The Perils of Pauline

The Perils of Pauline is a 1933 American Pre-Code film serial, and sound film remake, of the Pathé original. The 12-chapter "cliffhanger" was produced by Universal Studios. Evalyn Knapp, herself a graduate of Pathé silent short subjects, starred as the heroine, Pauline Hargraves. Historic newsreel footage of the 1930 flight of the Dornier Do X seaplane is featured in chapter eight. Each episode in the serial is approximately 20 minutes long. The first one to two minutes of each episode are taken up with a title sequence and an intertitle describing the action from the previous serial. This is followed by about three minutes of the previous serial's closing moments. Plot Pauline Hargraves (Evalyn Knapp) is the intrepid daughter of Professor Hargraves (James Durkin), a noted doctor of chemistry and archeology. She and Willie Dodge (Sonny Ray), her father's cowardly secretary, have accompanied Prof. Hargraves to Asia in search of a legendary ivory disk that may contain the chemical recipe for a deadly gas created by an ancient Egyptian named Confu. Unfortunately, the villainous Asian warlord, Dr. Bashan (John Davidson), is also after the disk, along with his right-hand man and assassin, Fang (Frank Lackteen). In "The Guns of Doom," the Hargraves party arrives in China, where the disk is in the Tsai Tsin temple. Civil war has broken out, and the city is under attack. Dr. Hargraves and Dodge go to the temple, followed by Fang and his gang of thugs. Pauline goes to warn her father he's being followed, but is attacked by Fang. She's rescued by Robert Warde (Robert "Tex" Allen), an American railroad engineer. As shells fall all around, Pauline and Warde go to the temple, where Pauline finds the disk. But only half the disk exists; a map shows where the other half may be found. Dr. Bashan kidnaps Pauline while Warde takes her wounded father to a hotel. Bashan takes the disk, but Pauline escapes. Bashan takes a ship to Sarawak, where the map shows the rest of the disk is located. The Hargraves party follows Bashan in "The Typhoon of Terror," narrowly escaping a government gunboat that fires on them. Bashan's ship is caught in a hurricane, allowing the Hargraves' ship to catch up. The disk is retrieved, although Pauline is nearly washed overboard. Dr. Bashan is locked in a cabin. In "The Leopard Leaps," the Hargraves team arrives in Sarawak and travel upriver toward an ancient Egyptian temple. The ship's captain frees Dr.