Zorro's Black Whip (1944 Republic Pictures Movie Serial)

Zorro's Black Whip is a 1944 12-chapter film serial by Republic Pictures starring Linda Stirling. The film was made after the 1940 20th Century-Fox remake of The Mark of Zorro in order to capitalize on it. Republic was not able to use the character of Zorro himself, however, and despite the title, the hero(ine) is called The Black Whip throughout.

The serial is set in pre-statehood Idaho, and involves a fight to prevent and ensure statehood by the villains and heroes respectively.

Parts of the serial were reused as stock footage to pad out later serials such as Don Daredevil Rides Again (1951) and Man with the Steel Whip (1954) – despite the fact that both of those serials had male leads.

Plot
In Zorro's Black Whip the word Zorro never occurs, but a female who behaves like Don Diego in Idaho fights a cabal of corrupt politicians as "The Black Whip" after her brother (the original Black Whip) is killed.

Cast
Linda Stirling as Barbara Meredith, The Black Whip and newspaper proprietrix
George J. Lewis as Vic Gordon, a US government agent allied with the Black Whip. In a related role, Lewis later portrayed Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro's father, Don Alejandro de la Vega in the Walt Disney television series Zorro.
Lucien Littlefield as "Tenpoint" Jackson, the comic relief newspaper typesetter working with Barbara Meredith
Francis McDonald as Dan Hammond, villainous owner of the town's Stagecoach company
Hal Taliaferro as Baxter, one of Hammond's henchmen
John Merton as Ed Harris, one of Hammond's henchmen
Stanley Price as Hedges, Hammond's Clerk-Henchman
The surnames of the two lead characters, Meredith and Gordon, are an in-joke referencing two earlier Republic serials. The character Nyoka the Jungle Girl and her father had the surname Meredith in Jungle Girl, but their last name was Gordon in the semi-sequel Perils of Nyoka.

Production
This serial was put into production, with Linda Stirling as the main star, following the actress' popular performance in The Tiger Woman. Zorro's Black Whip was budgeted at $134,899 although the final negative cost was $145,251 (a $10,352, or 7.7%, overspend). It was the cheapest Republic serial of 1944. It was filmed between 29 July and 26 August 1944 under the working title The Black Whip.[1] The serial's production number was 1495. Despite physically wrestling with her, the villains never realize that the very obviously female Black Whip is a woman. Footage from this serial was reused in Don Daredevil Rides Again and Man with the Steel Whip.

Stunts
Babe DeFreest as The Black Whip (doubling Linda Stirling)
Dale Van Sickel as Vic Gordon/Rock Heavy Karl/Camp Heavy/Danley (doubling George J. Lewis]
Tom Steele as Baxter/Ed (doubling Hal Taliaferro)
Helen Thurston
Carey Loftin
Cliff Lyons
Special effects
Special effects by Republic's in-house team of the Lydecker brothers.

Release
Theatrical
Zorro's Black Whip's official release date is 16 November 1944, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on 8 July 1957 between the similar re-releases of The Purple Monster Strikes and Radar Men from the Moon. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival in 1955.

Chapter titles
183 minutes = 3h, 2m, 15s

The Masked Avenger (23min 23s)
Tomb of Terror (14min 27s)
Mob Murder (14min 24s)
Detour to Death (14min 24s)
Take Off That Mask! (14min 28s)
Fatal Gold (14min 27s)
Wolf Pack (14min 27s)
The Invisible Victim (14min 26s) – a re-cap chapter
Avalanche (14min 28s)
Fangs of Doom (14min 27s)
Flaming Juggernaut (14min 27s)
Trail of Tyranny (14min 27s)
Source:[1][6]

This was one of two 12-chapter serials released in 1944, along with Linda Stirling's serial debut, The Tiger Woman. It had been Republic's standard pattern to produce two 12-chapter serials and two 15-chapter serials each year since 1938 but 1944 was the last year that occurred. In fact, Republic would only produce two more 15-chapter serials, Manhunt of Mystery Island and The Purple Monster Strikes, both in 1945 and both starring Linda Stirling.