The Lost Jungle ― The Hollywood Sound Serial of the 1930s and 1940s

Why has the Hollywood sound serial received so little scholarly attention? These short, usually weekly films ending in cliffhangers began in the silent era but continued to be extremely popular in the 1930s and 1940s after the advent of synchronized sound. In The Lost Jungle Guy Barefoot explores the popularity of particular serials such asFlash Gordon (1936) and The Lone Ranger (1938), contextualizing the serial in the broader context of American film culture during the Great Depression and Second World War. Barefoot also examines less familiar science fiction, western, jungle, and crime serials, and considers the production of sound serials, highlighting how they drew upon earlier conventions of silent cinema and melodrama.

Guy Barefoot is a lecturer in film studies in the Department of History of Art and Film and a member of the Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester.