"The Sea Hound" promises the "daredevil adventures of Captain Silver" and was based on a radio series and comic strip of the day. This was the first of three 15 chapter serials that serial veteran Buster Crabbe made for Columbia between 1947 and 1952.The title refers to the name of Cpt. Silver's (no first name here) schooner that is cruising in the south seas when he receives and SOS from the Yacht "Esmaralda". Silver and his crew Tex (Jimmy Lloyd), Jerry (Ralph Hodges) and cook Kukai (Spencer (no relation to Charlie) Chan) rescue Rand (Hugh Prosser), his guest Ann Whitney (Pamela Blake) and Rand's partner Vardman (Pierce Lyden).It seems that Rand and Vardman are taking Ann in search of her father (Milton Kibbee) who has evidently discovered the location of a lost Spanish galleon and the treasure within. They are confronted by a plantation owner known only as "The Admiral" (Robert Barron) and his gang including veteran bad guys Jack Ingram, Rick Vallin and Rusty Westcoatt.The rest of the story has one party double crossing the other and taking turns being captured by the local tribe the Ryaks while the Captain and his crew try to escape the death defying situations at the end of each chapter.Crabbe, who was an champion swimmer in the 1932 Olympics and kept himself in top condition. He doesn't miss an opportunity to take off his tight fitting T-shirt to display his athletic build. He was a good enough actor to compliment his build and make a believable action hero even though he was entering his 40s at the time. He also was able to display his swimming prowess at several points in the story.For some reason I kept thinking of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" while watching this serial.

Buster Crabbe is Captain Silver master of the ship the Sea Hound sailing in the waters of the South Seas. Based on a comic this Columbia serial is good but very workman like. The plot concerning the battle to out smart the Commodore and get a hidden treasure moves along at a leisurely pace and could have used the removal of several chapters. As with many Columbia serials the requirement to have them run for 15 chapters produces some dead spots, though this has less then is normal for the company. It helps that the dialog is witty as Silver's aides crack wise with each other so that the physical acts are supplemented by verbal sparring. I liked this serial but found that trying to watch it for a second time in one sitting was rather tough, more so since I watched the similar nautical serial also starring Crabbe Piratesof the High Seas (which lifts material from this) not that long ago. Recommended but in bits and pieces at a time when you haven't been watching a good number of Columbia serials.

Those hoping to "slum it" by indulging in a Saturday matinée serial may be a bit disappointed with "The Sea Hound." Its plot is contrived and obviously aimed at a youthful audience but it never descends into "hokiness," its cliffhanging conclusions avoid being ludicrously exaggerated, and its dialog lacks that campy, groan-inducing awfulness often found in this genre. In fact, "The Sea Hound" qualifies as a surprisingly respectable and professional piece of work with a plot which neatly focuses on a central mission and with characters who usually manage to avoid the curse of hamminess. There are plenty of fistfights, of course, and bullets fly with wild abandon, but the emphasis is on action rather than violence and there's hardly a dull moment in any of the serial's 15 chapters.Buster Crabbe, his body thickened a bit at age 40, makes a stalwart hero and his companions -- played by Jimmy Lloyd and Ralph Hodges -- are likable and unobtrusive. Neither one engages in the kind of horseplay, slapstick, and corny humor often imposed on "sidekicks." Spencer Chan offers a few Confucius-says comments as the ship's cook but though he's a bit of a Charlie Chan cliché, he's never offensive or embarrassing. (Chan later played one of the scientists at the mansion presided over by Jeff Morrow in "This Island Earth.") Pamela Blake makes a spunky though forgettable heroine and kids of all ages will be relieved that she and Crabbe don't get forced into one of those lame romances in which the guy kisses the girl in the final fade-out.Crabbe appears bare-chested in the opening episode but after that he's rarely asked to display any "beefcake" -- though his customary T-shirt fits with becoming tightness. Only once, in Chapter 8, does he slip into a swimsuit which, though snug, is so high-cut that it covers his navel. Not surprisingly, of course, he's forced into a few "bondage" situations and though none of them equal his sweaty, writhing torture at the hands of Ming the Merciless in "Flash Gordon," two examples are worth noting. At the end of Chapter 9, Crabbe and young colleague Ralph Hodges are tied to a waterwheel located, a bit unconvincingly, in the middle of a stream. The villains, hoping to wrest vital information from Crabbe, turn the wheel so that their victims' heads are underwater for an uncomfortable length of time, but rescue soon comes and the waterwheel is never seen again. Crabbe and Hodges are fully clothed during this ordeal.Crabbe's second notable scene of bondage occurs at the end of Chapter 11 and in this one his shirt is removed in order to show off that hairless, swimmer's-physique chest. Islanders called Ryaks -- perhaps the serial's only brush with the unintentionally absurd -- capture Crabbe and tie his wrists above his head to a horizontal pole in the middle of their camp. They then dance around him, knives drawn, chanting, apparently planning to execute him in some unspecified though undoubtedly painful way, but yet another of those daring rescues interferes with their plans. In this sequence the shirtless Crabbe still gets to wear his captain's cap and his gunbelt and, in yet another nod to modesty, his pants are buckled high enough around his waist to hide his navel.Though filmed in and around Catalina, the action in "The Sea Hound" is apparently meant to take place in the South Pacific, but this sense of place is never well established and is one of the serial's few weaknesses.