Here’s what I love about the Republic serials…they don’t require me to transcribe the lengthy (and often patently false) recaps dictated by the Universal chapter plays. The above Hal infographic is all we need to know about what went down last week.
The Hal is, of course, Hal Duncan (Walter Reed)—a mild
mannered trucking company owner who’s been elevated to the post of Special
Government Agent simply because he knows a few people. (Meritocracy…feh!) The screen cap does leave out the part that
he was chasing Regan (Dick Curtis) and Cady (Fred Coby) via railroad handcars
and that his mode of transportation just happened to be carrying some
heavy-duty explodiating hand grenades that had been set on fire thanks to a
leaky gasoline can and Regan’s Zippo.
But worry ye not—Hal jumped off the sidecar just in the nick of time to
avoid being explodiated.
A little Neosporin and he’ll be right as rain. Hal scampers back up a ladder and emerges from the trap door to join his sidekick, Sam Bradley (John Packard), who’s examining the body of some poor Coveralls Henchman that was shot and killed in the last chapter.
HAL: You okay?
SAM: Sure…what happened to you?
HAL: Plenty…I’ll tell you
later…there’s a tunnel under here that looks like it might lead to the
waterfront…I’m going to report to the police and then we’ll check on that
tunnel…look around and see what else you can find…
“’Please’ would be nice.” There’s a fade to black, and then the next scene establishes that we’re scheduled to attend a meeting of the Interstate Truck Owners Association in the historic Interstate Block building. Present and accounted for are these four men…
…Armstrong (Pierce Lyden), Crandall (Arthur Space), Thompson (Mauritz Hugo) and Willard (George Meeker). Taking down the notes for this meeting is the underappreciated girl Friday known as Kay Roberts (Mary Ellen Kay), whose dreams of finding a nice man while vacationing in Cancun have been dashed because she’s stuck playing stenographer to these jamokes.
“Then I got a working-over from Johnny Friendly and some of his goons…”
ARMSTONG: Then the thieves must
have shipping their loot out by water…probably to some enemy country…
THOMPSON: And it was all critical defense material…
Do hand grenades really constitute ‘critical defense
material’? I would think they would be
cheap and plentiful…particularly if you shopped in Georgia, for example.
THOMPSON: …we must do something to
break this up…did you find any clues as to the identity of the criminals?
HAL: No, the owner of the warehouse
rented it out to the man that was killed…I couldn’t connect him with anyone
else…however, I did find these papers…duplicates of our shipping schedules…
WILLARD: Well…that certainly proves
that some of our employees are selling us out…
HAL: Yes, and I suggest in the
future you keep your schedules as secret as possible…
“No one—not even the drivers—is to know the schedule…”
HAL: …and if you’ll notify me when
you have an important shipment, I’ll try to protect it for you…
And thus endeth the meeting.
While the four suspects head out to go across the street to the local
watering hole for a libation, Hal and Kay engage in some expository office
banter.
KAY: Hal…how are you going to
protect those shipments?
“With my brute strength, Kay…you see. I have a secret—I am
not of your world…”
HAL: I’m going to set up
checkpoints along the highways and schedules for every driver…if a truck fails
to pass a checkpoint on time, it’ll be reported and we can go looking for it
right away…
“Violators will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the
law.”
KAY: Well, that sounds practical…do
you want to handle the reports through this office?
HAL: Yes…I’ll put in a two-way
radio here…
Look, dude…just because you resemble Ralph Byrd doesn’t make
you freaking Dick Tracy…
HAL: The checkpoints will report to
you, and you can pass the information along to me…Sam and I will be cruising
around in a patrol car so we can in action in a hurry…oh, better still—we’ll
use an old jalopy so that they can’t spot us so easily…
KAY: That’s a better idea…
“And it’ll be so much easier to match the stock footage.” I’m sure Kay is excited to take on all that
extra work for which she will receive precious little recompense…but in the
meantime, leave us journey to the Metz Building…
…where in an undisclosed office (that’s behind in its rent, by the way), the mysterious figure we call “The Voice” is issuing instructions to his lackeys, Regan and Cady.
VOICE: …Duncan is attempting to keep the shipment schedule secret…but of course I will always be able to obtain the necessary information…
REGAN: What’s the next job?
VOICE: Some radar equipment…which I
need to fill a foreign order…it will be coming in on Highway 17…and should be
crossing the mountains between 10 and 12 tonight…
REGAN: Do you think they’ll be any
extra guards?
VOICE: As far as I know, Duncan has
made no arrangements for any…
Because Hal is undoubtedly thinking: “Heckfire, I can get
the job done with just two guys.” There’s a dissolve to a highway, where we
find Hal and Sam tooling around in a woody emblazoned with “State Engineering
Dept.” on the side. (So much for not
being spotted so easily.)
“Broderick Crawford starring in…Association Patrol! Whenever
the laws of any state are broken, a duly-authorized organization swings into
action…it may be called the State Police…State Troopers…Militia…the Rangers…or
the Association Patrol…these are the stories of the men whose training, skill
and courage have enforced and preserved our state laws…”
HAL: Come in, Kay…
KAY: Armstrong’s number five is
thirty minutes overdue at Stewart’s Corner checkpoint…
HAL: Right, Kay…we’ll look for it!
“To the Engineeringmobile, Sam!”
SAM: We’re on our way…that is, if
this chariot you insist on using holds together…
And so our heroes make my job easier by filling up the
chapter’s running time with stock footage of their wagon running along various
highways—with Hal commenting “Something happened to that truck, all right, or
we would have met it by now.” Sam takes
a turnoff on the right side of the road and Hal fortuitously spots the truck up
ahead.
HAL: Pull alongside that
ladder…I’ll climb aboard!
“Or rather my stuntman will!”
Behind the wheel of the truck, Cady notices that Hal is hanging on the back of the rig, and mentions it to his pal Regan…who decides to send his extra outside for a look-see.
Hal and Regan have a display of fisticuffs on top of the rig, while Cady has fun with Sam, trying to run him off the road.
Cady eventually succeeds in his game of “chicken,” but in the process of running Sam into a ditch, he knocks both Hal and Regan off the top of the truck. They land safely in the weeds—although there might be a skinned knee or two involved. Sam leaps out of the wagon and runs over to check on his boss.
SAM: Well…we collected one of them, anyway…
HAL: Is the car wrecked?
SAM: No…we can push it back onto
the road…what are we going to do with him?
HAL: Well, we’ll park him in the
Mercer jail tonight…then I’ll take him in to the Association meeting tomorrow
morning and see if any of them recognize him… (To Regan) Come on, on your
feet…get going…
Knowing, of course, that if any of the ITOA did recognize him they would essentially
be admitting they’re the head bad guy.
(Hal’s a decent sort…but dumber than a bag of hammers.) There’s a fade, and we’re in another meeting
again (how do those guys ever get anything done?). But something is amiss…
KAY: I’m sorry to keep you waiting…but Mr. Duncan said he’d be here with the prisoner by ten o’clock…
HAL: Our prisoner’s dead…he had
some sort of pill hidden on him and he swallowed it as we were taking him out
of jail…we rushed him to the hospital…but he passed out before they could do
anything for him…
KAY: Are you coming back here,
Hal? The meeting’s waiting…
HAL: Well, tell them I can’t
possibly make it…I’m just leaving the hospital here in Mercer to go to the
county seat and get the coroner…it’ll be the middle of the afternoon before I
can get away…
KAY: All right, Hal…
Hey—this means the bar is open early for a change! “Well, there’s nothing more we can do here,”
observes Armstrong as another riveting ITOA meeting adjourns. Meanwhile…back at the Metz Building…a nervous
Cady paces in front of the mirror that oh-so-cleverly conceals…The Voice!
CADY: Where is he?
VOICE: He’s in the hospital in
Mercer…he took one of the M6 pills…they think he’s dead…
CADY: Well, we can get him out of
there, all right…
VOICE: Yes, but you’ll have to move
fast…phone Miller and tell him to meet you down at…
The Voice trails off because there’s a dissolve to a
hospital assistant (Jay Merrick) helping two men roll a gurney towards their
vehicle. Those two men, disguised as
paramedics, are Cady and Miller (Joe Phillips)!
They pull back the sheet to make sure they have Regan, and then load him
into the back of the van. (I imagine the
Mercer Hospital board of directors will be calling a meeting soon to discuss
the lax security procedures.)
No sooner have Cady and Miller made off with “the stolen corpse” when Hal pulls up in his jalopy with the coroner (George Lloyd) in tow.
CORONER: What?!! I did no such
thing!
HAL: I’d better stop that morgue
wagon! Which way did it go?
ATTENDANT (pointing): East—along
the highway!
If you had told me many years back that I’d eventually watch
a movie with the line of dialogue “I’d better stop that morgue wagon!”—I
probably wouldn’t have believed you. Hal
gets in his car and he’s off in pursuit of the bad guys. Down the road a ways, Cady is soaking some
cotton with a substance (probably ammonia) that revives his pal Regan.
REGAN: Where are we?
CADY: On a mountain road outside of
Mercer…we got away okay…
Au contraire, mon frere!
The doggedly determined Hal Duncan—Special Government Agent—is hot on
your tail, and is catching up to you as you speak!
I think the above screen cap is a riot. You can almost hear Regan say: “Cady my man…that M6 pill gave me the best sleep I’ve had in years…but this morning I feel like I spent all night at a fraternity kegger.”
Naturally, the two men notice that they are being followed by Hal…and they open the back doors of the vehicle to fire shots at him, which he returns in kind. There’s a little more stunt driving…both men run out of ammo…so Regan and Cady toss the stretcher out the back doors and it rolls into Hal’s path…
…causing him to swerve and wind up in a cliffhanger right out of the 1947 serial The Black Widow (Chapter 2—also titled “The Stolen Corpse”)!
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