making noises indicating—and I’ll admit, my native translation capabilities can’t quite match the skills of Mr. Splendor—that the sacrificing of the white people will soon commence, followed by dinner and an auction.  Fortunately, the ever quick-thinking Don is able to talk Tombana out of these plans by explaining to him the wonders of Ampex.

DON: Speak to your people, Tombana…and tell them that their sacred idol Munakai did not speak to them…tell them it was the evil work of Koloka—who has been killed by the idol for his treachery…tell them that…

Yes, tell them they’re a bunch of superstitious fools…by reaffirming their superstitious beliefs.  Great plan, Donny me boyo.  Tombana smoothes things over with the natives, and as Don and the others are gathering up the PA system…

RED: Equipment like this must mean that The Scorpion’s agents have a complete communications setup!

DON: I’m sure of it…and highly trained technicians and an A-1 sending station, right here on this island!

“Why…it’s almost as if we were telegraphing what the rest of this chapter will be about!”  The ever-helpful Merlin acknowledges that “we have a job on our hands trying to locate it”—leaving out the part about “And I’ll have a job on my hands trying to stop you.”

Red suggests that they conduct a series of triangulation tests using the transmitter in Blake’s Rondana Bay warehouse and the radio on the 620 destroyer.  Fortunately for Red, that’s just what Don was going to suggest…and he tells him as such while he barks orders at the others to gather up the equipment so they can motor.

A screen wipe finds Seaman Chapman (Peter Leeds) and Winslow seated at a big-honking radio with both men wearing headphones, cluing us in that the triangulation has begun.  Mercedes, Merlin and Splendor look on in pretend fascination:

MERCEDES: Any luck, Don?

DON: Not much…we’ve picked up a few messages intended for a station somewhere on this island but that’s all…

SPLENDOR: Sure, and that’s somethin’…

DON: Yes…but as long as that station here on the island is silent—neither Red on the 620 nor Chapman here can get the two points we need from which to draw the triangle that’ll locate The Scorpion’s secret base!

SPLENDOR: Then I’m thinkin’ it might be located in that old sea mill…

DON: I wouldn’t be surprised, Mike…

Well, I would…I was under the impression you guys ransacked that place in the last chapter.  You should have stumbled over it if it was there.  In the meantime, the camera pans lovingly over the visage of Spencer Merlin as if to say “This is the bad guy and you idiots haven’t figured it out yet!”

MERLIN: Well, it’s my firm conviction that when you do locate The Scorpion’s radio…you’ll discover his headquarters at the same time…

“And with the brain power in this room, you’ll find that sometime after the end of the war.”

DON: Possibly…but we’re going to stick right here until we get some sort of message from the station we’re after…and then we’ll triangulate it so fast it’ll make your head swim!

I have no idea why that line made me giggle so…but it did.  Merlin has to be getting back to the mine in time for his weekly scolding from The Scorpion (“You’ve failed again, M-22…”) and after being thanked by Don for all his help, the scene shifts to the underwater submarine base maintained by Scorpion, Ltd.  Merlin’s brownnosing henchman Prindle (Robert Barron) stands by as a submarine slides into port, and to make people understand that the two of them are in some underground cave they’ve turned up the echo effect to the point where it sounds like a Sun recording.

PRINDLE: The Scorpion’s certainly sending us fine equipment…

MERLIN: We need it…

PRINDLE: That boat’s the latest and best in submarine construction…

Well, don’t break your arms patting yourselves on the backs, me hearties.  A man named Jacklin steps off the submarine (clearly marked Z-40) and is played by Guy Kingsford, a veteran of B-movies and serials like Holt of the Secret Service (1941) and The Phantom (1943).  Merlin orders him to take the sub out to where the 620 is floating around trying that triangulation deal.  He’s very careful to tell the captain that he’s not to attack the destroyer but that he will be launching a plane from the Z-40.  The two men then go into another spiel about how having an underground oil well gives them superior capabilities, blah blah blah.  (Yeah, we’ll see who wins the war, you hosers.)

Back at Triangulation Central, Chapman gets a heads-up from the 620—Red has picked up a signal while on the destroyer, and he tells Don to “switch over to the fifteen megacycle band.”  Chapman does so, allowing him, Don, Mercedes, Misty (Anne Nagel) and Splendor to catch the last few minutes of Vic & Sade.  No, I’m only kidding about that—they hear the unmistakable tones of The Scorpion (Kurt Katch) reaming his subordinates.

SPLENDOR: Don…that’s The Scar-pian himself talkin’!

DON: None other, Mike—that definitely proves that there’s a secret radio station on this island!

CHAPMAN: If he’d only send so that we could pick it up, sir…

SCORPION (on the radio): I have too much at stake to let Winslow stand in my way…if you can’t accomplish what I’ve ordered…I’ll replace you and all my other agents in Tangita…see that my orders are obeyed…

By the time The Scorpion hisses this last statement, the scene has shifted back to the underground headquarters where Merlin and Prindle watch the image of The Scorp fade to black.  I wouldn’t worry a great deal about that last threat, though—if there were more competent agents out there he would have hired them by now.

MERLIN: You know what The Scorpion means by “replacing” us…

PRINDLE: Yeah…it means our demise…disposing of us in his usual way unless we capture Winslow…

MERLIN: Not only capture Winslow…but annihilate the entire setup…where’s Corley and Spike?

PRINDLE: At the sea mill, repairing our radio…

MERLIN: You better get up there right away…tell Corley to send fake code messages to imaginary submarines any place in the Pacific…

PRINDLE: What’s that for?

“To hold all the sea water, chucklehead…”

MERLIN: Winslow at the warehouse radio…Pennington at the 620…are trying to triangulate this station, aren’t they?

PRINDLE: Sure, but…all we have to do is keep Parker from sending…

MERLIN: We’ll do better than that…with Corley broadcasting his fake message, Winslow and Pennington are sure to pick it up…that’ll make them think that the radio station is located in the mill…

PRINDLE: Then they’ll destroy it!

MERLIN: No…we’ll destroy it before they get there…I want them to believe—that the mill is The Scorpion’s headquarters…

If you think this plan is already needlessly complicated, you should also know that Merlin is going to have agent Paul Barsac (John Holland)—who is apparently returning to the serial after sitting out a chapter or two in hospital—drop bombs on the mill.  Naturally, Prindle is a tad concerned because he, Corley and Spike will be there come Ordinance Time…but Spence assures Prindle that in instructing Barsac to fly twice over the mill before he drops his payload, the three henchmen will have ample time to escape.  (If I were Prindle, I’d start scanning the classified ads of Saboteur Weekly and look for another gig.)

So we go back to the warehouse, where Merlin walks in as his amiable un-spy self:

MERLIN: Anything new?

DON: Yes…the station we’ve been searching for has been sending all right but we cahn’t make out the code…

MERLIN: Well…can’t you triangulate the location of the station?

DON: As nearly as we can judge, it’s somewhere in the vicinity of the old sea mill…

SPLENDOR: Sure, and wasn’t that what I was tellin’ ya?

Mike…isn’t there some bar you could be drinking at right now?  To get Splendor out of his hair, Don orders him and Blake to conduct “a thorough investigation,” and he’ll and Red will follow to the old mill as soon as Red gets back from the destroyer.  “Anything I can do?” asks Spence.

“I’m afraid not,” replies Don.  “But I’ll let you know how we come out.”  Oh, I think he knows that already…feet first.  Chapman then reports another communication: it’s from Red, who reports that the 620 is already back in dock—so Splendor and Blake won’t have to do any investigating, Don and Red will do all the heavy lifting.

There’s a scene shift to the old sea mill, where a nervous Spike (Ethan Laidlaw) is pacing the floor; Corley (Lane Chandler) is seated tapping out code to those invisible Pacific Ocean subs as Prindle observes from the other side.  Corley is as jittery as his pal Spike.

CORLEY: We’ve been sending for over an hour now, Prindle—we ought to get out!

SPIKE: Sure…Winslow’s had all the time he needs to get a line on this station…

PRINDLE: We’re going to stay right here and keep on sending until the plane flies over the first time…we’ll have plenty of time to get out after that…

CORLEY: Yeah…if we’re lucky—I don’t like this split-second timing!

SPIKE: You and me both!  I don’t want to be here when those eggs start dropping on this old mill…

PRINDLE: Stop worrying!  Keep on sending…

And besides—I’d be more worried about the bombs than a few egg…oh…sorry…I didn’t recognize the slang there.  There is then a quick cut to Merlin at the sub base, as he gives orders to Captain Jacklin…and then Barsac arrives on the scene, nattily attired in an aviator’s cap and scarf.  “Don’t come back until you blow that mill off the face of the earth!” orders Spence.  There is then a bit of stock footage showing a submarine crew preparing to dive, and then a cut to a model disappearing slowly into the water.  But this one is my favorite:

Yes, it’s the old stock footage rear-projected with a little fake flora and fauna in the foreground.  Never gets old.  After more stock footage and a shot of an airplane departing the deck of a sub, we then cut quickly to a shot of junior birdman Barsac flying above scenic Tangita Island, on his way to bomb the old sea mill to Kingdom Come.

We then cut to Don and Red outside the mill, where Don instructs his pal to hang back while he goes to investigate because a) he’s the hero of this serial, and b) if Red is allowed to do so they’ll run the risk of rounding up the bad guys before the twelve chapters are done.  Inside the mill, Spike spies Winslow coming up the path from one of the windows and alerts Prindle that they’ll soon have a visitor.

PRINDLE: This is made to order…if we can capture Winslow alive, everything will be jake with The Scorpion…Corley—keep on sending that fake message…Spike… (He motions for Spike to follow him)

So…you know how whenever you watch a cop show on TV the police always barge in brandishing their guns and pointing them into every nook and cranny?  Well, naturally they do that because the criminal element could be hiding out of sight and they don’t want to be surprised from the rear when they’re not looking.  Unfortunately, if people did that in serials there would be never be an element of surprise—and apparently “sweeping” a room is something that Winslow did not learn at the Naval Academy because when he blunders in and orders Corley to stand up, Spike and Prindle get him from behind, and a poorly staged fight with mismatched stuntmen begins.

We’ll cut to the quick on this one.  Winslow, unable to punch his way out of Cool Whip, is quickly rendered unconscious and under the table where Corley was sitting…just as the three goons can hear Barsac flying over head in his magnificent flying machine.  Spike and Corley announce that they’re going to run as if they were pursued by bears, despite Prindle’s assertion that they need to take Winslow with them.  “This is one time I’m forgettin’ The Scorpion’s orders!” Corley snaps, as he and Spike are ready to haul ass-and-elbows out of the mill.

Prindle is insistent that they take Winslow along.  His confederates have other ideas and shove him aside, and Prindle gradually comes around to thinking: “Well, they might have a point.”  As the three henchies are piling out of the mill, one of Barsac’s bombs misses them by that much.  Don is starting to come to just as Barsac drops a few more beauties, and though it’s obvious here that the mill has blown up real good…

…it’s follow by a shot of just a few timbers falling inside the mill, as if they just had a bad termite problem or something.  Be that as it may, don’t miss our next thrilling installment…