Underplayed Gems

Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940)

Mysterious Doctor Satan poster
Directed by
John English, William Witney
Genre
science fiction film, superhero film
Country
United States
Runtime
4h 27m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.0 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

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.

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How it feels

A masked hero called the Copperhead hunts a mad scientist named Doctor Satan who plots to take over the world. The Copperhead is secretly Bob Wayne, a man seeking revenge for his guardian's murder.

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What happens

Mysterious Doctor Satan (also known as Doctor Satan's Robot) is a 1940 American film serial directed by William Witney and John English. Produced by Republic Pictures, the serial stars Edward Ciannelli, Robert Wilcox, William Newell, C. Montague Shaw, Ella Neal, and Dorothy Herbert. The title of the serial is derived from that of its chief villain. Doctor Satan's main opponent is the masked mystery man, "The Copperhead", whose secret identity is Bob Wayne, a man searching for justice and revenge on Satan for the death of his guardian Governor Bronson. The serial charts the conflict between the two as Bob Wayne pursues Doctor Satan, while the latter completes his plans for world domination. Henry Brandon was originally intended to play the part of Doctor Satan while wearing a regular devil costume, complete with horns. At the end of the 1930s, however, this would have stretched credulity too far, even for a serial, so a more realistic villain was written in the form of a sleek, gangster-style mad scientist played by Ciannelli. The serial first began as a screenplay for Republic's never-produced Superman serial, which was cancelled after various problems arose with securing the rights to the famous and popular comic book character. Mysterious Doctor Satan was later remade in Turkish as The Deathless Devil. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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