Alan G. Barbour in his book 'Cliffhanger' states that " . . .The Mask villain character in Spy Smasher was the first in a long line of stereotypes which pictured hard-faced Nazis as propagandist tyrants."
Chapter Titles:
- 1. America Beware
- 2. Human Target
- 3. Iron Coffin
- 4. Stratosphere Invaiders
- 5. Descending Doom
- 6. The Invisible Witness
- 7. Secret Weapon
- 8. Sea Raiders
- 9. Highway Racketeers
- 10.2700(Degree) Fahrenheit
- 11.Hero's Death
- 12.V...
Half-way through the serial, the bad guys pass through a phony billboard advertising the Dick Tracy serials, also made by Republic.
Screenwriters at the Republic Studios gave the Spy Smasher character a twin brother, a character which did not appear in the original comic strips.
The Mask was one of the few comic book/strip foes to appear in a serial. Except for Ming the Merciless, Luthor in Superman vs. Atom Man, and Laska/Leska from Blackhawk#31 in Blackhawk, very few serial adaptations featured foes from the original strips.
The Mask, the villain of this serial, was the longest-running foe of Spy Smasher. Unfortunately, by the time the serial was made, the Mask was already dead - he had been strangled to death by Spy Smasher after he had exposed him to his "brainograph" machine and ordered Spy Smasher to "Kill!"
Though Republic had the best stunt men in the business on hand, with the likes of Carey Loftin and David Sharpe and even Yakima Canutt, star Kane Richmond, who was quite an athlete, often insisted on doing his own stunts as "Spy Smasher" (this was back in the days when insurance issues were a lot more loose on movie sets).
Was in post production when United States entered World War II.