Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5412 in VHS
• Released on: 1995-05-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 2
• Running time: 211 minutes

Customer Reviews

Consistent excitement!
"Daredevils of the Red Circle" is exciting from start to finish. The action and general entertainment never flag. People often mention the cliffhanger at the end of chapter one, when Gene is desperately trying to outrace the surging water, but there are many other moments in the movie which are equally good: try, for instance, the ending where Gene is chasing some crook up a very tall ladder at the side of a factory building, and the crook, having reached the top, pushes the ladder away from the wall. The ladder, with Gene on it, swings out into space, and your heart (and stomach) go with it! But it's not just the action: one of the main reasons this serial is so entertaining is that the three "daredevils", Gene, Tiny and Burt (Charles Quigley, Herman Brix and David Sharpe) are so incredibly nice and likable. You really care what happens to them. I just can't understand why Republic didn't make a sequel to this (I wish they had done!). All in all, five-star entertainment!

"Acrobatic Hi Jinks" Stuntman David Sharpe at his best!
Daredevils of the Red Circle is an early example of the greatness of directors William Witney and John English who co-directed 17 serials from "Zorro Rides Again" in 1937 to "Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc." in 1941. Three acrobats at a carnival barely escape a fire set by a gang of criminals led by an escaped convict who goes by the name of 39013, his prison uniform number. During the fire Sammy, young brother to Gene, one of the acrobats is killed. Gene and his partners Tiny and Burt decide to find the men who set the fire. They are hired by Dixon, a detective who works for Horace Granville, a millionaire philantropist. Unbeknown to all, Granville has been kidnapped and is held captive in the cellar of the mansion. 39013 has made a mask of Granville's face which he uses to impersonate Granville. Aiding the 3 acrobats is a mysterious stranger who leaves notes on cards emblazoned with a Red Circle. The highlight of the serial is the Chapter I ending. Gene is inspecting a newly built tunnel when the walls begin to leak caused by drilling by 39013's men. Gene is seen riding his motorcycle through the tunnel as water comes gushing behind him. A really great action serial. Just watching the acrobats of stuntman David Sharpe (Burt) is worth the price of the video.

The Best of the Best
1939 Daredevils of the Red Circle, Republic, 12 Chapters
The first chapter of Daredevils of the Red Circle features explosive acts of sabotage; physical acts of sideshow derring-do; a pier carnival fire that kills the main hero's kid brother; a villain 39-0-13 played by Charles [Ming the Merciless] Middleton when he is not masquerading as the scientist he has locked in the basement; the scientist's niece played by Carol Landis who unknowingly joins a motorcade inaugurating an underwater tunnel to the Channel Islands just as the minions of 39-0-13 shatter its ceiling; and a motorcycle race against the tunnel-filling onrush of water to warn the motorcade.

Unlike lesser serials, especially those not made at Republic, all but one of the following 11 chapters has a logical solution for the survival of our heroes hinted at in the surely lethal dilemmas they face. Charles Quigley is our main hero. He is backed up by Dave Sharpe [one of Republic's best stuntmen] and Herman Brix [who was the choice of Edgar Rice Burroughs to play his character Tarzan]. High falls from oil refineries, fixing power lines as the bad guys hijack the power station, trapped under water the surface of which is aflame with burning chemicals, trapped by a collapsing derrick in an exploding oil field, and locked in a secret chamber filling with poison gas are just some of the dilemmas faced by the heroic Daredevils.

This is one of the best of the Republic serials. Get it on VHS since it is not available on DVD as yet [I cannot understand why not] and see what kept your grandparents speculating while awaiting the next chapter the following week when they were young. Watch Daredevils of the Red Circle and see the sort of thing Spielberg and Lucas were recapturing with the Indiana Jones movies. This was pre-digital so actual people are physically performing these finely-choreographed,set-destroying stunts. The miniatures and special effects by the Lydecker brothers were state-of-the-art for the era.