ACE DRUMMOND - SERIAL (1936) John 'Dusty' King & Jean Rogers | Action, Adventure, Family | B&W

Ace Drummond is a Universal Pictures 1936 film serial based on the comic strip "Ace Drummond" written by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and drawn by Clayton Knight. The serial's cast features John King, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr. and Jackie Morrow, with Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role.

SYNOPSIS
This 13 chapter serial is based on the comic strip character Ace Drummond created by Eddie Rickenbacker. Ace is a 'G-Man of the sky' working out of Washington D.C. He is sent to Mongolia to find out why a mysterious villain known only as 'The Dragon' is trying to prevent the newly formed International Airways from setting up an airport there. Ace meets Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) who is searching for her archaeologist father who has disappeared. Together they search for answers to the puzzles.

A mysterious villain who calls himself the Dragon is attempting to prevent International Airways from beginning service in Mongolia, in order to protect the secret of the mountain of jade for himself.

The serial features a dungeon in the nearby monastery, the kidnapping of an archeologist who stumbles onto the secret, his daughter's attempts to rescue him with Ace's help, a death ray the Dragon uses on the airline pilots, a radio system by which The Dragon communicates with his henchmen via the rotation of Buddhist prayer wheels (each transmission concluding "The Dragon commands!"), and a squadron of his own fighter planes.

CAST & CREW
John King as Ace Drummond
Jean Rogers as Peggy Trainor
Noah Beery Jr. as Jerry
Jackie Morrow as Billy Meredith
Selmer Jackson as Mr. Meredith
Guy Bates Post as the Grand Lama
C. Montague Shaw as Trainor
Frederick Vogeding as Bauer
Al Bridge as Wyckoff
Chester Gan as Kai-chek
James B. Leong as Henry Kee
James Eagles as Johnny Wong
Arthur Loft as Chang Ho/The Dragon
Lon Chaney Jr. as Henchman Ivan
Stanley Blystone as Henchman Sergei
Edmund Cobb as Henchman Nikolai
Richard Wessel as Henchman Boris

Directed by Ford Beebe, Clifford Smith
Cinematography Richard Fryer
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date October 19, 1936
Running time 13 chapters (258 min)
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
Ace Drummond was based on a comic strip by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.

Ace Drummond gained good publicity following a set visit by Amelia Earhart. The famous aviator had driven out to the San Fernando Valley, after hearing that the serial was being shot there on location, where she watched the filming of the chapter two cliffhanger.

In the traditional foreword at the beginning of each chapter, Ace Drummond used comic strips to summarise the story so far. This worked well, and Universal who had been trying to get away from using written text in its forewords, used "similar gimmicks" in their succeeding serials.

Chapter titles
Chapter 1 - Where East Meets West
Chapter 2 - The Invisible Enemy
Chapter 3 - The Doorway of Doom
Chapter 4 - The Radio Riddle
Chapter 5 - Bullets of Sand
Chapter 6 - Evil Spirits
Chapter 7 - The Trackless Trail
Chapter 8 - The Sign in the Sky
Chapter 9 - Secret Service
Chapter 10 - The Mountain of Jade
Chapter 11 - The Dragon Commands
Chapter 12 - The Squadron of Death
Chapter 13 - The World's Akin