Bela Lugosi appeared in arguably more serials than any other top star – he made several during the 30s, usually as a villain or red herring. In this one though, he plays a hero – not an anti-hero like Dracula, or the doctor in The Black Cat, but an out-and-out brave leading man. I mean he’s not Gary Cooper, he is a magician, Chandu – but the plot has him coming to the rescue of a girl who has been kidnapped. And he gets the girl at the end, too.
This was presumably low budget but it looks pretty impressive – some snazzy sets of devil worshippers. There’s plenty of Indiana Jones type action – pits with tigers, hypnotism, boats sinking, vicious native islanders. It doesn’t quite cover the fact that much of said action is repetitive – kidnap, rescue, in danger, rescue, kidnap, rescue.
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