In the Nick of Time: Motion Picture Sound Serials

by William C. Cline

By the famous Big Reel columnist: the story of serials from Universal's 1930 The Indians Are Coming to Columbia's 1956 Blazing the Overland Trail. Fifteen fascinating chapters explain the importance of "cliffhangers" to the industry as audience builders and "product leaders." The serials provided training for actors and served as a "technical university" for people who later made the television industry work.

An appendix lists in order of release all of the sound serials from 1930 through 1956, showing titles, releasing companies, chapter titles, directors, and several cast members. Superb photographs.

Genres: Film

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for cliffhanger serial fans

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is chock full of information, which is good, but I can't imagine a duller way of presenting it. I keep it as a reference, I may write about serials someday, but this book could have been so much better.