Cheap Blackhawk [Serial] (Video) (Spencer Gordon Bennet, Fred F. Sears) Price

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Customer Reviews of Blackhawk [Serial]

Less enchanting with age, but still worth it
I saw the Blackhawk serial when it first came out about 50 years ago. The only disappointment I remember was that on screen we do not see all seven Blackhawks going around together and attacking the Commies and other enemies simultaneously, which they do in the comic books.

In the serial, only five of the Blackhawks are on active duty: Blackhawk himself (Kirk Alyn, Chuck (John Crawford), Olaf (Don Harvey, Andre (Larry Stewart) and Stan (short for Stanislaus; Rick Vallin). None of them has a foreign accent like in the comics.

Chop Chop is not the short, toothy, pigtailed comic relief that we see in the comics. He is dignified and soft-spoken, He stays behind at headquarters and operates the radio. Even 50 years ago I saw this as an improvement. He looks authentically Chinese, but the actor's name is Weaver Levy. Never figured that out.

And Hendrickson (Frank Ellis) stays behind to maintain the airplanes at the hangar. I wondered then, as I wonder now in middle age, how the Hendrickon with his middle-age spread and less than top physical condition was able to run around anyway.

With maturity, I see many of the holes in the plot and settings. For one thing, it is immediately obvious today that Blackhawk Headquarters has no security. The bad guys can just drive up to it, somewhere in Arizona supposedly but maybe in the San Fernando Valley. Maybe we didn't notice these things back in the 1950s?

It is still gripping and enjoyable today, although maybe less so than before. I assumed when I first saw it that The Leader was Josef Stalin, dictator of the USSR. In the 15th chapter we found out the truth. When I saw it again recently, I of course already knew the ending. So like in other cases like this, the thing to do is look for hints as to how you can first guess what is going to happen.

All in all, this is worth it if you are/were a serial fan. And oneof the handful of Columbia serials actually available through regular commercial outlets.

THIS MOVIE STINKS
I HAVE THIS MOVIE FOR WHICH I SEARCHED FOR YEARS AFTER SEEING A REVIEW IN FAMOUS MONSTERS MAGAZINE (1960'S),AS A TEENAGER. I WAS GREATLY DISAPPOINTED.THE COMICS ARE GREAT BUT THIS COLUMBIA MOVIE FELL WAY SHORT IN PLOT ,ACTION AND ACTING IT'S A HORRIBLE REPRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE COMICS. MY ADVISE, SAVE YOUR MONEY.