Merely the Comedic Sidekick? I Don't Think So!

Read/Watch 'em In Order #85

I have, by the way, been reviewing the Nick Carter films in the order they appear on the DVD menu (they are all on a single disc). Phantom Raiders (1940) is the third movie on the disc, but I have just run across a reference online to this one being the second film. The latter two films were both released in 1940. Sure enough, a little extra checking showed that Phantom Raiders was released on June 7 of that year, while Sky Murder hit the theaters on September 27. So I'm afraid I have been out of order in my In Order reviews. Hopefully, civilization will survive this error, though it will be a close thing.

Anyway, this time out Nick Carter is on vacation in Panama, where he reluctantly agrees to work for an insurance company and look into the recent sinkings of several cargo ships--all from the same shipping line.

The movie actually shows us the bad guys right off and lets us in on how they are sinking the ships. Bombs are hidden aboard the ships' radios, then set off via remote control. With the help of several corrupt shipping company executives, the main villain is shipping worthless cargo that was insured for a lot of money.


So the movie isn't a whodunit, but rather a how-will-Nick-catch-them. Nick suspects the main villain right from the start--a crook named Al Taurez (Joseph Schildkraut) with whom Nick had tangled back in the States. But proving this, as well as figuring out how Al is blowing up the ships, will take some doing. Al is also a knife-throwing expert, which makes it particularly dangerous to get on his bad side.






Schildkraut's suave but ruthless turn as the villain is a good one--he really does exude menace. The rest of the supporting cast--as is so typical with the best of the B-movies from that era--is a lot of fun. Nat Pendleton, for instance, plays Gunboat Jacklin, an ex-boxer now working as Al's bodyguard. Pendleton--an ex-wrestler in real life--was never in danger of having to write an Oscar acceptance speech, but his career playing often likable thugs and tough guys in B-movies is an honorable one. Even when he is one of the bad guys, you always kind of like him and think its nice to have him around.

I also particularly like the performance of Cecil Kellaway as a corrupt shipping exec who is having a crisis of conscience over the men who have died on the sunken ships.

Special mention, though, has to go to Donald Meek, who played Nick's sidekick Bartholomew ("Beeswax," as Nick calls him) in all three films. Meek is the comic relief and his slightly manic turn as Bartholomew is funny. But though he started as 90% comic relief & 10% useful in Nick Carter, Detective, he turns out to be quite awesome in the remaining two films.

In Phantom Raiders, he saves Nick at least twice. After one of these occasions, Nick has decided the money he's being paid isn't worth the risk and plans to quit. It's Bartholomew who eggs him into continuing by delivering an "anonymous" threat to Nick's room, thus playing on the detective's pride. Bartholomew also does some clever work in luring Al out of his office so Nick can search it. Heck, he's more co-hero of the film than sidekick. When I finally get around to my career of solving crimes, I'm going to be on the look-out for an assistant just like "Beeswax!"


All three Nick Carter movies are great, but Phantom Raiders is my favorite, both in terms of good story construction and fun characters.


That finished up the Nick Carter films and brings us up-to-date in the current batch of In Order reviews. As of my writing this post (about a month before it posts), I am undecided on what to do next for this series. But I'll think of something before long. Civilization isn't going to collapse on my watch.