Welcome to the CLIFFHANGER SERIAL DEPARTMENT at inthebalcony.com. Around here, it's Excitus Interruptus: Just when it's gettin' good, the show's over! But for a couple of pulse-pounding reels, return with us to those thrilling CLIFFHANGER SERIALS of yesteryear, when men were men and women were tied to railroad tracks!

THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN on DVDs from both VCI ENTERTAINMENT and RESTORED SERIALS. CLICK HERE for a FRAME COMPARISON of the TWO EDITIONS. G'head, it don't cost nothin'.

Our friends at Hermitage Hill Media have done it again, with a very nice print of a hard-to-find cliffhanger serial. This time, it's the 1932 Universal "rip roaring" chapterplay HEROES OF THE WEST starring William Desmond, Noah Beery, Jr. and Onslow "House of Dracula" Stevens. 12 action-packed episodes of competing railroad companies battling each other and "hostile Indians" to make the great plains safe for steady, reliable steam-driven transportation.

Like many Universal western serials, there's ample stock footage going way back to the silent picture days, but it's well integrated and the chapters we saw fit pretty much into anybody definition of "non-stop action". Good clean fun and a beautiful print, really nice. This one's a keeper, and you can order it for only $14.95 from Hermitage Hill Media simply by clickin' on that HEROES OF THE WEST Classic Serials cover over yonder. Tell 'em IN THE BALCONY sent ya, and they'll throw in, at absolutely no extra charge, a couple of live ponies. Or maybe not. Hard to tell with them Hermitage Hill Media folks.

Week by week, episode by episode, America's Greatest Heroes band together to fight savage Indians, ruthless racketeers, demented polio researchers, and lost Egyptian gangsters. Sort of; we get our serials mixed up sometimes. All we can tell you for sure is that recently we've been looking at a whole bunch of chapterplays available on new DVDs and we're going to give you impression of 'em riiiiiiiiight NOW. Click on that kid readin' the book (and why would a kid READ when he could be at the movies, we'd like to know) for our latests serial reviews!

As long-time Balconeers know, every week we post a running, irreverent commentary on an episode of a vintage movie serial. One episode per week, the way God and Nat Levine intended. Currently screening In The Balcony: Mysterious Island, a 15-chapter Columbia serial released in 1951. C

Or, if you'd rather just see some rare stills from the 1936 serial Darkest Africa, including a gorilla with a spear in his armpit, click HERE!

Our buddy Robert Kelly continues to turn out an impressive body of artwork based on classic movies and pulps of yesteryear, and he's added The Adventures of Captain Marvel and Blackhawk to his new serial imagery.

To view his magnificent work or to order one of his prints (not all of them are available due to copyrights, but ask him, he'll tell ya what ya can't and can't get), visit his website at www.namtab.com. Tell 'im In The Balcony sent you, which'll net you absolutely nothing, but makes us feel all warm and fluffy inside.

Our pals at Heritage Hill Media have released another classic cliffhanger on DVD, a three-disc set with all 13 "cyclonic, hair-raising" chapters of the 1938 serial Red Barry starring Buster "Flash Gordon" Crabbe, looking just as Flash would look if he had red hair and wore a fedora. This is a pretty good print (better than the Australian one we've previously seen) of a pretty good serial (although you'd think after the 10th time, the bad guys would figure out that dumping Olympic swimming champion Buster Crabbe in the water wasn't netting them anything). Frank Lackteen, who was Lebanese and therefore pressed into frequent serial duty as an African, Asian, American Indian, etc., is the villain of this pre-war favorite.

The DVD includes a pretty nice photo gallery, cast listing, and a few panels of the original Red Barry comic strip. You can order it directly from hermitagehillmedia.com ($12.95) and if you tell them you heard about it from In The Balcony, they'll send you a nice, crisp $50 bill. No, no, no, just kidding. Sheesh.

VCI Entertainment continues to open the vintage vault containing the popular DICK TRACY serials and features with Ralph Byrd as Chester Gould's immortal pointy-jawed detective. Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. is out now, joining the previously-released Dick Tracy, Dick Tracy's G-Men and Dick Tracy Returns, plus some other recent serial releases. And all you've got to do, see, is click that picture of Dick Tracy's G-Men over there. If it were any easier, we'd come to your HOUSE and click it FOR YOU, and you'd have to clean up and get dressed and offer us a nice glass of iced tea, and who wants to inconvenience you that much? Not us.

Now open... the In The Balcony SERIAL GALLERY. Click that ad over there for GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTHWEST to go visit some comic book heroes on the serial screen, including SUPERMAN, BATMAN, BLACKHAWK, and a guy who wasn't in the comics but flew quite nicely anyway. Plus: some classic movie DOUBLE-FEATURES!

QUEEN TIKA commands your presence in MURANIA to read our review of the brilliantly restored Special Edition of the 1935 classic THE PHANTOM EMPIRE starring the one and only GENE AUTRY. Click on her Royal Tikiness to be magically transported thousands of feet below the Radio Ranch!

After visiting us here, check out our fun-filled Balcony Message Board! Stay tuned -- the best is yet to come!

In The Balcony: the recent DVD of THE SCARLET HORSEMAN starring Peter Cookson and Victoria Horne. Toot your magic kazoos, serial fans! Click the DVD cover at left for our review!