The Spider's Web

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.A crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.A crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

177

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos20

+ 13

Top cast99+

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Warren Hull

Richard Wentworth…

Iris Meredith

Nita Van Sloan

Richard Fiske

Jackson

Kenne Duncan

Ram Singh
(as Kenneth Duncan)

Forbes Murray

Police Commissioner Stanley Kirk

Donald Douglas

Jenkins - the Butler

Marc Lawrence

Steve Harmon

Charles C. Wilson

Chase
(as Charles Wilson)

John Tyrrell

Grafton - Henchman

Eugene Anderson Jr.

Johnnie Sands
(as Gene Anderson Jr.)

Ann Doran

Mason's Secretary

Paul Whitney

Gray - the Banker

Beatrice Curtis

Kate Sands

Gordon Hart

J. Mason

Byron Foulger

Allen Roberts

Ernie Alexander

Reporter
(scenes deleted)

Brooks Benedict

Steve's Driver
(scenes deleted)

Jack Gardner

Reporter
(scenes deleted)

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
CHAPTER TITLES: 1. Night of Terror; 2. Death Below; 3. High Voltage; 4. Surrender or Die; 5. Shoot to Kill; 6. Sealed Lips; 7. Shadows of the Night; 8. While the City Sleeps; 9. Doomed!; 10. Flaming Danger; 11. The Road To Peril; 12. The Spider Falls; 13. The Man Hunt; 14. The Double-Cross; 15. The Octopus Unmasked.

Goofs
Crew worker is seen moving the roll desk when the Spider rescues Chase in the henchmen's hideout.

Crazy credits
Main Title:"The Spider's Web" enclosed in a "Spider's Web".

Connections
Edited from Air Hawks (1935)

User reviews8

Featured review

9/10

Definitely one of the best serials - but it's a low bar

I love the original pulp stories, the best of which were scribed by Norvell Page. In the pulps, Wentworth was a grim, brutal (and borderline deranged) killer of criminals, and Nita was almost as steely as her fiance. The menaces were epic (crooks poisoning canned food, for example) and Wentworth's revenge swift and terrible, making for one of the most violent pulps of the period.

There's none of that darkness in this serial. As other reviewers have noted, the music is a bit too upbeat, and Warren Hull's portrayal of Wentworth is a bit too cheery. And Iris Meredith is a bit too wholesome for an accurate reading of society girl turned vigilante Nita Van Sloan.

But there's much to recommend The Spider's Web. The pace is breakneck, The Octopus is a great villain and there's a wonderful Death Ray used by the baddies to down aircraft.

If you've never seen a movie serial from the 1930s or 1940s, you may well watch the first episode then give up, thinking, "What the blue blazes am I watching?" But if, like me, you grew up watching these chapterplays at the Saturday morning matinees, then give this one a chance ... it's one of the best.