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The Phantom Empire is a 1935 American Western serial film directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross. This 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial combined the western, musical, and science fiction genres. The first episode is 30 minutes, the rest about 20 minutes. The serial film is about a singing cowboy who stumbles upon an ancient subterranean civilization living beneath his own ranch that becomes corrupted by unscrupulous greedy speculators from the surface. In 1940, a 70-minute feature film edited from the serial was released under the titles Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces. This was Gene Autry's first starring role, playing himself as a singing cowboy.
Original Release
02/23/1935
US Release
02/23/1935
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Gene Autry | Gene Autry |
Frankie Darro | Frankie Baxter |
Betsy King Ross | Betsy Baxter |
Dorothy Christy | Queen Tika |
Wheeler Oakman | Lord Argo |
Charles K. French | Mal |
Warner Richmond | Rab |
J. Frank Glendon | Prof. Beetson (as Frank Glendon) / Professor Beetson |
Smiley Burnette | Oscar (as Lester 'Smiley' Burnett) / Oscar |
Peter Potter | Pete (as William Moore) / Pete |
Directors
Writers
Wallace MacDonald, Gerald Geraghty, Hy Freedman, Maurice Geraghty
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Gene Autry | Gene Autry |
Frankie Darro | Frankie Baxter |
Betsy King Ross | Betsy Baxter |
Dorothy Christy | Queen Tika |
Wheeler Oakman | Lord Argo |
Charles K. French | Mal |
Warner Richmond | Rab |
J. Frank Glendon | Prof. Beetson (as Frank Glendon) / Professor Beetson |
Smiley Burnette | Oscar (as Lester 'Smiley' Burnett) / Oscar |
Peter Potter | Pete (as William Moore) / Pete |
Edward Peil Sr. | Cooper (as Edward Piel Sr.) / Doctor Cooper |
Jack Carlyle | Saunders |
Chuck Baldra | Deputy |
The Beverly Hillbillies | Radio Ranch Band |
Harry Blaeholder | Fiddle Player - Radio Ranch Band |
Stanley Blystone | Gaspar - Television Operator |
Don Brodie | Radio Technician |
Bob Burns | Muranian Citizen |
Fred Burns | Muranian Priest |
Bob Card | Deputy [Ch. 3] |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Nat Levine | Producer |