Just what I expected

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Television's first Superman George Reeves stars in this 15 chapter serial set in mythical Arthurian England as Sir Galahad. You will not see Galahad gain the Holy Grail here. Nor will you see anything resembling the Arthurian tales of legend. Using the familiar Camelot names we get a tale of young Galahad challenging a couple of King Arthur's knights in a tournament and besting both. Immpressed, the King offers him knighthood and the new man is always given charge of guarding Excalibur. But one of the villains in this piece and there are a few slips him a medieval Mickey Finn and Reeves falls asleep on the job. That wins him prompt disgrace, but Reeves vows to get the sword Excalibur back or die trying. And with 15 chapters he has 14 near death experiences doing it. Along the way he picks up Sir Bors played by Charles King functioning as a western sidekick. It certainly was a western set that was used for medieval England. In a film about that period I found it fascinating that no one bothered to cast British players in the roles. One of the most interesting bits of casting was with William Fawcett who later on would be Pete Wilkie of the Broken Wheel ranch in the Fury series. Fawcett played Merlin the Magician and I have to tell you that Felix Aylmer who played Merlin in Knights Of The Round Table is more my idea of Merlin.Sam Katzman of Monogram Pictures produced this and it was a typical El Cheapo Katzman production. Working at Columbia I should think he'd have gotten something better in production values.I'm not a big fan of serials as an art form so I'm prejudiced against them. But the King Arthur legend has received better treatment on the big and small screen.

Ben Affleck playing George Reeves in Hollywoodland has a scene where he comments negatively about his career stalling and being reduced to doing this serial. Despite Reeves displeasure this is a good, if juvenile, serial that is completely unlike any other one from the sound era in that it concerns knights in armor. The plot has Galahad trying to find the stolen sword Excalibur and battling various baddies who want to take over Camelot. With its use of swords and sorcery even the most run of the mill cliffhangers have a new sheen to them. You have to give the serial points for giving us a cliffhanger that has a tree in an enchanted forest come to life and grab Galahad and hold him tight while a ring of magic fire tries to roast him. Actually you have to give the serial points simply for doing something differently at a time when the production of serials was shifting towards reuse and cookie cutter interchangeability. Because of its setting nothing could really have been reused from other serials so its all pretty new. To be certain the performances are uneven, with many people walking through their roles and Reeves good sometimes and bored at others. Unfortunately, even though he liked to think otherwise he was a good actor of limited range. He was pretty much always the same guy. Compare this role to Superman/ Clark Kent- it's basically the same character. The story is also a bit too geared towards kids at times with things constantly looping back on itself. Still this is a good time killer that remains watchable thanks to the uniqueness of the setting. Recommended.

George Reeves is familiar not only as TV's Superman, but was one of the redheaded Tarleton twins at the beginning of "Gone with the Wind". Nelson Leigh (King Arthur) was in dozens of costume and historical movies, including his role as Jor-El (Superman's father) in the Superman serial. Galahad's sidekick Bors, was played by Charles King who was in over 300 movies starting with "Birth of a Nation"(1915). ---- At the other extreme, the Lady of the Lake (Lois Willows Hall), is a 40 year activist for the Bah' Faith in Southern California, and appeared in "Star Trek the Next Generation." ---- Watching this excellent old serial causes a feeling of deja vu. However, if you imagine that the swords are six-guns and the helmets are cowboy hats, and you notice the San Fernando Valley scenery that has been the backdrop for ten's of thousands of scenes in cowboy movies and early TV shows, you know why you have that feeling.rto1 Cincinnati, OHGreat Fun. (Seeing this on TV or finding a copy might be tough. Try e-bay)

If you're a George Reeves fan, and can track this serial down, it's definitely worth watching, especially to see George sport a "Prince Valiant" haircut. Working on this low-budget serial probably prepared him for the low-budget on the series that would catapult him to stardom, The Adventures of Superman.