It's Andy Fish!

Released Dec 24, 1943 – – 15 Chapters

Tom Tyler makes his second superhero serial after a triumphant appearance as Fawcett Comics CAPTAIN MARVEL (known to most fans today as Shazam). He makes an impressive Phantom and is perhaps the most screen accurate portrayal of the character to date.

Jeanie Bates and Tom Tyler with a native chief (above).

JERRY BLAKE’S REVIEW…

The Phantom is the ghostly guardian of the jungle, a mysterious and supposedly immortal ruler who maintains peace between the jungle tribes and opposes all those who would bring crime and violence to his domain. Kindly jungle physician Dr. Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), actually a spy for a foreign power bent on building an airbase in the ruined jungle city of Zoloz, decides that the removal of the Phantom is vital to his schemes to control the region and has the jungle ruler killed with a poison dart in the first chapter. However, Bremmer does not realize that the Phantom is indeed immortal, although not in the way the natives think; the role of jungle guardian has been passed down from father to son for hundreds of years. Geoffrey Prescott (Tom Tyler), just returned from college as part of Professor Davidson’s (Frank Shannon) expedition to Zoloz, soon assumes his murdered father’s position and sets out to defeat Bremmer’s plans for dominating the jungle, while protecting the Davidson expedition from the scheming doctor.

The Phantom, along with Tailspin Tommy and the Flash Gordon trilogy, is one of the most accurate of all comic-strip-to-serial adaptations. Writers Leslie Swabacker, Morgan Cox, Victor McLeod, and Sherman Lowe are extremely faithful to the spirit of Lee Falk’s excellent Phantom strip…

JUMP Over to Jerry’s Site for the rest of the review!

MY RATING: 9.6