The Black Coin (1936)

Director:

Albert Herman

Writers:

George M. Merrick (story)
Dallas M. Fitzgerald (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

Federal agents and smugglers battle it out over lost secret papers. |

Plot Keywords:

Deep Sea Diver | Explosion | Desert | Sheep Shearing | Electric Fence

Cast

Ralph Graves	...	Agent Walter Prescott
Ruth Mix	...	Agent Dorothy Dale
Dave O'Brien	...	Terry Navarro
Constance Bergen	...	Virginia Caswell
Matthew Betz	...	Henry Jensen (as Mathew Betz)
Robert Frazer	...	James Hackett
'Snub' Pollard	...	Vic Moran
Robert Walker	...	Capt. 'Shark' Malone (as Bob Walker)
Bryant Washburn	...	Frank Caswell
Clara Kimball Young	...	Donna Luise Navarro (as Clara K. Young)
Josef Swickard	...	Don Pedro Navarro [Chs. 2-4, 13-15]
Blackie Whiteford	...	Quinn McGuire (Malone's mate) (as 'Blackie' Whiteford)
Yakima Canutt	...	Ed McMahan (thug) [Chs. 3,10-14] (as Yakima Cannutt)
Jackie Miller	...	Bobbie (native boy) [Chs. 5-7]
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rondo Hatton	...	Stock footage from 'Hell Harbor' (archive footage)

Runtime:

323 min (15 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Weiss Productions

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: - 1. Dangerous Men - 2. The Mystery Ship - 3. The Fatal Plunge - 4. Monsters of the Deep - 5. Wolves of the Night - 6. Shark's Fang - 7. Midnight Menace - 8. Flames of Death - 9. Smuggler's Lair - 10.Flaming Guns - 11.Wheels of Death - 12.The Crash - 13.Danger Ahead - 14.Hidden Peril - 15.The Phantom Treasure

Movie Connections:

Edited from Hell Harbor (1930)

Globe trotting serial covers every type of genre except scifi and musical in a story thats easier to watch then explain

Long serial (its five and and a half hours all together) concerning secret papers and cursed coins telling a globe trotting tale that covers several continents. Forgive the lack of details concerning the plot, but this is a very dense serial with a great deal going on. How can you adequately explain a story that begins in the desert, shifts to the high seas, switches to the the west before coming back to the city? You really can't. The constant changing of genres keeps you on your toes since you never know what is coming next. You keep wondering where is it going to go, but in a good way. Slow, but not in a bad way, this film is an independent serial that over comes its limitations by the use of a compelling story and stock footage that makes this look as if its got a larger budget. Worth a look.