1937 American film
S O S Coast Guard is a 1937 Republic film serial. It was the seventh of the sixty-six serials made by Republic. The plot concerns the mad scientist Boroff (Bela Lugosi) attempting to sell a superweapon to the highest bidder, opposed by Coast Guard Lieutenant Terry Kent (Ralph Byrd), for both personal and professional reasons.
The main stars were Bela Lugosi and Ralph Byrd. It was made during the 2-year period when the Hayes Office put a moratorium on horror movies, Lugosi's usual genre, and in the midst of Byrd's notoriety for the highly popular Dick Tracy serials.
Plot
Boroff is a mad scientist who has invented a "disintegrator gas" and plans to smuggle it to his buyers in Morovania. When his ship, the Carfax, gets stranded on outlying rocks in the first chapter, the Coast Guard comes to rescue him. Recognized by the reporters, Jean and Snapper, Boroff runs and kills the pursuing Coast Guard Ensign Jim Kent, who turns to be Lt. Terry Kent's brother.
As the gas is made from the rare substances Arnatite (which is radioactive) and Zanzoid, Boroff attempts to acquire more of these materials to create more (including salvaging supplies of arnatite from the sunken Carfax). Hot on his heels are the Coast Guard, led by Lt. Kent, and the two reporters, with the expert aid of Jean's chemist brother, Dick.
Eventually Terry finds, and leads a squad against, Boroff's cave-based hideout, with disintegrator gas bombs exploding around them.
Production
S O S Coast Guard was budgeted at $107,217 although the final negative cost was $128,530 (a $21,313, or 19.9%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1937 and the most expensive of all Republic serials until the release of The Lone Ranger in 1938.[1] It was filmed between 10 June and 15 July 1937.[1] The serial's production number was 422.[1]
Director William Witney met his first wife, Maxine Doyle, while working on this serial.[3]
Stunts
Special effects
The serial's special effects were created by Jack Coyle and the Lydecker brothers.
Release
Theatrical
SOS Coast Guard's official release date is 28 August 1937, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.[1]
A 71-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together with some additional scenes shot during the serial's production, including a new shot featuring Bela Lugosi, was released on 16 April 1942.[1] The new scenes involved a substantial plot alteration to feature a made-up chemical, called arnatite, as a deadly explosive in and of itself, and other dialogue to cover continuity gaps arising from the editing.
