Serial Sunday - The Heroes Take Over #1 - The Green Hornet

Hiya, Kiddies! So here we are, back again for another look at the weekly serials that were a staple of the cinemas for quite a few decades, from at least the 1920's until the early part of the 1950's but this time we're going to take little different tack. Instead of taking an in-depth look at a particular serial and following it through to it's end, we're going to look at different genres and see how they were handled over the years by the differing serials. That way, you can not only get an over-view of the many different samples through the different genres' but of course, if you want to follow up and watch the complete serial on your own, you'll always have that option.

Fair warning, however. Because many of these serials are based on trademarked characters, their public domain status may not be as clear as with most of the movies we discuss. That's one of the unfortunate issues when we begin to discuss the public domain and underlying rights (and I'm not going to go into that whole discussion now, since it's sure to come up as part of the Public Domain 101 series resuming soon). I will, however, do my best to note which of these are still under copyright or in the public domain where it is clear.

So, where shall we begin? Well, with the release of last year's Green Hornet movie and films based on The Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America, and The X-Men all coming out in the first half of this year, it seems like 2011 is at least going to start out as the year of the superhero in the cinema. (At least as far as the big blockbusters go.) So, since superheroes were also a long-standing staple of the Saturday matinees, that seems like as good a place to begin as any.