The Phantom (1961 film)
The Phantom is a 1957 American TV movie. It was a pilot for a proposed TV series based on the comic strip The Phantom.[1] It is widely believed that the pilot never aired, but decades after it was filmed it leaked onto the internet.[2]
The project was developed in 1956 with Roger Creed, a former stuntman, to play the Phantom.[3]
The title of the pilot episode is "No Escape".[1] It has been criticized as having an incoherent script which fails to provide important backstory and motivation for the characters or explanation for the settings.[1][2]
Plot
The Phantom goes to a plantation owned by a Mrs Harris to find out who is killing various workers.
Cast
- Roger Creed as The Phantom / Mr. Walker
- Paulette Goddard as Mrs. Harris
- Lon Chaney Jr. as Jed
- Reginald Denny as Commissioner R.G. Mallory
- Allan Nixon as Doc Sanders
- Chaino
- Marc Davis as Hardy
- Richard Kiel as Big Mike
Production
The production of The Phantom was overseen by Al Brodax and Bob Duncan, with Phantom rights-holders King Features directly handling the project.[2] Harold Daniels directed the pilot episode.[2] Writer John Carr originally wrote four episodes, but because the pilot was not picked up by a network, the remaining three were never filmed. Actress Marilyn Manning had originally been cast as Diana Palmer, but never appeared in the pilot. Devil, Hero, and the Jungle Patrol all appear throughout the course of the story.
References
- ^ a b c Terrace, Vincent (2014). Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937–2012. McFarland. p. 230. ISBN 9781476602493.
- ^ a b c d Pasko, Martin (Summer 2018). "The Ghost who Stumbles: The Phantom Phollies of Philmland". RetroFan (1). TwoMorrows Publishing: 17–24.
- ^ If Ray Doesn't Like It, He Can Blame Massey The Washington Post and Times Herald 8 Jan 1956: J3.
External links
- The Phantom at IMDb
- Review at Caped Champion
- The Phantom at BFI
- Review at Phantom Skull Cave
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