LEARNING that the
“Baratavia”, a freighter enroute with supplies to Rondana Bay, is to be sunk by
a “human torpedo”, Don and his loyal friend, Lieut. “Red” Pennington, race to
the rescue in a “mosquito” boat and…
…well, you saw it from last week’s YouTube video—the “mosquito” boat collides with the “human torpedo,” destroying them both. Was our hero Don Winslow (Don Terry) killed in this collision? He most certainly was not! He managed to abandon ship at the very last second…otherwise this serial would be called “Red” Pennington of the Navy.
Winslow swims to where Red is treading water with a live preserver. “Good boy, Don!” Red enthuses. “You saved the Baratavia!”
“You mean we did,”
his pal answers back…conveniently forgetting that Red was ordered to bail
shortly before the boat smashed into the torpedo. (As for poor Tranker [Arthur Loft]…well, he’s
in a better place now. And by that I
mean away from this serial.) “I hope
they pick us up!” offers up Red in an attempt to make small talk. (“I hope they don’t leave us here for the
sharks!”)
There is then a quick cut to Winslow’s ship, the Destroyer
620, which is being piloted in his absence by the wildly enthusiastic Lt. Cmdr.
Grady (Dirk Thane). A crewman tells
Grady that the 620’s radio operator still hasn’t been able to contact the
Baratavia…and that’s because, unbeknownst to the crew, the Baratavia’s radio is
still being repaired. Because Grady is
not really engaged in anything besides babysitting Winslow’s ship (it’s not
like he’s battling saboteurs like Don and Red), we quickly move away from his lame
part in this scenario and back to the Baratavia, where Don and Red have since
been rescued from the drink and are on the bridge with Fairfield and Splendor.
DON: …so you see, gentlemen, the
only way to stop the human torpedo was to ram
it…
SPLENDOR: You know, Don…this human
torpedo thing sounds like the shenanigans
of The Scorpion!
Axford…I mean, Splendor pronounces that last word as
“Scar-pian”…giving further credence to my belief that the filmmakers told
Boteler: “Just play him like you did that Irish boob in the Hornet serials.”
DON: We could have made sure if the crook who killed your
operator and wrecked the radio hadn’t made his escape…
DON: Then we’re going to find him!
Au contraire, mon Capitan! As if it were neatly plotted, Red comes rushing onto the bridge with a crewman, played by Phil Warren.
This sort of thing happens all the time in the Charlie Chan
movies. But before the crewman draws his
rations, he hands an object to Don that Barsac dropped after Warren
initially frightened him off. It appears
to be an insignificant key chain …but then Mr. Naval Intelligence holds it up
to a mirror…
RED: Looks like your hunch was right, Mike!
SPLENDOR: ‘Tis The Scorpion, all
right!
DON: This proves the murderer on
this ship is working for The
Scorpion…
“And wasn’t he also the villain in The Adventures of Captain Marvel?”
SPLENDOR: Spy genius, Captain…and he’s no legend, blast his hide…
DON: We now know who The Scorpion’s
gang is working for…
RED: You can bet their biggest job
is to prevent our Navy building a submarine base on Tangita Island
DON: Right! That makes it more urgent than ever that we
capture the murderer aboard this ship…
Captain Fairfield thinks that will be a pretty tall
order…but has failed to reckon with the amazing deductive powers of Winslow,
who believes the identity of the rogue passenger can be discerned by “checking
the code messages received by passengers on board this ship!” “That’ll do it, laddie,” confirms Splendor in
an admirable display of butt-kissing.
“And when we’ve found him,” warns Don, “the first thing
we’ll make him do is tell us where The Scorpion’s headquarters are located on
Tangita!”
SCORPION: I received your message, M-22…I cannot not tolerate failures…the Baratavia must be sunk before her cargo is unloaded…use a submarine…Winslow is holding the passengers aboard ship, placing Barsac in constant danger of discovery…Winslow must not reach him…my orders to capture Winslow and hold him a prisoner must be obeyed…
If The Scorpion is well aware as to what’s going down on the
Baratavia (i.e. Don’s search for the saboteur)—why doesn’t he have the
confederate who’s feeding him that information capture Winslow instead of
entrusting it to Spence and his crew? We
do not learn the answer to this.
MERLIN: The Scorpion’s right…the Baratavia must be sunk before Winslow finds out about Barsac… (To Prindle) Get the Z-52 ready…
PRINDLE: Sorry, M-22…but both
submarines will be tied up until our undersea oil well’s repaired…
MERLIN: The perfect sub base…entrance hidden from the sea…enough oil on the
ocean floor to refuel an entire Navy…and now it’s useless! I don’t want
excuses—have that oil well operating within the next 24 hours!
DON: Mercedes…my hunch is right…there’s one message listed by the
Baratavia as having been sent by Transpacific which is not on Holding’s list!
MERCEDES: What does that mean, Don?
“I haven’t the slightest freaking idea.”
DON: Well, it means it must have
been sent by a secret radio station…
RED (entering the office with
Splendor): Did you uncover something, Don?
DON: Yes, Red…we can have Captain
Fairfield release his passengers…
“Except for the ones in steerage. They’re to continue being beaten and given
nothing but bread and water.”
DON: On the contrary—there was!
And his name…is Paul Barsac!
Dun dun DUN!!!
RED: Great! I’ll arrest him at once!
DON: No, no…wait a minute, Red…
“Pacing, my friend.
We’ve still got ten more chapters.”
DON: …it won’t do anything to let
him know we’ve spotted him…but we’ll have him followed the minute he leaves the
ship…
The camera then careens wildly over to an area beside Seaman
Chapman (seated at the radio), which cues the audience into letting them know
Winslow’s plan is being overheard by Merlin and his goon Corley (Lane Chandler)
at a hidden Dictaphone located in a shack on Tangita. Merlin tells Corley that Barsac will need to
be warned, and although Cor volunteers to meet Barsac at the boat, Spence tells
him to sit tight…because Barsac will be checking into the Pacific Hotel, and
they’ll be able to get in touch with him through a contact known as “Tangita
Jim.” (No relation to Tambosa Tim, by
the way.)
I love that wall that slides back to keep the Dictaphone hidden. Back in Blake’s office, Don paces a bit until Blake and his secretary, Misty Gaye (Anne Nagel), enter.
MISTY: Red just told us you’re
releasing the passengers on the Baratavia…
“And not coincidentally, he told me this as he was helping
me zip up my dress.”
BLAKE: That’s good news, Commander…I need those skilled workmen to keep going on the new naval base…
They seem to refer to these guys as “skilled workmen” a lot
in this serial. Are they trying to cover
up for the fact that they’re really undocumented laborers? How do they know they’re skilled—maybe they’re just a bunch of mooks who
couldn’t pass the physical to get into the service…?
MISTY: Mr. Blake’s already three weeks behind schedule…
DON: Oh…I’m sorry to hold you up,
Blake…but it’s important that we get
a line on the Scorpion’s gang…
Splendor comes barging into the office with the news that
Red’s investigation has turned up an additional tidbit: Barsac has reservations
at the Pacific Hotel.
DON: The Pacific Hotel?
BLAKE: It’s the only hotel on the
island, Commander…run by a half-caste
by the name of Tangita Jim…
MISTY: I have a room there! I was just going over to freshen up a bit…
Don tells Misty that there will be none of her feminine
freshening up by asking her to do him a favor and stay away from the hotel for
the rest of the day. “Anything you say,
Don,” she responds with blind obedience.
Turning to Splendor, he says: “Mike…you get up there as quickly as you
can…and tell Red…”
We never learn what exactly Mike was supposed to tell
Pennington, because a scene dissolve puts us smack dab in the lobby of the
Pacific as Barsac enters through the front doors.
Mercedes keeps an eye on Barsac. (Apparently there’s nothing for her to do in the infirmary.) Barsac informs the man at the front desk that he has a reservation, and that man is the previously mentioned “Tangita Jim”…who curiously refers to himself in the third person. T.J. is played by Jerry Mandy, who began his film career in the 1920s and spent a good many years working at the Hal Roach studios as a supporting player in two-reelers headlined by the likes of Charley Chase, Our Gang and Thelma Todd & ZaSu Pitts. Mandy appears in the 1927 silent classic Underworld, but by the 1930s/1940s he was doing mostly bit parts in films like Sailor’s Luck and On the Avenue.
As Barsac signs the register, “Red” Pennington breezes into
the lobby and asks Tangita Jim if Misty Gaye is in. “Sorry, sir,” replies T.J., “but she left
early this morning.” Because Red was to
meet her there, Jim graciously allows him to stick around to wait for her. Jim announces rather loudly that Mr. Barsac
will be in Room 18, and as Red exits the lobby he does a slight head motion
towards Mercedes, signaling her to follow him.
MERLIN: Took you long enough to
report…
BARSAC: I couldn’t help it,
M-22…they held us all on board ship…
MERLIN: Thanks to your bungling of the job…
BARSAC: I followed your orders to
the letter…
MERLIN (muttering): Yes, I suppose
you did…
“Sorry about being so shirty…The Scorpion has really been on my ass lately.” Spence is a little on edge because of Don
Winslow’s presence on Tangita, and Barsac helpfully provides the info that “his
red-headed friend followed me here.” The
camera cuts away briefly to Red and Mercedes, with Red asking her to inform Don
that he spotted Barsac at the hotel and to come right over. Back in Barsac’s hotel room, Merlin asks
Corley to come out for this interesting development:
Corley is outfitted to resemble Barsac—but the odd thing is
that all three men are essentially dressed the same (though the effect is
spoiled by the fact that Merlin is the shorter of the three).
BARSAC: Well…that’s quite a…striking resemblance…
MERLIN: Looks enough like you to
throw Winslow off the trail…
CORLEY: Yeah…and put me on the spot…
MERLIN: Not if you’re smart, Corley…and lead Winslow into a trap as we planned…
DON: He’s heading for that jungle
trail…
MERCEDES: You’ve got to stop him!
DON: No…
Maybe it’s too early in the serial…but I’m starting to
suspect that Don Winslow is a bit of a lily-livered coward.
DON: …he’s probably heading for
that hut where Red and I had the fight…when he comes back with Mike, tell him
to wait here…
I’m going to assume Don means Red…and not Not-Barsac. Don gives chase, and his pursuit of
Not-Barsac is witnessed by Tangita Jim…who phones Merlin up in Barsac’s room to
give him the skinny. Spence then tells
Barsac that all is going according to plan, and gives instructions to an
anxious Barsac on how to get to The Scorpion’s headquarters.
BARSAC: Does that lead to the mine?
MERLIN: No…I’ll be waiting for you
on the road at Lookout Point…
BARSAC: Well, that shouldn’t be too
hard to find…
MERLIN: Well, be careful you’re not
followed…you know what it means if
Winslow finds out in any way that the mine is connected with The Scorpion…
BARSAC: Why don’t you let me finish
off that nosy commander?
MERLIN: No…The Scorpion is
reserving that very pleasure for himself…Winslow
must be taken alive…
Pay very close attention here. The flimsy logic of any serial would dictate
that Job Number One is to eliminate the hero…but in Don Winslow, the thugs can’t harm a hair on his chinny chin-chin
because the Head Man wants to do it himself.
We will revisit this in subsequent chapters.
On the “jungle trail,” Corley is slowly leaving a path for
Don to follow…and as Don rightly guessed (of course—he’s never wrong…he’s Don
Freakin’ Winslow!). that path leads back to Dictaphone Hut. Here’s what I don’t understand. Wouldn’t a Naval Intelligence officer have
had that place shut down and secured by now?
Apparently not, because by the time Don reaches the hut Corley has ducked
out of sight…and our hero enters the dwelling with his pistola drawn. From behind the front door, another henchman answering to “Slug” jumps Don, and Henchman Spike (Ethan
Laidlaw) quickly joins in the melee.
Don’s all-too-obvious stuntman is attempting to fight these guys off but
the odds in their favor increase when Corley turns up for a pile on.
Spike manages to waylay Winslow with a balsa wood chair, and as the unconscious Don slumps to the floor (and on top of Slug, which sort of made me chuckle) Corley tells his fellow goon: “We’ll throw him in that corner and put a mat over him…you keep close guard over him—I’ve got to report to M-22.” So the “trap” that Merlin mentioned earlier consists of a simple mat placed over the knocked-out Winslow because, as I have stated in an earlier paragraph, disposing of Don is right out.
Inside the hut, Red and Mike help Don to his feet and start
to untie him.
SPLENDOR: Looks like you walked right into a trap!
RED: They sure put one over on us
that time!
DON: Yeah…and it was cleverly done…
“Somehow they knew
that Mercedes was nearsighted!”
DON: …that wasn’t Barsac I
followed!
SPLENDOR: By golly—I think you’re
right!
Boy, you could energize a 9-volt battery with the brain
power in that hut. Don decrees that they
need to hie themselves back to the hotel and pick up the trail of the real
Barsac. Speaking of which, Mr. B has
descended the stairs of the Pacific and dropped a key in front of Tangita Jim
at the front desk. “I’m leaving,” he
tells the proprietor. “You can send my
stuff over to headquarters.”
“All right, Barsac,” responds T.J. cryptically. “But be careful they don’t follow you.” Exiting the hotel, Barsac fails to notice at
first that Mercedes is seated outside, thumbing through a magazine…and she’s
able to get a better look at him this time.
He makes tracks for the “brown car” Merlin told him about earlier, and
Mercedes decides to follow him…though a bit reluctantly. But she won’t have to muss herself doing spy
work: Don, Red and Mike have arrived back at the hotel just in time.
DON: That was the real Barsac…let me have the car,
Mercedes—I’m going after that crook!
SPLENDOR: Now you’re talkin’,
laddie—we’ll catch him!
DON: No no, Mike…you and Red follow
me in another car and keep me covered…our friends have a habit of shooting in
the back!
“And besides—the cliffhanger won’t make sense otherwise!”
Don is shortly in hot pursuit of Barsac, who by virtue of his head start
reaches Lookout Point, where Merlin and Prindle are waiting beside another car.
BARSAC: That girlfriend of
Winslow’s spotted me as I left the hotel…
PRINDLE: Bungled again…she’ll send someone after you…
I love Prindle’s little editorial comment. (“You see, Spence—you should have let me
handle it!”)
MERLIN: If she does, they won’t
find Barsac alive…get that can of
gasoline out of the car…
PRINDLE: What for?
MERLIN: Never mind—get it!
“Are you going to set him on fire, Boss?” There’s a falling-down funny moment when Prindle retrieves the gas can from the car and handing it to Merlin, has his cigarette pulled out of his mouth by Spence. (“Idiot! You want to blow us to kingdom come?”)
“Now pour it over that car,” Spencer orders Prindle. Prindle douses the car with petrol, and the
idea is that the crooks will roll the car downhill so it will crash…everyone
will think Barsac cashed in his chips while inside. But here’s the hysterical part—Merlin strikes
a match and sets the car ablaze…then the car is pushed down the incline. (How were they able to release the brakes on the car once it had been set on fire? Oven mitts?)
Well, you can see where this is headed—Don drives like a
maniac in pursuit of Barsac…car on fire rolls downhill…nowhere to swerve…
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