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The Phantom Creeps (1939) is a 12‑chapter science‑fiction horror serial produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. It stars Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist Dr. Alex Zorka, who seeks world domination using a collection of dangerous inventions — including an invisibility belt, explosive robot spiders, and an eight‑foot‑tall robot. Foreign agents and U.S. government operatives race to seize Zorka’s technology, leading to a series of cliffhangers typical of the serial format.

The serial was released theatrically in weekly installments and later edited into a 78‑minute feature version for television in 1949. It is notable as Lugosi’s final serial appearance and one of Universal’s later sound-era chapter serials.

Film Details
Title: The Phantom Creeps
Year: 1939
Genre: Science Fiction / Horror / Serial
Directors: Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind
Screenplay: George Plympton, Basil Dickey
Story by: Wyllis Cooper
Produced by: Henry MacRae
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Arnold, Robert Kent
Cinematography: Jerry Ash, William A. Sickner
Editing: Irving Birnbaum, Joseph Gluck, Alvin Todd
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: January 7, 1939
Runtime: 265 minutes (12 chapters)
Country: United States
Language: English

#ThePhantomCreeps1939 #BelaLugosi #UniversalPictures #SciFiSerial #CliffhangerSerial #1930sHorror #MadScientistCinema #ClassicSerials
Transcript
00:00THE END
00:32THE END
01:08THE END
01:30THE END
01:31THE END
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01:42THE END
01:49THE END
01:55THE END
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01:58THE END
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02:00THE END
02:15THE END
02:19THE END
02:20THE END
02:23THE END
02:24THE END
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02:34THE END
02:36THE END
02:36THE END
02:46I must be controlled.
02:48I could crush all opposition
02:50and make me the most powerful man in the world.
02:53Hey, Watson!
03:14There's a car outside.
03:16That will be my wife.
03:18She wants to take me away.
03:20She's afraid of what I'm doing here,
03:22yet she knows all your small parts of it.
03:27Let me go in and talk to him alone, Dr. Mallory.
03:30He's been angry with you
03:31ever since you refused to continue to work with him.
03:33I did so only because he was working along lines
03:35contrary to the good of mankind.
03:37I know. He's still here.
03:39I hope I can stop him before it's too late.
03:42I hate to have you face him alone.
03:44I don't fear him.
03:45I think he really cares for me
03:47as much as he can't care for anyone.
03:50Except himself.
03:54You're not going to tell her
03:55about the new element you discovered, are you?
03:57Only enough to prove
03:58that I have accomplished what they told me was impossible.
04:02Get me one of the magnetized disks.
04:04But if you're determined to face him alone,
04:06I'll wait in there.
04:10But won't your wife take the night lens?
04:19Alex!
04:21Anne, my dear.
04:23You're...
04:24You're glad to see me.
04:26Very.
04:27Very.
04:30I've been wanting a witness to my grave crime.
04:34Oh.
04:35Yes.
04:36I've told Mallory and the others
04:38there was a way to induce a state of suspended animation
04:41that couldn't be told from death
04:43that I could find it.
04:44They called me a dreamer, a fool.
04:46But now I have it.
04:48And you shall see and tell them.
04:50Come.
04:59You see this disk?
05:01Watch.
05:18It will not come to you.
05:20It will go only to that disk
05:23which I have put there by the plan.
05:25That disk there
05:26is magnetized by a positive ray
05:29with my new element
05:30which is unknown to science.
05:31And this little spider
05:33carries the negative.
05:34When the two meet,
05:36you shall see.
05:52You killed me.
05:54No.
05:55No.
05:56It's not dead.
05:57Nor would a person be
05:59under the same circumstances.
06:01It's too bad
06:03that Mallory is not here
06:05to see my trial.
06:08I have seen it.
06:10You.
06:11You were spying.
06:14Call it that if you wish, Alex.
06:16But you made no secret of it.
06:18Now my fear is
06:19what are you going to do with it?
06:20I shall do with it as I wish.
06:23Not hand it over to the government
06:24as you would have me.
06:26I still think that would be best.
06:28It should be under control
06:29for the good of mankind.
06:30You would still receive credit
06:32for its discovery.
06:33They would destroy it if they could.
06:35But possibly...
06:36Never will I let it go.
06:38I read your file in government
06:40and offered me millions.
06:43Perhaps
06:44I shall sell it to them.
06:46Don't you realize
06:47what a terrific weapon
06:48it would be in the hands
06:49of unscrupulous people?
06:50Of course.
06:51That is why
06:52they shall pay me dearly for it.
06:54Alex, you must not.
06:56Then it is my duty
06:57to inform the government at once.
06:59Alex, please.
07:01Please.
07:06All right.
07:07If it is your duty,
07:10do so by all means.
07:12But you will find it
07:14a great mistake.
07:16What do you mean?
07:19You shall soon learn
07:21all of you.
07:25I am.
07:29Monk!
07:30Monk!
07:32Get the visualizer.
07:37Did you carry out
07:37my instructions
07:38regarding the work
07:39to be done on this?
07:40Yes, sir.
07:41I strengthened the ionizer,
07:42but I was afraid to use it.
07:43I am not afraid.
07:45They think they know
07:47everything that I have.
07:48But they know nothing
07:49of this visualizer
07:50that will conceal me
07:52from my enemies.
07:53I will stay here tonight.
07:55Perhaps I can see him again
07:58and persuade him
07:59from his mad course.
08:01And I will get in touch
08:02with the government.
08:03I have already talked
08:04with Captain West
08:04of the War Department
08:05about Alex.
08:06They won't punish him,
08:08will they?
08:08No, Ann.
08:09They will just keep him
08:09and what he has found
08:10under control
08:11so that he can't misuse it
08:12or dispose of it
08:13to a country that would.
08:16Oh, no.
08:20Oh, no.
08:34You have failed, Monk.
08:40But I will not fail.
08:42I cannot.
08:44I'll call if I need you.
08:47Good night, Ann.
08:48Good night.
08:59It is perfect,
09:02Mertra Shadow.
09:03But can you come back?
09:04Surely.
09:05I must come back.
09:16And now,
09:18at the Phantom,
09:19there is nothing
09:20that I cannot do.
09:22I cannot do.
09:50This iscourse,
09:52Nobody can find our secret workshop without the Iron Man helping.
09:57Unless they find a secret entrance to the cave.
10:01Oh, it is concealed so cleverly.
10:04Nobody will ever find it.
10:07We must be entirely moved by morning.
10:09Pack what we need.
10:10Yes.
10:22Pack what we need.
10:54Pack what we need.
11:22Pack what we need.
11:29They must never know about you.
11:33The source of all my power.
11:36The source of all my power.
11:49The source of all my power.
12:03The source of all my power.
12:04I'll come right out there as soon as I get a call I'm waiting for.
12:08Yes, Captain West of the Army Intelligence.
12:11I'll start as soon as he phones me.
12:13All right.
12:14All right.
12:15Don't worry.
12:16Much depends on what happens in this house today.
12:22We're going to wait and listen to this.
12:25You're going to wait and listen to this.
12:41Yes.
12:42Yes.
12:43Yes.
12:44Yes.
12:47Yes.
12:49Yes.
12:51Yes.
12:52But yes.
12:53Yes.
12:54Yes.
13:07Yes.
13:08Yes.
13:09Yes.
13:11Yes.
13:14Maybe you'd better stay here and keep an eye on the plane, Jim.
13:17Okay.
13:24Captain West, is it true that Dr. Zorkin disappeared?
13:27Well, do you think it's fair for you to know my name and I don't know yours?
13:31I'm Jean Drew.
13:32Well, what are you doing here?
13:34The Times sent me.
13:36Too low, unless someone asked questions.
13:39Sorry, but I'm not allowed to answer any questions.
13:42Do you mind if I go to the house with you?
13:44Yes, I'd mind very much.
13:46You and I'd better take a little walk, sister.
13:48I don't believe I've met you.
13:50Miss Drew will allow me to present Mr. Jim Daly.
13:52You'll find him very good company.
14:00From what you say, Dr. Zorkin has discovered something very important.
14:04I'm sure he has. Highly dangerous, too.
14:07Think what a hostile power could do with it.
14:08Have you made any search for it?
14:11No, we thought we'd better wait till you got here.
14:14Well, let's look in his laboratory.
14:16Aren't you going to take that disc?
14:18I'll get it later.
14:19I'd hate to have one of those spiders find in my pocket.
14:25Fools, fools!
14:27Let them search.
14:29They will find nothing.
14:43A lot of equipment seems to have been moved.
14:45We can talk to Rankin of Aspiring.
14:48I will be with you.
14:49But unseen.
14:54Doesn't smoke the popular brand.
14:56But he doesn't.
14:58He can't stand tobacco.
15:00Well, how about his assistant?
15:01He hasn't.
15:02She's right.
15:03So far as we know, Zorka worked alone.
15:09Let him into the ladder.
15:11Then we will go.
15:19We must be more careful than ever
15:22that no one discovers the ends of our secret garage.
15:25Let's go.
15:34Well, I'll phone headquarters and have a description broadcast.
15:36He'll be picked up somewhere.
15:38That is, if he still answers his own description.
15:42All clear?
15:43Yes.
15:44Then we will go to meet the agents of Aspiring.
15:49When last seen,
15:51he wore a striped trousers,
15:53dark foreign hand tie,
15:54and cutaway coat.
15:55No car that we know of.
15:57But it would take one to carry the things
15:59that are missing from this laboratory.
16:01Yes, that's right.
16:03Put this on the cell type right away with it.
16:11Pick up that man.
16:12What do you mean?
16:12Give him a ride?
16:13Yes.
16:14He looks as I used to.
16:15He might be useful to me.
16:21Come, get in.
16:49The man is dead.
16:53How fortunate.
16:56That simplifies everything.
17:01We will make it seem that it is the famous Dr. Zorko has been killed.
17:07Then we will get another car,
17:10go home,
17:11and see what they are doing there.
17:16West speaking.
17:21Right.
17:22I've got it.
17:22We'll fly right down there.
17:24There's been a car found wrecked and burned
17:26on Highway 10,
17:2750 miles north of here.
17:28There's a body in it.
17:30The contents of the pocket
17:30is indicated by Dr. Zorko.
17:32Identification is important.
17:35Will you go with it?
17:38You're asking too much,
17:40Captain West after such a shock.
17:41I'll go.
17:42I must know.
17:44It was Alex.
17:46Warm up the plane with you, Jim.
17:48Whenever you're ready,
17:49Mrs. Zorko.
18:19You're taking my way.
18:20to identify the body we left at the car.
18:23She will know it is not mine.
18:24Can't you scout them by it?
18:26She has one of my discs,
18:27and she does not know it.
18:30I have just time enough
18:31to put that spider into her plane.
18:35She will go into suspended animation
18:37so that she cannot identify the dead man.
18:40Then I will take her from them
18:42and revive her.
18:43Now get the car ready.
18:45Quick.
18:45We have to be there
18:46as soon as the plane arrives.
18:57It shouldn't take long.
18:58I'll check the lab equipment
18:59and try to figure out
19:00just what's missing.
19:01Bye.
19:02Goodbye.
19:03Goodbye.
19:20Hey, is there something
19:20the matter with that door?
19:21I'm sure I shut it.
19:23Doesn't look to me
19:23it is, if you're dead.
19:31This wasn't in my bag
19:32when I left the house.
19:35That's the same kind of disc
19:36that was found under the plant.
19:38The one the spider went to.
19:40Are you certain
19:40it wasn't in your bag before?
19:42Positively.
19:43Let me see it, Willie.
19:44I haven't seen
19:44one of those things yet.
19:46Hold on, Willie, Jim.
19:47I want to send it
19:47back to the apartment.
19:48Are you sure
19:49you didn't find it
19:50and take it
19:50as part of a keepsake?
19:51Why, of course I didn't.
19:56Tell me.
19:58From where the car was found,
19:59have you any idea
20:00where Dr. Zerker was going?
20:01None.
20:02What if?
20:03Damn, I got it!
20:08The tools, by the way,
20:09we have to blow up.
20:18What are you doing here?
20:19Never mind, bail out!
20:30Get under the shoe.
20:31Yes, sir.
20:33The shoe.
20:47The tool, by the way,
20:48we have to blow up.
20:52The tool, by the way,
20:52we have to blow up.
21:00The tool, by the way,
21:01The tool, by the way,
21:02The tool, by the way,
21:03The tool, by the way,
21:03we have to blow up.
21:04The tool, by the way,
21:04The tool, by the way,
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