The Phantom Empire (1940)

★★★★ · Gene Autry's 1st Starring Role? · Noah 8-? · 2011-07-05

From IMDB: Birth Name Orvon Grover Autry ORVAN? No wonder he became kbnown as "Gene"! Nickname The Singing Cowboy Height 5' 9" (1.75 m) Mini Biography: After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire…

★★★ · Gene Autry in a Musical Sci-Fi Mix-up · Poohbah70 · 2020-01-18

Gene Autry is his usual affable plain-talking, song-singing self in this 69:00 condensation of the 12-part serial "The Phantom Empire." Thus it winds up lacking continuity and becomes half musical, half sci-fi/adventure film. What concerns Autry most throughout the film is being back at Radio Ranch for his 2pm broadcast. Meanwhile, problems come up with the Muranians, who live almost 5 miles underground and have a very advanced civilization as far as scientific accomplishments are concerned. For some reason they come above ground and are seen by Autry - being seen by a surface dweller is a…

Something Is Missing... · TONYNINER · 2011-12-30

It would have been nice to have the opening scene or credits at the beginning of the serial, as it does explain that this is a re-release movie version of this serial.