Search - The Galloping Ghost - 12 chapter serial on DVD

Clumsy

Roger Long | Port Clinton, OH USA | 09/10/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This was nothing more than a vehicle for a football superstar. Hollywood did the same for a few other sports figures, such as, Babe Ruth, with much the same results. Red Grange was a great halfback at the University of Illinois--he once scored four touchdowns against favored Michigan in 12 minutes. But he couldn't act a lick. It's downright shameful what the director allowed to happen. But if it's any consolation, none of the others in this serial could act any better. This is just a clumsy piece of work.

The story is thin, simplistic (not simple, simplistic). Red Grange is the star player for a fictional college. When his friend and teammate takes a bribe to fix a game, Red goes into action and ends up accused of taking a bribe himself before being expelled from the college. There's lots of fast action, chases, fistfights gallore with no one hurt, wrecked vehicles, daring leaps over embankments, even falling out of an airplane. Eventually, of course, all turns out OK, because Red is not only a great halfback, he has a sterling character. The gamblers are thwarted and integrity, where justified, is maintained.

There are a few good things, such as, marvelous views of Los Angeles streets, scenes long since gone; views of football games from another era; cars, planes, streetcars of the early Great Depression; the snicker of the "cripple" at the end of each episode. I'm not sure why I liked that cruel laugh, but I did."