The Phantom Empire — Chapter 5: Beneath the Earth

A chapter from an American movie serial — the weekly chapter-plays that screened before the main feature through the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Each ran about twenty minutes and closed on a cliffhanger meant to bring the audience back the following Saturday, with the next week's opening often cheating a little on what had actually been shown. Republic, Universal and Columbia made nearly all of them, and the form died in the mid-1950s when television began giving away the same thing. The Phantom Empire (1935), chapter 5, "Beneath the Earth". Released 1935-03-22.