Officer 444 [Serial]

Plot

The popular silent screen action team of Ben Wilson and Neva Gerber star in this rare surviving serial, released in 10 chapters by Goodwill Pictures in 1926. Officer "444" (Wilson) and his comrade-in-arms, Officer Casey (Jack Mower), go up against The Frog, an apparently disfigured master criminal out to steal the formula for Haverlyite, a secret and deadly gas invented by James J. Haverly (Arthur Bickel). The latter is killed along the way and his young heir (Phil Ford) disappears with the formula. Aided by The Vulture (Ruth Royce), The Frog will leave no stone unturned to get his hands on the secret ingredients but he is at all times opposed by Officer "444" and his legendary boss, Berkeley Police Chief August Vollmer, who use the latest in police detection to track him down. There are sundry other interested parties lurking about, including the obviously disguised figure of "Professor Kalium," who heads The Amalgamated Society of Scientists; the mysterious and sinister Dr. Blakley (Al Ferguson; Dago Frank (Frank Baker), another associate of The Frog; and Snoopy (Harry McDonald), a newspaperman who, a title proclaims, "didn't know what the word 'news' meant as he left school before they came to the 'Ns'." Officer 444 was the last of nine serials to star Ben Wilson and Neva Gerber, the latter a Chicago socialite. A tenth chapterplay, the talkie The Voice From the Sky (1930), has been rumored to exist but may actually never have been made. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Review

Directed by Francis Ford, the older brother of John Ford, and produced by its star, Ben Wilson, Officer 444 is a great deal better than its tattered reputation. Although seemingly made up as the filmmakers went along, this action serial has everything a silent melodrama should have: a dashing hero, a beautiful and intrepid heroine, a bumbling sidekick, a femme fatale and a mystery master villain. The latter, complete with hideous glass eye and hunchback, is in the fine tradition of Lon Chaney and the actor behind the disguise -- whose identity shall remain a secret -- actually manages to give this legendary star a run for his money. And if all that weren't enough -- and it certainly ought to be! -- Officer 444 also features a Keystone Kop-like police force and a guest appearance by a true legend of American crime detecting, August Vollmer, the real-life Berkeley, California, Chief of Police from 1909-1932. Granted, Mr. Vollmer's scenes appear to have been filmed in one brief session but his presence added to the serial's topicality in 1926. The action is plentiful -- and as absurd as one has come to expect from such fare -- and if the fisticuffs aren't quite up to par with more polished later donnybrooks, well, they certainly are plentiful. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Previous:	Officer 13 (1933 Film), Office of the Dead (2009 Film)
Next:	Officer 444: Chapter 01 - The Flying Squadron (1926 Film), Officer 444: Chapter 02 - Human Rats (1926 Film)