Montana Smith
Active member
Attila the Professor said:I guess the one preconception I must admit to is that the serials contain a lot of relatively mindless action sequences, which is the sort of thing that bores me unless there's some point of interest - generally character-based - on which to hang my hat.
That's the way I feel about modern movies, and why I seem out of kilter with some views here on what an Indiana Jones movie should consist of. Character development and relationships can be just as gripping, if not moreso, as scenes of action.
Produced mainly for children, the characters in the 30s and 40s serials rarely go beyond the melodramatic, so what I'm looking for is period detail, atmosphere, location, stuntwork when obviously done for real, and the possible original inspirations for Indy (Indiana Jones being a refined version of the serial served up for a more discerning family audience).
The poorer entries rely too heavily on time-consuming repetition of scenes (for economy), and frequent fist-fights (to keep the youthful audience engaged). The better ones move the story forward through different locations, giving a greater sense of the contemporary period. In that regard the urban based serials may be more appealing than a lot of the jungle based ones.