Cliffhanger Serials on DVD
Pulse Pounding... Thrills, Spills and Chills...
Thrilling, Thundering and Throbbing...
Breathless, Breakneck Adventure!
These were the terms and tag lines used to announce the weekly serial episode to an anxious crowd of fans each Saturday afternoon. These 20 minute chapter plays, lasting 12 to 15 episodes, were intended to warm up the audience for the big budget, feature movie but have long outlived many of the features in terms of popularity. Each week the hero would find himself at the closing moments in a life or death cliff hanger struggle, which of course would not be resolved until next week’s episode.
Featured Cliffhanger Serials
- Adventures of Smilin' Jack: Volume 1 by Keye Luke, Turhan Bey and Sidney Toler
- Adventures of Smilin' Jack: Volume 2 by Keye Luke, Turhan Bey and Sidney Toler
- Burn-em Up Barnes Volume 1 (Chapters 1-6) by Frankie Darro
- Burn-em Up Barnes Volume 2 (Chapters 7-12) by Frankie Darro
- Dick Tracy Detective by Dick Tracy
- Don Winslow of the Navy Chapters 1 - 6 by Don Terry
- Fighting Marines by Adrian Morris and Grant Withers
- Fighting with Kit Carson by Johnny Mac Brown
- Gang Busters Chapters 1 - 6 by Gang Busters
- Gang Busters Chapters 7 - 13 by Gang Busters
- Great Alaskan Mystery Chapter 1 - 7 by Edgar Kennedy
- Great Alaskan Mystery Chapter 8 - 13 by Edgar Kennedy
- Junior G-Men Volume 1 Chapter 1 - 6 by Dead End Kids
- Junior G-Men Volume 2 Chapter 7 - 12 by Dead End Kids
- Lost City
- Overland Mail by Lon Chaney
- Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island by Republic Pictures
- Sea Raiders Volume 1 Chapter 1 - 6 by Dead End Kids
- Sea Raiders Volume 2 Chapter 7 - 12 by Dead End Kids
- Sky Raiders by Robert Armstrong and Billy Halop
- The Clutching Hand
- The Galloping Ghost by Harold Red Grange
- The Lost Jungle Chapters 1 - 6 by Clyde Beatty
- The Lost Jungle Chapters 7 - 12 by Clyde Beatty
- The New Adventures of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- The Phantom Creeps Vol 1 Ch 1- 6 by Bela Lugosi
- The Phantom Creeps Vol 2 Ch 7- 12 by Bela Lugosi
- The Three Musketeers Volume 1: Chapters 1 - 6 by John Wayne
- The Three Musketeers Volume 2: Chapters 7 - 12 by John Wayne
- Zorro's Black Whip Volume 1 Ch 1 - 6 by Johnston McCulley
- Zorro's Black Whip Volume 2 Ch 7 - 12 by Johnston McCulley
Cliffhanger Serial Books
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- In the Nick of Time: Motion Picture Sound Serials by William C. Cline
- Serials-ly Speaking: Essays on Cliffhangers by William C. Cline
- In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase: Movie Making Remembered by the Guy at the Door by William Witney