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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Simply A Masterpiece

Must See Movie...

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There's a reason why serial fans call Spy Smasher one of the best serial movies ever made. But I don't think they go far enough. Spy Smasher is one of the best ACTION movies ever made...This movie has something which modern action/superhero movies don't. As much as I enjoyed Justice League and Captain America: Winter Soldier, the stunts and the fight scenes never feel as real as they do in the old serials. I don't believe that Henry Cavill can fly, but I know that Commandy Cody does. And I'm sorry Cap, but that's not fighting, it's dancing. Modern filmmakers are too obsessed about stunts/fights looking "cool" or "beautiful". In reality, they're just silly and predictable. And way too long.Old movie: Punch punch block punch! Villains fall down! Hero gets punched in face and falls on his butt! Punch punch! Someone picks up a chair and throws it! Punch!Modern movie: Punch block kick block slow motion punch! "Sexy" villainess head tilt! Hero wipes blood from lip! Hero jumps up in the air and spins around before kicking villain four times in a row! Blood flying through air in slow motion! CGI monsters kill CGI robots!There's no CGI, wires or slow motion in Spy Smasher. Just real people doing real stunts. It looks and feels like the hero is in actual danger and could be hurt or killed by the villains. It's more intense than any of the Die Hard movies.And best of all, there's no unnecessary sex scenes or gory violence in it. It's mostly safe to watch with the rest of the family (ages 7 and up). Now imagine if they combined the qualities of the old comic book movies (real action, no vulgar content, more heroic characters) with the modern ones (complex characters, better costumes, better writing and acting). That would be the best superhero movie ever.

With some of the best fight scenes Hollywood ever produced, a viewer can only marvel at the quality of this excellent serial, called by many the best, or at least one of the best, ever.With both Dave Sharpe and Yakima Canutt present, although un-billed and credited only here at IMDb and among knowledgeable movie fans, we have to expect the very best in stunt work. And we get it.To repeat: Some of the best fight scenes ever produced in Hollywood.From the very beginning, we get a beautifully effective use of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, with the "V" motif, "V for Victory," which is perfect for 1942.It's very important to remember that 1942 context. Modern audiences are probably more used to pyrotechnics and glitz, of which there is none or very little.But what we get is a great story, with some truth in the basic premise of the bad guys' plot: An intention to ruin the U.S. economy by flooding the country with counterfeit money. (This has a truthful basis: Several times in the last 100 years, warring nations, or cold-warring nations, have attempted to subvert an enemy's economy just that way. For example, the Germans during World War II, and North Korea more recently. They didn't succeed, but at least a couple of U.S. administrations took over and flooded the economy with pretty-nearly worthless Federal Reserve notes in such numbers, prices soared as much as 20 percent!)We also get some good acting, some great directing, and some very great special effects from Republic's master, Howard Lydecker.The good acting comes not only from the listed stars and "withs," but from all the stunt-men-bad-guys and from the good guys who might eventually get killed by the nefarious bad guys.All in all, this is one great, one astonishingly great serial, available for home ownership, for rental from various sources, and for free at YouTube. Try to pick carefully. One uploader says his version is from a not-very-good VHS. But this is one great adventure, one exciting serial, one thoroughly entertaining, even enthralling, movie experience. From Republic. I like the sound of that word. And I highly recommend "Spy Smasher."

One reviewer, who clearly didn't pay much attention to the serial, says that Spy Smasher falls off a building and dies...then in the last chapter DOESN'T die. Well, that's plain silly. If anyone just watches the movie (I mean, you don't even have to pay super-close attention), you will see that it is Spy Smasher's twin brother Jack, who has donned the costume, gets shot and falls off the building. He does indeed die! But he isn't Spy Smasher! His brother Alan is...and has been the entire serial. His twin brother is no last chapter reveal...he's there from Chapter One. Wake up before you write a review...or at least watch the movie.

The old-time movie serials should never be judged by the same criteria of other films, even those made at the same time period. The serials were invariably outrageous, over-the-top, often ridiculous. But unlike Adam West's 'Batman' the serials were never self-conscious or deliberately campy. Although many serials featured a mildly humorous characters such as Jimmy Olsen or Whitey Whitney to provide occasional comic relief, on the whole, the actors and directors played everything straight and extremely earnest, no matter how absurd the situation or the scene. They did their best at every test.The old movie serials were made with practically zero budget and at a forced-march pace, shooting in two days what would take 6 months under modern conditions. Those factors, combined with the primitive special effects then available and outdated cinematic conventions, give movie serials a look and feel unlike anything made in the last 52 years.The final thing a modern person should know before watching an old serial is that 1940's movies had a more realistic vision of the male body than modern Hollywood. The men of this era had survived the depression (and later, WWII). When they were hungry, they ate meat and potatoes. The tough guys of this period lifted barbells and did push-ups, but they didn't have Soloflex, Nautilus, implants or steroids. Think about the last time you went to the beach: how many real world guys were built like Daniel Craig? In summary, it is best to watch the old serials from the perspective that you are looking at some kind of alternate reality, so as to suspend some of the prejudices of the modern cinema. Or perhaps as though one were a tourist in a foreign country: rather than seeing the differences as bizarre or deficient, but instead as being novel, interesting, and sometimes wondrous.I have seen about 20 serials in my life, and 'Spy Smasher' is hands-down the best. Kane Richmond made an excellent hero and pulled off the double (or is it triple?) role very nicely. The action is well-paced, the special effects and sets, are, by serial standards, excellent. The fight scenes, cliff-hangers, and escapes are all the absolute best I have seen in any serial. The creativity and ingenuity used to choreograph the fight scenes are truly wondrous. If you are familiar with the 'Indiana Jones' films, you can literally see numerous instances where Spielberg borrowed and extrapolated from Spy Smasher.And although the fight scenes are masterfully choreographed and have great stunt-work, they are much more plausible (therefore more interesting) than the kind of CGI/steroid-assisted stuff you see in modern action movie, in which human beings no longer seem bound by any biological or physical limits, being instead endowed with the powers of a video game.There are a number of dramatic surprises as well, including some understatedly somber moments. Without spoiling too much, I will say that mortality is a factor.The opening credits to each chapter, which feature the Morse Code signal for Victory, the opening notes of Beethoven's 5th, and an image of searchlights crossing the sky, accurately evoke the Churchill/Roosevelt mentality of the dark early days of WWII, the summoning up of righteous courage. This undercurrent of the real war, the outcome of which could not yet be known, gives Spy Smasher a resonance not found in other serials. But despite the influence of the historical moment, Spy Smasher is still predominately an escapist joy ride. Which is a good thing.