Watch The Crimson Ghost For Free

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

An unexpected masterpiece

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

"The Crimson Ghost" is really a hoot. There is Clayton Moore playing one of the henchmen. Then there is Kenne Duncan, a perennial henchman, playing a good guy. He did play another good guy in "The Green Archer." I was disappointed in the fact that two of the suspects behind the Ghost mask were killed off and only two remained at the end. That cut down on the suspense. I had suspected Forrest Taylor as his name was higher in the credits than the final suspect. Don't know why I. Stanford Jolley was fourth billed as he had only a couple of minutes of screen time. It might be that he was a little more known as a character actor at the time. Rex Lease, a serial star in the 1930s, was another henchman. He is probably best known for his 10-second part as the head diner in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Saboteur." A couple of more observations. A white car goes over a cliff at the end of the first chapter. Have seen that same scene in other serials. This is a short serial running 167 minutes. Most serials are over three hours. I wonder who really wore the Crimson Ghost outfit. Probably one of the stunt men. I will not mention the plot as that has been done very well by the other reviewers on this page.

Source of the Skull face that was stolen by Glenn Danzig for one of his band The Misfits album covers and t-shirts. The serial itself is so over the top in images and ideas that its become the source of a minor cult and is one of the few non-Flash Gordon serials that my non-serial fan friends know about.The plot has a scientist creating a machine called a "cyclotrode" which will stop atomic missiles from working. It will also stop other things which is why a skull clad villain known as the Crimson Ghost wants it.This action filled serial is a great deal of fun thanks to one of the silliest looking villains in movie history. Taking the idea of a masked bad guy and placing it into the realm of camp you can't help but watch the craziness that ensues. The mask looks great but you can't believe anyone would actually listen to a guy in a mask like that. Helping things along is dialog that is unintentionally silly thanks to the passage of time(The heroine is given a diaphragm from which her orders will come). It plays like the old Batman TV show but with better action and with out the knowing wink to the audience. Frankly if it wasn't so unintentionally silly you would never have heard of this serial or seen its iconic villain, even if it was pretty good on its own terms.Definitely worth a look, after all it isn't often you get to see Clayton "the Lone Ranger" Moore as a bad guy.

Created in 1946, THE CRIMSON GHOST was among the last of the major serials created by Republic Studios. Like most serials, it has a formula plot that tends to be uneven from episode to episode, but in many respects GHOST proves not only entertaining but quite influential as well.The plot concerns a scientist that has developed a machine capable of neutralizing electricity. The "cyclotrode" is quickly targeted by a master criminal known as "the Crimson Ghost," an entity that hides behind a skull mask and flowing robes--and needless to say fights, thefts, torture, kidnapping, and murder is soon the order of the day.While the story line occasionally falters (one episode consists of the characters recalling incidents from previous chapters), THE CRIMSON GHOST sets a fairly smart pace and the art designs are enjoyable, particularly re the cyclotrode, remote control collars, and various other gizmos. The single most appealing thing about the show, however, is actress Linda Stirling. In an era in which most serial heroines still screamed and fainted, Stirling got into fights, jumped out of cars, and quite often took on the bad guys on equal terms. Her roles seldom allowed her to fully challenge the male leads, but you never doubt that she could have done so--and it is quite refreshing to see.All of this said, THE CRIMSON GHOST is presently available only on VHS, and it comes in two versions: a two-tape VHS, which preserves the chapter-format of the original serial, and a single tape VHS that condenses the show by knocking out chapter headings and redundant scenes. The single tape format is also colorized, and a dreadful job it is indeed. For myself, I enjoy the chapter headings and the cliff-hangers, and where THE CRIMSON GHOST is concerned, the two-tape VHS is the one I recommend.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I got this for Christmas (today), and it's great. The plot doesn't make much sense, the acting is barely acceptable, and the production values are "budget", but my kids and I think that it's a hoot. The story is something about a villain in a skull mask and a ray that will disable electrical equipment, but who cares? It's really about the square-jawed scientist and his beautiful and plucky assistant dashing about risking death to bring the master criminal to justice, with constant fight scenes (filmed at a slower rate so that people move with astonishing speed onscreen) and cliffhanging endings.There are plenty of unintentionally funny moments, too, as when the gang leader's right-hand-thug (played by Clayton Moore, eventually to be the TV version of The Lone Ranger) returns with a piece of equipment and the leader hisses that it's a "cheap decoy" (as if it looks any cheaper than anything else on the set). If you think that you might like it, you will, and if you think that you'll hate it, you're probably right about that, too.