The Secret of Treasure Island

The last of the three Weiss-produced serials for Columbia Pictures distribution. Pulp-writer L. Ron Hubbard was credited with the story, because he WROTE the story, although there are some who keep trying to credit him for other serials, although he didn't write any other serials...and wasn't credited anywhere as doing so, despite their efforts to make some up.

In the Prologue, pirates hide a treasure on an island off the Mexican coast. And, as such things go, the expected happened when the pirates, the map and the treasure disappear in a volcanic eruption. The legend of the island draws treasure seekers for a few centuries, but the treasure lies undetected. Cut to 1938 and Carter Collins (Walter Miller)---The Shark---takes possession of the island and turns it into a fortress, while he systematically seeks the gold. He takes over an ancient mansion, installs a physician, Doctor "X" (Hobart Bosworth), his nurse Zanya (Sandra Karina), his butler, Hawkins (Colin Campbell), and Grindley (Grant Withers), who has plans of his own, since he already has a portion of the map. This is good as the possessor of the other portion soon shows up. Meanwhile, Collins has his slave diggers---The Mole Men---digging up the island looking for the treasure.

Back in the states reporter Larry Kent (Don Terry) is assigned to go to the island to investigate the disappearance of another reporter, Paul Thorndyke (William Royle.)A sea captain who has half of the map is killed before he can tell the daughter, Toni Morrell (Gwen Gaze), of an old shipmate about the other half but is around long enough to tell her that her father, that she doesn't know, is on the island but expires before he can tell her his name. And, as these things go, Toni is a good friend of Larry's and together they decide to solve the mysteries of the island.