Adapted from the Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy radio series, Wallace Fox’s 1947 serial from Columbia Pictures, entitled Jack Armstrong appears in an epic 15-chapter serial where he must prevent a group of evil thugs from taking over the world!
Gang leader Jason Grood (uncredited Charles Middleton from the Flash Gordon serials) and his group of henchmen have kidnapped scientist Vic Hardy (Hugh Prosser, Dragnet). Hardy works for Jim Fairfield’s aviation company and was captured by Grood as he had discovered radiation emitting from their secret island base. Hardy is forced to do Grood’s bidding which would assist him in world domination. Jack Armstrong (John Hart, Champagne for Caesar, Blackenstein) and his comrades Betty (Rosemary LaPlanche, Strangler of the Swamp, Devil Bat’s Daughter), Billy (Joe Brown) and their Uncle Jim Fairfield (Pierre Watkin, Mr. Moto’s Gamble, Meet John Doe) must rescue Hardy from creating devastating weapons for Grood, thwarting his plans. The action takes place on an island, where some of the island’s natives are also working with Grood, but there is some dissention among them as a few natives, led by Princess Alura, decide to assist Jack Armstrong and Jim Fairfield in to stop Grood dead in his tracks to take over the world.
Jack Armstrong is a fun action-packed serial with plenty of fighting amongst the characters and some cool cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. To me it makes for some great matinee entertainment. You will never forget the narrator exclaiming “Jack Armstrong, Jack Armstrong, JACK ARMSTRONG!!” at the start of each chapter! It will haunt you for days!
Jack Armstrong debuts on a region free Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment. The 15-chapter serial has been giving a 4K scan and it looks stunning, with no print damage such as speckles or vertical lines detected. Chapter 13 had a minor blip at the beginning, most likely due to the film elements, but overall, the image quality for this release is marvelous! All the chapters look completely clean with a nice, polished look to it. The greyscale looks balanced to go with strong blacks and crisp whites. The characters and scenery for this serial are clear without any issues and was a pleasure to sit and watch.
One issue I did catch is on the disc label themselves where the first disc 1 says Chapters 1-6 and while the second disc features Chapters 7-15. This is incorrect, as the first ten chapters are on Disc 1, and the remaining five chapters are on the second disc.
For their Blu-ray, VCI has opted to go with English LCPM 2.0 for their audio and it sounds perfectly fine with dialogue and other action sounds all coming in clearly. No drop-offs, no hissing and no other audio issues were detected. English subtitles are available for this release.
Jack Armstrong’s Blu-ray has no bonus materials which some may not mind, while others could be a little disappointed. For me, it was no big deal.
Despite the lack of extras, Jack Armstrong on Blu-ray has never looked or sounded better and is easily recommended to fans of classic serials!
Jack Armstrong
Director- Wallace Fox
Cast- John Hart, Rosemary LaBlanche, Charles Middleton
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – VCI Entertainment
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date – 9/7/23