When we last left our imperiled heroic couple—novelist-criminologist Steve Colt (Bruce Edwards) and his irritating gal reporter sidekick Joyce Winters (Virginia Lindley)—they were battling the evil machinations of the wonderfully wicked Sombra (Carol Forman) in the laboratory of dotty old inventor Professor Henry Weston (Sam Flint). Sombra, cleverly disguised as renowned lesbian physicist Dr. Ann Curry (Virginia Carroll)—not to be confused with the intrepid NBC News journmalist—had rendered Joyce unconscious with Curry’s pocketbook, sending the female correspondent sprawling across an open window frame…where above, shards of glass threaten to fall down on her like…oh, let’s call it a glass guillotine. As you’ve already guessed, Colt rescues Joyce from being sliced in the nick of time…though his reason for doing so remains a mystery for the ages.
Back in Sombra’s lair, her esteemed colleague in malevolence—Dr. Z.V. Jaffa (I. Stanford Jolley)—welcomes back his mistress and her Head Goon, Nick Ward (Anthony Warde). The real Dr. Curry continues to be tied to a chair, by the way.
CURRY: It’s too bad he didn’t
prevent you from getting away, Madame…
SOMBRA: Your comment is so harsh, Dr. Curry…can’t we be more
friendly?
CURRY: Friendly? After what you’ve done, I’d sooner die…
SOMBRA: I’d be glad to oblige you…take her away…
“To the Killing Chamber!”
We then see a switch in the action to the editorial offices of The Daily Clarion, where the
newspaper’s editor, John M. Walker (Gene Stutenroth), reads from the front page
of his own publication.
JOYCE: So they killed Dr. Curry…
Sweet child o’mine!
Maybe you shouldn’t have been so flip with Sombra, Doc. The reason for this startling twist in the
plot will be revealed in a moment, but I’d be lying if I didn’t point out that
the murder of Doc Curry poses a couple of curious questions. One, did the other female impersonated earlier
by Sombra in this serial, Professor Weston’s secretary Ruth Dayton (Ramsay
Ames), suffer the same fate as the esteemed Dr. C? Two, if so—why didn’t Sondra’s employees do a
better job of concealing Curry’s corpse…since there was no mention of Ruth’s
demise in the Clarion?
WALKER: Same old story…the only
difference is the victim’s name…and
Steve still doesn’t have a single
clue that can be used to run down…
STEVE (interrupting as he enters
the office): That’s not quite right,
Walker…
Ladies and gentlemen…the president of his own fan club—Steven
Colt!
STEVE (carrying Curry’s
pocketbook): There’s some interesting fingerprints under that cellophane…and
that’s Dr. Curry’s handbag she left at Weston’s…
“…and those indentations on that bag were made by Joyce’s
head.”
STEVE: …but the Dr. Curry we saw
there wasn’t the real Dr. Curry…
JOYCE: Now don’t tell me…let me guess…it was the Black Widow…
STEVE: That’s right…
WALKER: This is nothing to kid
about, Steve…
STEVE: I was never more serious in
my life…there are two distinct sets of fingerprints isolated on that bag…Dr.
Curry’s and one other…now the other can only
belong to the impersonator of Dr. Curry…
WALKER: I may be thick…
The first step in getting help is admitting it…
WALKER: …but I still don’t see how
that solves anything…
STEVE: I examined Dr. Curry’s body
at the morgue…and found some scratches in the nail polish on the left hand…on
the right was a sharp, pointed ring—turned into the palm…
JOYCE: What could that mean?
STEVE: A message perhaps…
Steve goes on to reveal that he took some photos of those scratches…and as if it were scripted, an unidentified employee knocks on Walker’s second door and enters…then hands Steve an envelope while saying “Your enlargements, Mr. Colt.” (You know Walker has to be thinking: “When did I lose control of this newspaper?”) Handing Walker a magnifying glass, Steve shows him and Joyce that the letters M, Y, S and T have been carved into the fingernails on the dead doctor’s left hand.
WALKER: No doubt…Dr. Curry was trying to convey some sort of message!
JOYCE: What could it mean?
STEVE: It’s only part of a word…M-Y-S-T…mysterious…mystify…
Maybe she regretted not playing Myst more in her spare time.
JOYCE: Now if you only had a
crystal ball, you might be…
STEVE (interrupting): Wait a
minute! You’ve got something there…crystal ball…mystic…get it? Dr. Curry was trying to tell us the Black
Widow was a mystic or a fortune teller…
JOYCE: Sounds logical…
That’s a hell of a leap in logic, Mr. Colt. Maybe she was jotting down a reminder to
watch Mystery Science Theater 3000?
(Little shout-out to the Mysties in the audience.) So you can see why it was necessary to croak
the good doctor…but what goes unexplained is how Curry knew Sombra’s line of
work (she was blindfolded during her capture in Chapter
6). But thanks to the assist from
the screenwriters (Franklin Adreon, Basil Dickey, Jesse Duffy and Sol Shor),
all Steve and Joyce have to do now is locate the fortune teller whose
fingerprints match those found on Curry’s handbag.
“That’s a big chunk of work,” observes Walker. “There’s at least a hundred of them in the
city.” I can’t even begin to contemplate
a burg with such a large population of suckers, to be honest. But in the montage that follows, Steve and
Joyce seek out each and every practitioner of phrenology, palm reading, etc.
operating in No-Name City in their search for a fingerprint match—including
this mysterious figure in silhouette, featured in the background of each of the
Widow chapter credits:
And finally…
Sombra steps into her parlor and prepares herself for Steve’s
inquisition.
SOMBRA: Nice to see you again, Mr.
Colt…
STEVE: Thank you… (Sitting down)
You remember me, huh?
SOMBRA: I never forget a face…
SOMBRA: …you’re Steven Colt,
creator of that brilliant fictional
detective Rodman Crane…
STEVE: That’s right…but at the
moment I could use your help…
Steve gives Sombra a phony line of malarkey that he’s
working on a case involving a palm reading clue—and he shows her the photograph
of Curry’s palm. After making some
shrewd guesses with her fortune telling prowess (“This palm indicates a woman…strong
character…perhaps a teacher or some professional…”) by holding the photo, Colt’s
trap has been sprung and in thanking her, he reaches into his pocket for that
tip he owes her. “Oh, no,” Sombra
refuses, “but perhaps you can send me an autographed copy of the book.”
“It’ll be a pleasure,” he smiles insincerely. “And I won’t forget to inscribe it to Madame
Sombra.” She eyes him suspiciously as he
leaves, and then she returns to her office to contact Blinky on the
street. “Colt just left here,” she tells
the snitch. “Watch him.”
At this point in the narrative, Joyce pulls up in her car…and pasted on a fence belonging to a construction company is a sneaky bit of promotion for the Republic serial Jesse James Rides Again (1947). With Blinky’s hearing aid turned up to “eleven,” Sombra and her mugs are able to eavesdrop on Steve and Joyce’s conversation.
JOYCE: I thought I’d catch up with
you here…I’m all through with my list…
STEVE: Good! I’ve only got a few left—suppose you get the
experts started on all we have…
JOYCE: Trying to ditch me?
STEVE: Wrong again, featherbrain…I
wanted you to help me check the results against Dr. Curry’s handbag…
JOYCE: My apologies, Sherlock—where
do we meet?
STEVE: Walker’s office tonight…
SOMBRA: So that was his game…to get my fingerprints
on that photo…
WARD: What for?
SOMBRA: To check against the
fingerprints on Dr. Curry’s handbag…
JAFFA: Which is evidence enough to
swear out a warrant for your arrest…
SOMBRA: If it isn’t destroyed… (To Ward) You will get Hodges
immediately…and tonight while they’re at the Clarion office, here’s what you have to do…
Just for a point of reference, Sombra pronounces “Clarion” so that it rhymes with “carry on.” Back at the paper, Steve tacks a large blow-up of the unidentified fingerprint to the map in Walker’s office, and he and Joyce painstakingly start comparing it to the fingerprints they turned up in their inquiries. Just when Steve appears to be making a breakthrough in the identification…trouble comes waltzing in the window…
Ward and the previously mentioned Hodges, after pulling up in their sedan, decide to bypass the service desk at the Clarion in favor of a shortcut. Hodges is played by stuntman Dale Van Sickel, making his second of four appearances in The Black Widow (Tom Steele really slacked off in this one—he takes on only three roles). A typical Republic free-for-all results between Steve, Ward and Hodges—with an interesting wrinkle added here…
…in that Joyce also gives her all in the melee, before being knocked unconscious. Ward grabs the folder with the fingerprint information and decides he’ll take the long way out…
…while Steve subdues Hodges with a righteous pummeling. However, Hodges doesn’t stay down long—he leaps out of the window and lands on Steve below…
…as the two men take their disagreement to a back alley. Hodges beats Steve senseless and leaves him for dead. Ward, fed up with all this folderol, motions for his buddy to get in and guns his sedan toward the unconscious Steve…
No comments:
Post a Comment