The Green Archer (1940)

Film review #445

Director: James W. Horne

SYNOPSIS: Garr Castle, home of the Bellamy family, is now owned by Abel Bellamy, after his brother Michael was found guilty of murder. After Abel has Michael killed by attacking the train he was on travelling to prison, Abel uses the mansion as his base of operations for his criminal activities. Spike Holland, an insurance agent and Michael’s friend, works to investigate and bring down Abel’s criminal enterprise, with the help of the sister of Michael’s widow Valerie, her Father, and their butler. They are also aided by “The Green Archer,” the supposed guardian of the Bellamy estate, who fires messages in arrows to warn them of danger…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Green Archer is a 1940 serial based on the novel of the same name, and a partial remake of the 1925 silent serial. The serial centres around Garr Castle, an American estate owned by the Bellamy family. Michael Bellamy, the owner of the estate, is framed for murder and on his way to prison when the train he is travelling on is attacked and destroyed, killing him and any others. His brother Abel, who orchestrated the attack, takes over the estate, and turns it into a base for his criminal operations, and kidnapping Michael’s widow. Spike Holland, an insurance investigator and Michael’s friend, seeks revenge for his friend’s death, and prove that Abel was behind it. To complicate matters a man dressed as “The Green Archer,” the supposed guardian of the Bellamy estate, sends Holland messages warning him of plots and danger, whereas one of Bellamy’s men also dresses as the Green Archer, luring Holland into various traps. The plot of the serial is fairly straightforward, as the heroes and villains engage in a back-and-forth of schemes and counter-schemes to outdo one another. The setting of Garr castle where most of the serial takes place sets a stage full of traps and secret passageways that the heroes and villains use, but apart from a few instances, feels rather under-utilised (probably because of budget constraints). The tone of the serial tends towards more comedic than action-based, which is probably the influence of the director, who has done the same on other serials. The cast of incompetent villains who bicker with each other and annoy Abel to no end lead to Abel getting ever more exasperated and desperate, which provides a rare moment of character development, and sets the serial apart from others.

The characters on the protagonist are a standard serial cast: Holland takes the lead in the action scenes and fist fights, accompanied in his investigations by the token female character (although there are two more secondary women in the cast, which is far more than a lot of serials), and her Father, who takes the older, cautious, and advisory role. Most of the interesting characters, as mentioned, are the villains, and a lot of the serial is seen from their perspective. Abel’s villainous schemes end up being undone not merely by Holland, but by his own henchman’s incompetence, which clearly take their toll on him. Again, the comedic bickering between the characters being one of the main focuses of the serial. The Green Archer himself, obviously taking his appearance from the classic conception of Robin Hood, keeps his identity secret until the very end, but I think it’s pretty obvious who it is.

At a length of fifteen chapters, the serial is at the longer limit of the format. Chapters twelve through fourteen are a self-contained story concerning Abel attempting to locate and steal a “synthetic radium formula.” Given that it is self-contained, it means that these chapters could be removed and the serial sold as a twelve-chapter serial to theatres that wanted it slightly shorter. The setting of Garr Castle is lavishly adorned and furnished, but given that it is the only setting for the serial it doesn’t offer much variety. The Green Archer does some things a bit differently, but doesn’t offer anything interesting plot-wise, and the increasingly absurd schemes leave it very much lacking in believability. It’s not the worst serial there is, but is lacking in momentum in terms of the plot being just a bit of a family feud and some minor crimes thrown in.