S.O.S. Coast Guard

Infobox Film
name = S.O.S. Coast Guard


image_size =
caption =
director = Alan James
William Witney
producer = Sol C. Siegel
writer = Franklin Adreon
Morgan Cox
Ronald Davidson
Edward Lynn
Winston Miller
Lester Scott
Barry Shipman
narrator =
starring = Ralph Byrd
Bela Lugosi
Maxine Doyle
Richard Alexander
Lee Ford
Herbert Rawlinson
John Picorri
music = Raoul Kraushaar
cinematography = William Nobles
distributor = Republic Pictures
editing = Helene Turner
Edward Todd
released = Flagicon|USA 28 August 1937 "(serial)"
Flagicon|USA 16 April 1942 "(film)"
Flagicon|Sweden9 April 1941
runtime = 12 chapters (224 min)
country = USA
language = English
budget = $107,217 (Negative cost: $128,530)
awards =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:42437
imdb_id = 0029508

"S.O.S. Coast Guard" (1937) is a Republic Serial. It was the seventh of the sixty-six serials made by Republic. The plot concerns the mad scientist Boroff (Bela Lugosi) attempting to sell a superweapon to the highest bidder, opposed by Coast Guard Lieutenant Terry Kent (Ralph Byrd), for both personal and professional reasons.

The main stars were Bela Lugosi and Ralph Byrd. It was made during the 2-year period when the Hayes Office put a moratorium on horror movies, Lugosi's usual genre, and in the midst of Byrd's notoriety for the highly popular Dick Tracy serials.

Plot

Boroff is a mad scientist who has invented a "disintegrator gas" and plans to smuggle it to his buyers in Morovania. When his ship, the Carfax, gets stranded on outlying rocks in the first chapter, the Coast Guard comes to rescue him. Recognised by the reporters, Jean and Snapper, Boroff runs and kills the pursuing coast guard Ensign Jim Kent, who turns to be Lt Terry Kent's brother.

As the gas is made from the rare substances "Arnatite" (which is radioactive) and "Zanzoid", Boroff attempts to acquire more of these materials to create more (including salvaging supplies of arnatite from the sunken Carfax). Hot on his heels are the Coast guard, led by Lt Kent, and the two reporters, with the expert aid of Jean's chemist brother, Dick.

Eventually Terry finds, and leads a squad against, Boroff's cave-based hideout, with disintegrator gas bombs exploding around them.

Cast

Main Cast

*Ralph Byrd as Terry Kent, Coast guard lieutenant
*Bela Lugosi as Boroff, Mad scientist. The name is based on Bela Lugosi's rival, Boris Karloff.
*Maxine Doyle as Jean Norman, Reporter. Maxine later married the director William Witney after meeting him for the first time during production of this serial.
*Richard Alexander as Thorg, mute, lobotomised servant of Boroff
*Lee Ford as Snapper McGree, Reporter

upporting Cast

*Herbert Rawlinson as Boyle, Coast guard commander
*John Picorri as G. A. Rackerby, Scientist-henchman working for Boroff
*Lawrence Grant as Rabinisi, Boroff's henchman
*Thomas Carr as Jim Kent, Terry's brother and a Coast guard ensign
*Carleton Young as Dodds, Boroff's henchman
*Allen Connor as Dick Norman, Jean's brother and Chemist
*George Chesebro as L.H. DeGado, Boroff's henchman
*Ranny Weeks as Wies, Boroff's henchman

Chapter titles

#Disaster at Sea "(30 min 3s)"
#Barrage of Death "(19 min 46s)"
#The Gas Chamber "(18 min 40s)"
#The Fatal Shaft "(19 min 35s)"
#The Mystery Ship "(18 min 31s)"
#Deadly Cargo "(18 min 4s)"
#Undersea Terror "(15 min 46s)"
#The Crash! "(16 min 34s)"
#Wolves at Bay "(15 min 56s)"
#The Acid Trail "(16 min 58s)"
#The Sea Battle "(17 min 12s)"
#The Deadly Circle "(17 min 3s)"

Cliffhangers

#"Disaster at Sea:" Terry and Thorg fight on a Tramp steamer as it sinks.
#"Barrage of Death:" Terry is tied up aboard a boat as the Coast guard open fire unawares.
#"The Gas Chamber:" Terry and Snapper are trapped in a glass cabinet as the Disintegration Gas melts the room.
#"The Fatal Shaft:" A freight elevator crashes down onto Terry.
#"The Mystery Ship:" Whilst attempting to shut them down, Terry is caught in a boiler explosion.
#"Deadly Cargo:" A water tower, weakened by the Disintegration Gas, collapses on Terry.
#"Undersea Terror:" While fighting underwater, Thorg cuts through Terry's air line.
#"The Crash!:" The car carrying Terry, Jean and Snapper plunges down a steep slope after Boroff's henchmen shoot out a tyre.
#"Wolves at Bay:" Terry, Jean and Snapper are caught inside an exploding warehouse.
#"The Acid Trail:" When Terry attempts to rescue Dick Norman from a burning truck, the brake line melts and it plunges over a cliff into the sea.
#"The Sea Battle:" Terry is caught by Thorg and pulled into the water to drown.

Production

"S.O.S. Coast Guard" was filmed between 10 June and 15 July 1937 and has an official release date of 28 August 1937 (the day the sixth chapter was released to film exchanges).

Material from the serial, together with some additional scenes shot during its production, was edited into a 71-minute feature film, which was released on 16 April 1942, also being called S.O.S. Coast Guard.

The serial's production budget was $107,217 but the final negative cost was $128,530, an overspend of $21,313 (or 19.9%). In either case, it was the most expensive (and most over budget) Republic serial of 1937. It was also the most expensive Republic serial made so far and would remain so until The Lone Ranger the following year.

Director William Witney met his first wife, Maxine Doyle, while working on this serial ["In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase: Moviemaking Remembered by the Guy at the Door"; Witney, William; 1995; ISBN 0786422580] .

tunts & Effects

pecial Effects

The serial's special effects were created by Jack Coyle and the Lydecker brothers.

tunts

*Earle D. Bunn
*Yakima Canutt
*Loren Riebe
*Duke Taylor

References

*"Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement"; Mathis, Jack, 1995, ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
*imdb title|id=0029508|title=S.O.S. Coast Guard

External links

*imdb title|id=0029508|title=S.O.S. Coast Guard

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Republic Serial
before=The Painted Stallion (1937)
years=S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937)
after=Zorro Rides Again (1937)