This is the original 1940 movie serial of the Green Hornet. Britt Reid is a wealthy young publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper by day, but at night he becomes the crime fighting hero Green Hornet, assited by his trusty driver Kato
I'm 81 and I still get a kick out of this no matter how many times I have seen it. This was released the same month and year I was born. Amazing. I'm so happy to see this and many other serials from my youth. Brings back many, many memories. Just thanks are all I can offer.
Ben, I too enjoy the old TV shows I watched as a young child during the 50's, 60's as well. Not to mention the wonderful movies as well. Enjoy the nostalgia. It sure brings back fond memories we will never get back.
aNYONE CAN FIND THESE OLD MOTH-EATEN FILMS ,FELLOWS!!!! HE'S NOT doing you a big favor!!they are free on the net if yoou gota a good search engine!!or a big library!!!
I’m a bit older than the movie. These things bring back memories. A serial was part of the Saturday morning movies, you might even our culture. We would never miss an episode and Monday morning at school that’s all we would talk about; how did whoever escaped and predicted what would happen. Keep them coming.
The Green Hornet Was a Modern Version of the "Lone Ranger" Britt Reid is a Decedent of John Reid Who Was the "Lone Ranger" Who Was Britt's Great Uncle, The Green Hornet is Older Than "Batman" Appearing on the Radio in 1936 Created by Fran Striker and George W Trendle Who Also Created the "Lone Ranger" and Sargent Preston of the Yukon for WKYTZ Radio in Detroit. A Young "Dan Rather" was One of the Announcers.
I had been looking around for a long time, but I couldn't find it, so I gave up. I never dreamed that it had been uploaded to RU-vid. Since it was made more than 30 years before I was born, I cannot now know the detailed social conditions and the realistic atmosphere of the world at that time, but I could still feel the high perfection of the video and the wonderful music that never fades away. Thank you very much.
Awe, What a Fantastic Treat! I am at just over 50 and how I wish special serials like this could make their way back onto theater screens and tv screens. I am grateful for this though!! Thanks for this.
Gordon - I'm 64 ., I never saw anything like this in a theater., ( maybe on "oldies" TV though, but I don't recall it)., I hope the teens out there like this far more than anything more recent., I LOVED old stuff when I was younger.
@@mjonhouston I am slightly older than you but I seem to remember that as a kid the movie theatres had Superman as a serial before movies on saturday afternoons. When one of the retro tv networks started running the 60s version of The Green Hornet a few years ago I dragged myself out of bed at 6 am (coincidentally, still on a saturday morning) to watch it. A lot of interesting differences between this version and the 60s version. For instance, Mike Axford was a reporter and Kato didn't invent anything. Did get a laugh out of the claim that the car used by The Green Hornet was capable of 200 mph.
@@howardkerr8174 I am like you. (mid--cough-60's plus-cough) AND I too remember the movie shorts, before the previews & film started. I would save up my allowance for 2 weeks and go to the theater. So for 50¢, my friends and I could watch two mini-series, previews and the film (Saturday Matinees only)...Plus get a large popcorn and large drink. 3+hrs away from our parents...Or was it our parents wanted us out of the house for 3hrs?...LOL (Mom would sometimes give me the money, when I was short....Smart mom) As I became a mother myself...I understood why she did what she did...hehe
I am a brazilian retired English teacher....and I love the English spoken in these wonderful movies...so clear to understand e the best of it is that I dont lose my skill...is one of the best ways to practice my English and at the same time have fun!!!
I'm 66 and when I was a young kid in the 50s I used to watch reruns of many of these serials and Sci-fi shows on TV on Saturday mornings, a great treat.
Not having access to a thing 24/7 is a good thing, because it brings people together at the same time and forms communities. I still remember the time when "TV took a break midday" ... and when they introduced private TV channels here in Germany they filled it with talk-shows which had nonsensical guests and stupid stories ... which slowly turns the brains of the viewers into mushy and dead matter.
I was born in 1972 so I never got to see these in a cinema but when I was seven or eight years old the local cable station started running serial chapters on Saturday mornings as part of their programming. I remember thinking this was so different from the cartoon fare - this was grownup tv for kids. The Crimson Ghost was my absolute favourite.
Over 80 years ago. Shortly before America lost her innocence. My father rest his soul, would tell me about how as kids, he and his two sisters my aunts, would listen to the Green Hornet and The Shadow radio shows at night in the dark with the only light coming from the dial on an old cathedral style radio! 😲👍
My dad did too. I also watched this television series. Kato,(Bruce Lee), made me get involved in Martial Arts. Bruce Lee came too Norfolk Virginia to help Chuck Norris with his first Karate Studio. I was Chuck Norris' first student. Bruce Lee taught me how to use my skills in fighting along with Chuck Norris. I was 8 years old.
WWII was something else for America. These young people today would not know how to handle that war. My dad was in the Coast Guard and he seen action on the Atlantic Coast. German Uboats.
Fantastic!!! I remember my Dad telling me..how they use to sit around the radio..and listen to this..and the shadow...i remember watching the newer version years ago Thanks!!
@@williebowen1043 In the GH radio show of the 40s, Mike Axford is a former cop who works for the Sentinel as an investigative reporter, and considers himself as Britt Reid's bodyguard.
Great Serial....Great Acting For a Low Budgeted 1940 Serial!! I enjoyed the serial ,more than the 1960's TV series!!! Thanks for posting!!! June 30,2020.
I’ve seen a number of the old serials on youtube over the years. Green hornet has always been one of my favourites. Up there with the Batman, Superman, Captain Marvel serials. This copy is rather good quality. Thanks.
@@freedapeeple4049 The absurdities are only there because the writers are lazy/stupid ... and are only capable of making an episode more thrilling by increasing the special effects budget and the threat level, which quickly puts them into RIDICULOUS territory. This resulted in the "bloodiest movie ever" scene from Hot Shots ... a criticism of action movie sequels of the 80s.
@@Muck006 No, they are there because these things were written for kids who either wouldn't notice them, or wouldn't care. I find it sadly laughable that grown adults are going crazy over children's entertainment.
But as the married widow drowned, the propane tank sang to the porpoise. When the helicopter proposed lunch, the propeller saw the midnight daylight yesterday at you. Laughingly, the robin gasped, while moonbeams ate marshmallows inside the deer. Aware of pencils, aroma heard floor tiles selling whales. Branded as lost is the umbrella, as it elopes at tires.
The actors must have had the time of their lives. What fun. Too much humor. I cry every time I dial up the Green Hornet. The "Buzz Mobile"/"Hornet Mobile" brings paroxysms of laughter. Thanks again. Good on ya mate.
Actors like serials because it meant longer employment than on regular (usually b-movies) movies. After they finished one serial or movie, they went looking for their next job.
Gordon Jones Gave A great performance as the Green Hornet. For a 1940 Serial its Actors were really Outstanding!!!Thanks for sharing....It was very enjoyable to watch(Again and Again)!!!! April 1 , 2020.
Thank you 👍First time I watched this was a long time ago on BBC2 📺 This was Great and thanks too someone on the comments i got too see chapter 10 Yay! 👍😎
Much enjoyed this serial, thanks for the HD upload! Especially liked the 1937 Lincoln-Zephyr in her role as the "Black Beauty", and a beauty she was! Loved the way she leaned hard out of (not into) turns at "200 miles an hour" and Kato never once turning the steering wheel even though the car would make the wildest S-turns ever! I also remember the 1966 Chrysler Imperial used in the 1960's GH series. It too, was a beauty, but not quite in the same league as the 'Zephyr, IMHO. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
Nobody quite had the class of the Universal serials, except maybe a close match over at Republic Pictures. This one is certainly up there with 'Radar Men from the Moon'. Thanks for the posting - great fun.
Great serial from when my dad was a kid. Had to watch for Keye Luke. Always liked him as he was a local LA guy who got into movies and had a long career. I believe lots of his relatives live in the San Fernando Valley area.
The multiple real chases with old cars (and trucks) that are not sped up are truly first class for the time. And there are multipole real good ones. Theres even a Rockford in it. The S turn at 228 05 is a beautiful example of pushing a 1938 Coupe to its limit without flipping it. Sliding threw turns, real tire squealing and so many real car / truck sequences , this must be one of the first films to realize that the public loves car chases so lets make them as realistic as possible! Thanks for posting a real treasure trove.!!
I totally agree was a dependent in Bad Kreuznach 58-60 Saturdays they would show cartoons and only one episode of a seral Rocket man .... Buck Rodgers , GH etc then a movie Roy Rodgers, Abbott and Castello. tere was no AFN TV Just raideo where we would listen to Ligts out ... the Shadow .... You were there, It was differant growing up as an Army dependent
@@thomas5130 You COULD HAVE been "in" an episode of the Green Hornet ... the missing "election episode" ... because something like that actually happened around WWII. Look up "the Battle of Athens" ... which is an important historic lesson to remember.
There's an amazing connection between Keye Luke who played "Kato" and Bruce Lee who later played "Kato" in the 60's. Luke played "Master Poe" In the "Kung Fu series which was a show designed for Bruce Lee, but was rejected. Later Luke would be used in the movie "Enter the Dragon" as a voice over for the evil "Han".
Hector Rivas......Very interesting, except that the Kung Fu TV series was NOT 'designed for' Bruce Lee - Lee actually created the concept himself [but named it 'The Warrier']. He pitched the idea to both Warner Bros and Paramount, but neither seemed interested. However, Lee's widow - Linda Lee Cadwell - strongly asserts that Warner Bros later stole the idea when they launched their TV series in 1972 with David Carradine made-up as a ShaoLin monk . Lee-Cadwell's assertion is almost certainly true. [Lee was interviewed on the Pierre Berton show in 1971 and spoke of his concept TV series - about a Chinese martial artist travelling across America - and that he would play the main part himself]. It seems highly unlikely therefore that Warner Bros would have come up with virtually the exact same idea - and especially casting a relatively unknown Chinese as the leading actor.
@@seattleemeraldcity9306 ....??? Can you READ???? I didn't say that David Carradine was Chinese - I said that he was 'made-up' to look like a Shaolin Monk! Please complete your primary level English classes ok!!
Episode Timestamps 1 - 0:00:00 - The Tunnel of Terror 2 - 0:21:12 - Thundering Terror 3 - 0:40:20 - Flying Coffins 4 - 1:00:26 - Pillar of Flame 5 - 1:19:37 - The Time Bomb 6 - 1:38:44 - Highways of Peril 7 - 1:59:11 - Bridge of Disaster 8 - 2:19:17 - Dead or Alive 9 - 2:36:19 - The Hornet Trapped 10 - missing - Bullets and Ballots 11 - 2:55:04 - Disaster Rides the Rails 12 - 3:12:55 - Panic in the Zoo 13 - 3:32:39 - Doom of the Underworld There also complete playlist with separated series but a little worse quality ru-vid.com/group/PLZSq428SGymQshZZ_P5QaNfEV1pF83dRl
@@Muck006 The Battle of Athens, Missouri took place in 1861. The Battle of Athens, Tennessee took place in 1946. The episode "Bullets and Ballots" was released in 1940. [Available on other RU-vid channels.] > Our hero, Britt Reid, battling the crime ring in a mayoralty election, secures evidence that ballot boxes have been "stuffed." The ring candidate is elected and The Sentinel demands a court order for a recount. Monroe hurries his henchmen to seize and destroy the ballots, but The Green Hornet gets possession of the ballots and starts with them in an armored car to a safe hiding place, pending the courts' order. Monroe learns of the route taken by the armored car, and sets a trap for our hero on a dangerous mountain curve. Will the Green Hornet be able to survive the deadly trap? Will he get the ballots to the courts in time?
This was a Universal studios serial; I guess they had more $$$ to toss around than Republic, the studio that made almost all of the other serials I've ever seen on TV, and was known as a 'poverty row' studio compared to the biggies.
Wow. This is good. I can see why the movie house serials were so popular. I wonder if the Green Hornet's flash light and headlights have green lenses. That would be too cool.
amazing that gordon jones played a hero. he played mike the cop on a lot of abbott and costello tv shows, and a goofy cop in 'arsenic and old lace', and a comedy guy on a lot of variety shows in the early fifties. good old gordon jones!
The buzzin' hornet sound cracks me up. It would be fun to mount a really loud speaker on my truck and then drive down the road with the hornet sound blaring. Thanks again for posting
@@icuryy5826, Glad you like it. There are lots of very smart and creative people and it would not surprise me if someone has done the "Buzzin' Hornetmobile" or soon will.
My eldest son Brian Smith of Marion,Iowa loved his Comic book Marvel characters and The Green Hornet. He collected new comic books a d had each graded and never touched again.
@Leonardo's Truth, Yeah, Key Luke was no Bruce Lee. One thing I like about the older movies is that they were not so perfect, they were more honest, they didn't have to be afraid of political correctness. I like cigars and boy howdy did those old timers puff up a storm. Ah, the good ol' days.
KEYE LUKE (Kato) went on to become Number One Son to the last TWO Charlie Chans of that series' classic era; indeed, Chan himself in a 1972 animated series(Charlie Chan and The Chan Clan); a prodigiously talented visual artist, his portraits had gotten him his first ins in Hollywood and the chance to act came later. He was to become THE most prestigious and honored Asian- American actors of the middle third of the 20th Century, and was beloved among practitioners of a number of the creative and performing arts.
Seth Tyrssen It made no sense that a native in Singapore would attack him because he was Korean. Japanese, though, most definitely. Thanks for the information on Kato's rewriting.
One of the great things about movie serials are the outrageous cheats they use to save the hero from his apparent doom in the previous episode: The Hornet falls out a window but he's okay when Kato finds him because the pavement broke his fall(!); the trains are about to collide - until one of them switches tracks at the last second!; The Hornet and a baddie are fighting in a train caboose when the train derails (I mean, we SAW them spinning around in the caboose as it fell)...oh but wait, they actually fell off the train BEFORE it derailed; funny I don't remember seeing that at the end of the previous episode... :-))
This is very interesting. I've had no idea Keye Luke preceded Bruce Lee a good 25 years before the TV Green Hornet series of the 60's. This was indeed the real Green Hornet pilot as well as the theme song. I've had no idea the Al Hirt's trumpet theme song was written long before without the trumpet. I've seen Keye Luke in the Kung Fu series of 70's as master Po, but haven't seen his acting in his younger days. This is absolutely very interesting stuff.
Keye Luke did a lot stuff in the thirties and forties. He was Charlie Chans number 1 son, he played James Lee Wong in the last of the mystery series etc.
@@charliehorse43 Pioneering Asian actors like Keye Luke paved the way for all the other Asian actors including Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee would've had very little chance of breaking into television had it not been for the work of actors like Keye Luke.
You can see him in several of the 42 Charlie Chan movie collection. I not only have them in my movie collection but I have many movie serials in my collection as well.
There was a tv series in the sixties called the Green Hornet which starred Bruce Lee as Kato. Kids would yell hhoooiii like he did on the show when he fought someone.
You bet! I was 6-7 years old when The GH was on TV and I wanted to learn karate, to be invincible like Kato. (And this reminds me of the commercials for "Hai Karate" cologne for men.)
Packed into the cast are Al Hodge, the Green Hornet’s voice on Radio and in this movie, and later known in the role of Captain Video, Alan Ladd (Gilpin - Student Pilot [Ch. 3 and Ch. 4], and Ann Doran, who early on under various names and later under her own, appeared in over 500 motion pictures and 1000 television shows, often in small and uncredited roles, and Anne Gwynne.
I didn't realise this existed from 1939! I am so used to the 60s version. That Lincoln Zephyr (Green Hornet's Black Beauty car) is old school cool. Plus, I've always thought the actor Keye Luke (Kato) was such a dude so seeing him in this was a pleasant surprise. Thanks for posting this serial.
Look up the "Rumpler Tropfenwagen", which was produced 1921-24 ... and held the record for best air-drag coefficient for a production car until the 1970s or so. Sadly only two of them are left AND sadly it was a bit impractical due to not having a boot for luggage. Those problems could be improved upon nowadays though.
Okay, so two months after I discovered this and commented below, I finally put a Saturday afternoon aside--an appropriate time, that :) --to finish Serial No. 1! I have loved Saturday afternoon movie serials--the original live-action superhero movies!--ever since I discovered them as a '70s kid, when WNET, New York's public television station used to air "Flash Gordon" and PBS nationally had a show called "Matinee at the Bijou," which did the whole 1930s matinee lineup. I owned "The Green Hornet Strikes Again" on VHS in the 1990s and I'd like to thank you *again* for letting me see the first one. (I caught the "Robin Hood" reference, since the Lone Ranger, the real inspiration for the Hornet and Britt's ancestor, was licensed by Republic.) By the way, I notice you are missing Chapter 10, titled "Bullets and Ballots:" anyone who wants to find out what happened to Britt Reid should check for the chapter @ Old Serials Collection here on RU-vid.
Yes and how did his body guard make it outta the police academy being such a lousy shot? Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, but Mike Oxford couldn't hit water if he fell outta a boat! Give the man a sawed off double barreled 12 gauge.
with today.s tech enhancement of these b&w classic episodes of the 1940 of the green hornet should finally be in color for a new viewing audience and handle with care.
This is a good introduction to the Green Hornet character. As a young girl, I only knew of the 1966/67 series with Van Williams and Bruce Lee, but this film gives more of the background of Britt Reid, Kato, and the Black Beauty. I love that buzzing sound the car makes as it speeds along the road to the theme music. 29:00 - It's interesting how back in 1940 nobody locked their front doors. 30:54 - The closed captioning misspells "Green Hornet" as "green wallet". 😆 45:49 - I love this woman's dress. 52:49 - The closed captioning says "Green Harlem" instead of "Green Hornet (really, something must be done about these glitches). And Keye Luke had more dialogue in this serial than Bruce Lee had in the entire 1966/67 series (such unfairness). 🙁 I'm enjoying this film, though, as I've never seen it before. 😀
A great treat indeed..I used to go every Saturday matinee(Manhattan..Eagle theater to watch every other cliffhanger..This was one of my favorites(Gordon Jones was an inferior choice for the role..He was a so-so Actor...I'd wish you come up with other cliffs(Tiger Woman, Brenda Starr, Reporter..Captain Marvel, etc, etc..They were all thrilling, escapist entertainment..I love them all..Any possibly "Cobra Woman"(A Maria Monte's cult movie ever be showing( not in bits/pieces)but the full movie!..Most gracefully, GeorgeC
The Green Hornet's car does 300 miles on a full tank of fuel, but has to stop every 5 minutes for the trumpet player in the trunk to get his breath back...
Yes ... and since when did Hollywood writers and directors care about accuracy? With all the knowledge available on the internet they still dont care to these days either. There is a 1940 version of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice", where they had to include a CARRIAGE RACE in it ...
@@thegreenbird795 Well, consider the young audiences for these films. Heroes didn't actually kill people, even the worst bad guys. They merely incapacitated them for awhile. Of course, some of the radio serials could get pretty grim. The Shadow, for example, went up against his share of deranged, murdering lunatics. But the good guys didn't kill.
Used to wear green coveralls and skull cap riding my motorcycle in cold weather. The kids around town used to swarm around checking my bike out. They called me "the green hornet."
The "Whippet Bus Lines" might be a substitute for Greyhound Bus Line that began in Hibbing, Minn. in 1914 and its name formalized in 1929. Whippets are diminutive versions of the Greyhound. Whippet was or is the name of bus line started in England in 1919.
Kato should change is name to TONTO (Spanish for STUPID ) he called the Green Hornet , Mr Britt several times when he was dressed as the Hornet ...saying that it was a brilliant film thanks for uploading it for us.
I just wanted to straighten out the info on this full length serial movie as it was actually released in 1939 according to the original copyright at the beginning of the movie serial which was originally divided into chapters.I’m sure my father probably went to see it in the movie theater when he was a kid and I just love watching the original chapters in full length movies.Just like the original chapters of Flash Gordon,Buck Rogers and also Batman with second Lois Lane acting in it from the original Superman TV show.Noel Neil played Lois Lane from the second season on who also played Lois Lane in the original Superman serials.
Wow, Keye Luke as Kato! So before my time, but Keye Luke's connection to Bruce Lee (TV's Kato) continued indirectly to "Enter The Dragon". Shih Kien's (Han) English was so bad, Keye Luke "substituted" and dubbed his voice for Han in the movie.
Oh my, what a hoot. I'm goin' to die laughing. This is one great serial. I don't know how the actors and actresses kept from laughing long enough to put on their actor masks. Thanks again.
As a car buff, my biggest laugh comes from the Green Hornet's car that can reach speeds of 200 mph. I have driven cars from the late 40s-early 50s and wouldn't dare try 100 mph on crummy bias belted tires, non-powered steering and brakes, and brakes that were inadequate at 80 mph. Heck, I doubt the 60s version of The Black Beauty could do much more than 125 mph.
Darkwing Duck adopted the gas gun as his own weapon. Whenever he shouted "suck gas, evildoer," certain people would mishear him and think he said - I better leave it at that, Disney might sue me!
@@howardkerr8174 Not really ... because the Black Beauty has an enclosed cabin. With an open top you MIGHT have been correct, but that also depends upon the design of the car.
Sept. 21, 2018---Thanks for the serials. Though 65, never saw any of these at the base theaters way back when. I do remember seeing some serials, though with time, don't remember them. But it was a lot fun back then....ten cents each for the movie, then Mom would give us 3 boys thirty cents which was enough to buy a bag of popcorn and some soda pop for the 3 of us to munch on and slurp up. All of this was before there was an enforced movie standard I believe. The ONE movie I REALLY wanted to see was where some Army guys are shooting bazooka's at some mummy with flames from the bazooka rounds shooting from the bazooka tube and thru the mummy. Mom said no...it would give me nightmares.
Love these , back in the 1960s my hometown theater still showed these every Saturday, And we would try to figure out what would happen next Saturday 😊 ! Batman was so cool a 1930's car for the bat mobile 😊 There were even some John Wayne Serials !!😊 Back in the day when man were man And a Woman was a lady They new how to act and do their own stunts Special effects were done in real life ,not on a computer. A person had to really use their brain to come up with and provide whatever was needed for the stunts.Not just push a button and a green screen .
