Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940)

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

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.

pulpyfast-pacedcampyold-fashionedaction-packedmelodramaticgrittysuspenseful

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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• Doctor Satan's Robot (1966)
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• The Shadow (1940)
• The Spider Returns (1941)
• Deadwood Dick (1940)