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1938
Directed by James W. Horne, Ray Taylor
Synopsis
"Beware, Spider! I Have You Marked For Death with The Most Fiendish Weapons Ever Concieved By The Human Brain!"
Pulp hero "The Spider" seeks to destroy all criminals. In this serialized adventure, he battles The Octopus, who intends to replace the government of the United States.
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- Cast
- Crew
- Details
- Genres
- Releases
Cast
Warren Hull Iris Meredith Richard Fiske Kenne Duncan Forbes Murray Marc Lawrence Charles C. Wilson Eugene Anderson Jr Ann Doran Paul Whitney Beatrice Curtis Gordon Hart Byron Foulger Donald Douglas John Tyrrell Henry Taylor Lee Shumway
DirectorsDirectors
James W. Horne Ray Taylor
ProducerProducer
Jack Fier
WritersWriters
George H. Plympton Mart Ramson Basil Dickey Robert E. Kent
EditorEditor
Richard Fantl
CinematographyCinematography
Allen G. Siegler
StuntsStunts
Dave O'Brien Tom Steele George DeNormand Francis Walker Chuck Hamilton Bud Geary Duke York
Studio
Columbia Pictures
Country
USA
Language
English
Alternative Titles
Zorro l'homme araignée, Zorro, l'Araignée contre la Pieuvre, Паутина
Genres
Crime Action
Releases by Date
- Date
- Country
Theatrical
21 Oct 1938
USANR
Releases by Country
- Date
- Country
USA
21 Oct 1938
- TheatricalNR
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Review by sakana1 ★★★ 2
For many years, the crime and superhero stories in pulp magazines were considered too violent to commit to film. That changed in 1938, however, when Columbia Pictures cleaned up The Spider enough to win the approval of Will Hays, and found success with The Spider's Web, today considered the first superhero serial film series.
Starring Warren Hull as "famous criminologist" Richard Wentworth, AKA The Spider, AKA criminal Blinky McQuade, the series follows Wentworth's efforts to foil mysterious, masked criminal The Octopus, in his nefarious schemes to bring the entire country under his thumb. Not surprisingly, given that it runs 15 episodes, the series cannot help but become repetitive in its cliffhangers and rescues, but it's nevertheless a lot of fun,…
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Review by Craig J. Clark ★★★★★ 3
"Decisive action is necessary. The law is handcuffed by too many rules and regulations. Therefore, The Spider has to operate outside the law to save human lives." --Richard Wentworth, a.k.a. The Spider
1941's Adventures of Captain Marvel is widely considered one of the best adventure serials ever made -- I, for one, gave it four-and-a-half-stars when I re-watched it earlier this spring -- but to my mind this one tops it. Based on the pulp character The Spider, the alter ego of famous criminologist and master of disguise Richard Wentworth, The Spider's Web spins the breathtaking tale of a crime-fighting vigilante outfitted in a webbed hood and matching silken cape who specializes in climbing and swinging on ropes and scaling…
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Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★★
Judex vs Mabuse in an nth-gen xerox; the Judex character is already more Batman than anything else, but this Batman is... gun-crazy? Amazing indifference to human life on both sides of the good/evil equation. Vigilantism unofficially embedded in law enforcement speaks to a potentially fascist audience at the same time that the whole narrative is deeply plugged into contemporary anxieties about geopolitics.
The copy I watched had the chapter transitions edited out, so the death-trap/miraculous resolution beats played differently -- that was interesting.
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Review by PUNQ ★★★
The inspiration for Spider-man! Colombia films a 15-episode serial of the comic book hero The Spider! And it's what you expect for a crime fighting series. Filled with violence, cheesy costumes and no time wasting! It's almost too action packed! Never a breather in this nearly 5 hour long series! And the production felt surprisingly tight for such a B-production, so I was definitely entertained by this one!
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Review by DFvideodiary
Face-punching/explosions/traps/demolition and homicide litter this 15 episode serial with Warren Hull donning a cape and spider mask to murder gangsters out to wreck national industry. Good fun. Recommended.
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Review by Bob Bloom ★★★½
"The Spider's Web" is based on a pulp magazine character who, in many ways, in similar to The Shadow. Like Lamont Cranston, Richard Wentworth is a very rich, amateur criminalogist whom the police call upon when they are baffled with a case.
In "The Spider's Web" the city is being menaced by an unknown, masked criminal known as The Octopus.
This is one of the most violent serials ever produced, as The Spider usually kills two or three henchmen of The Octopus in each of the serial's 15 chapters. Yet, it seems The Octopus never runs out of minions to serve up to the bullets of The Spider.
This is a fast-paced, action-packed serial with strong cliffhangers and is one… -
Review by Bob Bloom ★★★½
This Columbia serial is probably the most violent ever produced by any studio. It seems like The Spider guns down about a hundred or more henchmen of the mysterious Octopus.
The performance by Warren Hull as Richard Wentworth, alias The Spider, is dashing, and the mystery villain angle is used to good advantage.
This is one of Columbia's best serials and is action-packed from the first to the last chapter.
