A criminal mastermind known as The Crimson Ghost is out to steal a device called the Cyclotrode, which can short-circuit all electrical current on the planet.

The Crimson Ghost

Chapter 07: Electrocution

Damn, Duncan sure is a bad driver. But while he can’t drive a car very well, he sure can jump out of them seconds before they explode into giant fireballs. Somehow he escapes again, leaping from his car seconds before it plows into the plane containing the heavy water and goes KA-BLAMO! Fortunately, while the heavy water is lost in the explosion, the Crimson Ghost decides to make his own heavy water, starting with some refined uranium that he plans on stealing. And he knows just where to get it. From the delivery truck going across Owl Creek Bridge, on its way to the nuclear facility. And wouldn’t you know that it’s so close to the Crimson Ghost’s hideout! While Ash and his goons are taking the explosive to Owl Creek Bridge, they notice Diana, flying a recon mission in her plane. They quickly grab the Cyclotrode and zap her out of the sky. She parachutes to safety, but right into Ash and his boys. Duncan steps up and drives his sweet Woodie to rescue her. Fight! Luckily, Diana is there to bail him out again and one of Ash’s goons falls off of the cliff. Duncan then goes after Ash and tells Diana to warn the delivery truck of the bridge trap. But Duncan messes it up again during his fight with Ash, allowing him to use the Cyclotrode to detonate the bomb. But Diana is driving across the bridge to warn the delivery truck, and KA-BLAMO! The bridge explodes!

One of the most entertaining serials to be released by Republic Pictures, this mystery employed yet another inscrutable invention, a counter atomic device known as Cyclotrode X, sought after by yet another cloaked villain, The Crimson Ghost of the title. But just like the well-known criminologist Duncan Richards (Charles Quigley) and his lovely assistant Diana Farnsworth (Linda Stirling), the Saturday Matinee kids had a tough job spotting the person hiding behind the hideous disguise. The studio took no chances this time and ingeniously cast stunt-man Bud Geary to embody the villain while several actors supplied the voice, including I. Stanford Jolley, whose role was minor but who received fourth-billing and was therefore highly suspect. When The Crimson Ghost was unmasked in the 12th and final chapter, he proved to be yet another actor, Joseph Forte, who had enacted a character seemingly above suspicion. Instead of feeling cheated, however, the young target audience subconsciously enjoyed the above-average writing and fine direction by the talented William Witney and Fred C. Brannon, and no one complained. Quigley and Stirling were at the top of their serial game, and to the bemused surprise of more recent viewers, television’s Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, played one of the master villain’s henchmen, a cold-hearted gangster. The Crimson Ghost was also released in an edited feature version, retitled Cyclotrode. In 1966, yet another edited version was given the title Cyclotrode X.

Cast and Crew:

* Charles Quigley
* Linda Stirling
* Clayton Moore

# Writers: Albert DeMond, Basil Dickey

# Director: Fred C. Brannon, William Witney

Production Company: Republic Pictures
Original Air Date: 1946
Audio & Video: Mono – Released in Black and White (Colorized version)

Additional details in:

The Crimson Ghost in IMDB | The Crimson Ghost in Wikipedia

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