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Make room for Mota, the man from Mars! Mota enlists a scientist and two thugs to lay the groundwork for a full-scale invasion from space. Only the heroes of Fowler Aerial Patrol can save us! Republic's serial adventure ought to carry an "80% Recycled" label -- even the flying disc craft is second-hand, bearing a Japanese Rising Sun flag from a previous wartime serial. Flying Disc Man from Mars Blu-ray Olive Films 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 169 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Walter Reed, Lois Collier, Gregory Gaye (or Gay), James Craven, Harry Lauter, Richard Irving, Sandy Sanders, Michael Carr. Cinematography Walter Strenge Film Editors Cliff Bell, Sam Starr Original Music Stanley Wilson Special Effects Howard and Theodore Lydecker Written by Ronald Davidson Produced by Franklin Adreon Directed by Fred C. Brannon

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Looking at the gloriously redundant Flying Disc Man from Mars,...

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. ca. 1935. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was never as popular as his father, silent film superstar Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in one action-adventure blockbuster after another in the 1920s (The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad) and whose stardom dates back to the mid-1910s, when Fairbanks toplined a series of light, modern-day comedies in which he was cast as the embodiment of the enterprising, 20th century “all-American.” What this particular go-getter got was screen queen Mary Pickford as his wife and United Artists as his studio, which he co-founded with Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charles Chaplin. Now, although Jr. never had the following of Sr., he did enjoy a solid two-decade-plus movie career. In fact, he was one of the few children of major film stars – e.g., Jane Fonda, Liza Minnelli, Angelina Jolie, Michael Douglas, Jamie Lee Curtis – who had successful film careers of their own.

Restored Serials’ Super Restoration Series brings you the Columbia Pictures’ 1940 serial The Green Archer, based on Edgar Wallace’s 1923 novel, fully restored on DVD!

The loose adaptation of the Edgar Wallace story starts out with Michael Bellamy (Kenne Duncan) inheriting Garr Castle only to be falsely accused and imprisoned by his brother, Abel Bellamy (James Craven), who wants Garr Castle for his own in order to run an jewel thieving operation. After a few suspicious events, like when Michael’s wife Elaine (Dorothy Fay) doesn’t return from a trip to the Castle, private detective Spike Holland (Victor Jory) moves into the neighborhood, determined to crack the case. Abel desperately tries to remove the threat of the troublesome detective, only to be thwarted by mysterious appearances of the legendary Green Archer. The forces of good and evil struggle against each other in battles of wits and brawn and the serial...