The Phantom Empire (1935)
- Directed by
- Otto Brower, B. Reeves Eason
- Genre
- fantasy film, science fiction film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 4h 05m
- Rated
- NR
- Rating
- 5.8 of 10 from 12 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A singing cowboy finds an ancient civilization hidden under his ranch. Greedy outsiders try to exploit the underground world.
whimsicalfast-pacedcampyadventurouslighthearteddatedmusicalserendipitous
What happens
The Phantom Empire is a 1935 American Western serial film directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross. This 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial combined the Western, musical and science-fiction genres. The duration of the first episode is 30 minutes, while that of the rest is about 20 minutes. The serial film is about a singing cowboy who stumbles upon an ancient subterranean civilization living beneath his own ranch that becomes corrupted by unscrupulous greedy speculators from the surface. In 1940, a 70-minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces. This was Gene Autry's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy. It is considered to be the first science-fiction Western. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Singing Vagabond (1935)
Melody Trail (1935)
The Texas Rambler (1935)
The Cowboy Millionaire (1935)
Lawless Range (1935)
Moonlight on the Prairie (1935)
The Old Homestead (1935)
His Fighting Blood (1935)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.