Above: Richard Talmadge makes a spectacular leap (the first of many) in this still from the first chapter of PIRATE TREASURE (Universal, 1934).

PIRATE TREASURE

Universal, 12 Chapters, 1934. Starring Richard Talmadge, Lucille Lund, Walter Miller, Pat O’Malley, Ethan Laidlaw, William Desmond.

PIRATE TREASURE is quite possibly the most underrated and maligned of all the underrated and maligned serials. Alan Barbour gives it a one-line mention in his first book, DAYS OF THRILL AND ADVENTURE, but says nothing about its content or quality, while he dismisses it as “dull” and “completely actionless” in his second book CLIFFHANGER. This is the most illogical and downright unfair criticism of this serial that one can think of; whatever else it may be, it is not actionless; in fact, it contains some of the most spectacular stuntwork ever seen in a cliffhanger. Unforgivably, many other “critics” have parroted Barbour’s assessment--one has even stated that only one chapter of PT contains any action at all! Barbour and his successors must have seen another serial called PIRATE TREASURE, because their descriptions don’t fit the cliffhanger I saw.

PIRATE TREASURE is a gloriously simple and uncomplicated adventure, made in the pre-Flash Gordon days when cliffhangers were still utilizing the straightforward plots of the silent serials; soon, audiences’ growing boredom with this type of familiar thriller forced the studios to inject more fantastic material into their chapterplays. Like RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, another classic from the pre-Gordon era, PIRATE TREASURE takes a tried-and-true adventure plot--in this case, a hunt for buried treasure complete with a map, a mutinous crew, a tropical island, dangerous natives, and lots of skullduggery--and delivers it with style and plenty of action. And the action is doubly exciting to watch because we know that stuntman-star Richard Talmadge is handling it all himself.

PT begins as daredevil aviator Dick Moreland (Richard Talmadge) returns from his successful round-the-world flight to collect a prize of 25,000 dollars. Dick confides in his friends at the Aviators’ Club that he plans to use the money to fulfill a long-standing dream of his--he hopes to discover the treasure buried many years ago by his piratical ancestor Sir John Moreland. His friends in the club wish him well, but morally questionable new member Staley Brassett (Walter Miller) starts making his own plans for the treasure. He sends his gang of thugs to steal Dick’s map, and they are successful in making off with it. Dick gives chase, enlisting the help of Dorothy Craig (Lucille Lund), daughter of Aviators’ Club member John Craig (Pat O’Malley). Dick leaps into the villains’ car and recovers the map, but in his struggle with the henchmen, their vehicle sails off the dock into the water. With this little warm-up, the serial’s steady progression of fights, chases, and rescues is under way, as Dick prepares to sail for the island and Brassett does his darnedest to get hold of the map. Later on, when several attempts to purloin the map have failed, Brassett tries a new tack and offers to accompany Dick and the Craigs to the treasure island--making sure he takes along a smuggled cargo of stowaway henchmen and several unscrupulous crewmen. In the US, on ship, and on the jungle island the action continues, as good guys and bad do battle for the priceless PIRATE TREASURE.

Shiver me timbers, but this serial was a lot of fun to watch. Intellectual snobs may claim otherwise, but the things we true fans really want from a good serial are lots of spills, thrills, and chills, with the hero eventually triumphing over the forces of evil. And that’s just what PIRATE TREASURE has in spades. Richard Talmadge is immensely likable as Dick Moreland, his buoyant, boyish energy complementing his incredible acrobatic powers. Talmadge is certainly not the world’s greatest actor, but he’s exuberant, determined, and completely heroic. His Swiss-German accent (Talmadge and his family were a successful European gymnast team before coming to Hollywood) may bother some, but I found it very refreshing to hear a good guy--the hero no less--speaking with a Teutonic inflection, as usually a German accent marks a movie character as “Arch Fiend” from the get-go. Despite his relative lack of height, Talmadge is very impressively muscled, and looks fully capable of performing all his amazing stunts--as indeed he did. It’s hard to pick a highlight among the various acrobatic actionfests in PT, but the rooftop chase at the end of Chapter Two, the later shipboard fight during the mutiny, and the car/motorcycle/train chase and fight sequence that spans Chapters Four and Five are among some of the best. According to leading lady Lucille Lund, Richard’s brothers Otto and Victor doubled the heavies in these scenes, and I’m pretty sure that the two of them also make acting appearances as two very muscular but uncredited sailors in the later chapters.

The beautiful Miss Lund complements Talmadge’s unabashed enthusiasm as the adventure-loving heroine, who is more than willing to leap into the fast-moving goings-on in the first chapter after only the briefest explanation of what’s going on. Unlike many heroines, she never screws things up for the good guys by fainting or goofing up at crucial moments. Stalwart Pat O’Malley also fits right into the swing of things as her father, and truly comes off as the seasoned adventurer he’s supposed to be. It helps, of course, that O’Malley still is relatively youthful and vigorous; just imagine a typically aged “heroine’s father” like Ed LeSaint or Howard Hickman trying to tackle this role.

Walter Miller is sly and slick as the treacherous Staley Brassett, displaying cool diplomacy and matchless effrontery when making the good guys think he’s on their side. Miller hasn’t much to do other than bark orders to his men over the radio for the first half of the serial, but once the expedition sets sail he gets in much more screen time. A little of the treasure-crazed madness he showed in SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND surfaces towards the end of PT; I more than half suspect that Staley Brassett escaped his punishment after this serial’s close, and escaped to Treasure Island under the name of Carter Collins to look for more pieces of eight.

Ethan Laidlaw, generally a “background” henchman in later action outings, shows what a good principal villain he could be as Brassett’s snappish, snarling lieutenant Curt (what an appropriate name!). Curt is never polite to heroes or underlings if he can help it, and he’s scarcely any more respectful to Brassett himself. William Desmond, one of the most popular silent serial heroes, has his best sound-era role as the rugged, salty Captain Carson, the honest and tough old sailor who commands the good guys’ ship. Edmund Cobb, still not permanently typed in villainous mode as of yet, has a small but noticeable role as Bert, one of Desmond’s men, while Al Ferguson and George DeNormand play key members of Brassett’s gang. Behulah Hutton (villainess of the earlier--and long-lost--Universal serial DANGER ISLAND) pops up in the first three chapters as hard-boiled gang moll Marge, whose very presence seems to irritate the equally grumpy Curt. Del Lawrence has a small part as Talmadge’s uncle, and a group of Mexican performers play the “South Seas” natives towards the end, using Spanish as their “native” language. This oddity would bother a serious geographical scholar, but it doesn’t affect us in the slightest.

Ray Taylor directs with typical professionalism, and screenwriters George Plympton, Basil Dickey, Jack Nelson, and Ella O’Neil even give us a novel twist to finish off the 12 chapters of tried-and-true treasure-seeking--one that really serves to further enhance the heroic nature of Talmadge’s character. The cliffhangers are for the most part resolved by the good old solution of “he lived through it” but in this case the solutions seem more plausible given Talmadge’s great resiliency. The resolution of Chapter Ten, however, is one of the most outrageous examples of “living through it” in serial history, despite Talmadge’s acrobatic abilities.

If you’re looking for some tried-and-true excitement and red-blooded action, then, me hearties, ye need look no further than PIRATE TREASURE. The musical score (a version of “Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum”) that opens each chapter gives you a foretaste of its “youthful” energy and charm, and you’re not disappointed in the adventures that follow.