The American Serial: 1914–1944

Film

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Held on Sat, Jun 28, 2025, 1:00 p.m.

Introduced by Ed Halter and Thomas Beard (Light Industry)

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

The Trail of the Octopus. 1919. Directed by Duke Worne. Courtesy of Light Industry.

Founded and run by Thomas Beard and Ed Halter, Light Industry opened in 2008 in Sunset Park before moving to its current home in East Williamsburg. Describing itself as “a venue for cinema in all its forms,” Light Industry is one of the city’s most thoughtfully programmed microcinemas. Its 2013 calendar opened with a marathon event, The American Serial: 1914–1944. (Some of the other programs that season included P. Adams Sitney introducing Stan Brakhage’s The Art of Vision, Peter Hutton introducing John van der Keuken’s The White Castle, and films by Sarah Maldoror, Yvonne Rainer, and Radley Metzger.) Of the American Serial program, Light Industry wrote, “During the height of theatrical exhibition, from the mid-1910s through the early 1950s, film serials were a key element of the moviegoing experience, although today they are all but forgotten. One of the precursors to television’s episodic programming, serials told stories over the course of four or more months, doled out in weekly installments of roughly twenty minutes each…. Light Industry presents a non-stop, all-day marathon of American serials, from the silent era through their golden age in the ’30s and ’40s. For our event, one episode from each serial will be screened, in chronological order; the program as a whole becomes a breakneck recapitulation of Hollywood history, one that chronicles the evolution of popular film form through some of its most enthralling and chimerical products.” This five-hour selection of their originally twelve-hour event will include one opening episode, one final episode, and many “middle” episodes. All episodes will be shown in 16mm.

The Perils of Pauline. USA. 1914. 37 min. 16mm. Silent.
The Trail of the Octopus. USA. 1919. 37 min. 16mm. Silent.
A Woman in Gray. USA. 1920. 15 min. 16mm. Silent.
The FIghting Marines. USA. 1935. Directed by B. Reeves Easton and Joseph Kane. 20 min. 16mm.
The Adventures of Rex & Rinty. USA. 1935. Directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason. 20 min. 16mm.
King of Jungleland (aka Darkest Africa). USA. 1936. Directed by B. Reeves Easton and Joseph Kane. 20 min. 16mm.
Undersea Kingdom. USA. 1936. Directed by B. Reeves Easton and Joseph Kane. 20 min. 16mm.
Ace Drummond. USA. 1936. Directed by Ford Beebe and Clifford Smith. 20 min. 16mm.
Dick Tracy. USA. 1937. Directed by Alan James and Ray Taylor. 20 min. 16mm.
Daredevils of the Red Circle. USA. 1939. Directed by John English and William Witney. 20 min. 16mm.
Zorro's Fighting Legion. USA. 1939. Directed by John English and William Witney. 20 min. 16mm.
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. USA. 1940. Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor. 20 min. 16mm.
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. USA. 1941. Directed by John English and William Witney. 20 min. 16mm.
Don Winslow of the Navy. USA. 1942. Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor. 20 min. 16mm.
The Masked Marvel. USA. 1943. Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet. 20 min. 16mm.

This film accompanies A Theater Near You.

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