The Black Widow (serial)
| The Black Widow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Spencer Gordon Bennet Fred C. Brannon |
| Written by | Franklin Adreon Basil Dickey Jesse Duffy Sol Shor |
| Produced by | M. J. Frankovich |
| Starring | Bruce Edwards Virginia Lindley Carol Forman Anthony Warde Ramsay Ames I. Stanford Jolley Theodore Gottlieb |
| Cinematography | John MacBurnie |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release dates | |
Running time | 13 chapters / 180 minutes (serial)[1] 6 26½-minute episodes (TV)[1] 100 minutes (TV film)[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $168,995 (negative cost: $186,314)[1] |
The Black Widow (1947) is a Republic Movie serial. Thirteen episodes were made.
Plot
The Editor of the Daily Clarion newspaper hires amateur criminologist Steve Colt to solve a series of murders, all involving poisonous spider bites.
Meanwhile, King Hitomu has sent his daughter Sombra to the United States to fulfill his plan for global domination. There she poses as a fortune teller and, with a gang of henchmen, attempts to steal a prototype Atomic Rocket Engine.
Cast
- Bruce Edwards as Steve Colt, Amateur criminologist on the trail of a series of bizarre murders
- Virginia Lindley as Joyce Winters
- Carol Forman as Sombra, daughter and agent of King Hitomu
- Anthony Warde as Nick Ward, a gangster working with Sombra
- Ramsay Ames as Ruth Dayton
- I. Stanford Jolley as Dr. Z.V Jaffa, scientist working with Sombra
- Theodore Gottlieb as Hitomu, intent on World Domination
- Forrest Taylor as Bradley, gang lawyer
- Virginia Carroll as Dr. Ann Curry
Production
The Black Widow was budgeted at $168,995 although the final negative cost was $186,314 (a $17,319, or 10.2%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1947.[1]
It was filmed between 11 April and 8 May 1947.[1] The serial's production number was 1697.[1]
This was one of only four 13-chapter serials to be released by Republic. Three of the four were released in 1947, the only original serials released in that year. The fourth serial of the year was a re-release of the 15-chapter, 1941 serial Jungle Girl. This marked the first time Republic had re-released a serial to add to their first run serial releases.[1]
Stunts
- Tom Steele as Steve Colt (doubling Bruce Edwards)
- Dale Van Sickel as Nick Ward (doubling Anthony Warde)
- Bud Wolfe as Nick Ward (doubling Anthony Warde)
Special Effects
Created by the Lydecker brothers.
Release
Theatrical
The Black Widow's official release date is 1 November 1947, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.[1]
Television
In the early 1950s, The Black Widow was one of fourteen Republic serials edited into a television series. It was broadcast in six 26½-minute episodes.[1]
The Black Widow was one of twenty-six Republic serials re-released as a film on television in 1966. The title of the film was changed to Sombra, the Spider Woman. This version was cut down to 100-minutes in length.[1]
Chapter titles
- Deadly Prophecy (20 min)
- The Stolen Formula (13min 20s)
- Hidden Death (13min 20s)
- Peril in the Sky (13min 20s)
- The Spider's Lair (13min 20s)
- Glass Guillotine (13min 20s)
- Wheels of Death (13min 20s)
- False Information (13min 20s)
- The Spider's Venom (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
- The Stolen Corpse (13min 20s)
- Death Dials a Number (13min 20s)
- The Talking Mirror (13min 20s)
- A Life for a Life (13min 20s)
