The only Columbia serials I had ever seen were the "Superman" ones...until now.
The 15 chapter adventure is based, of course, of the novel by Jules Verne. It stars Richard Crane as Capt. Harding, who along with several of his men escape from a prisoner of war camp during the civil war in a hot air balloon.
They are caught in a typhoon and blown about 3000 miles off of their course and end up on an island inhabited by many strange people. Not only are there pirates headed by Capt. Shard (Gene Roth) but there is also a tribe of men that are referred to as "Volcano People" as well as aliens from the planet Mercury lead by a woman named Rulu (Karen Randell).
This sets up a wild 15 chapter ride as Harding's men try to get off the island, but are constantly foiled by either Rulu or Shard or the volcano people.
The island also is home to a former pirate captive that is more of a wildman than anything else and also Captain Nemo (Leonard Penn) who is really only featured in the final 3 chapters.
This is a fun and wild ride, but I do recommend watching it a few chapters at a time. It can get pretty redundant with continual viewing. I think any serial fan would enjoy this, and it's a shame it's not better known and more widely seen.
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