Jack Holt and Evelyn Brent comprise one of the most unusual tandems of heroes in serial history, long in the tooth but also plenty long on toughness. Masquerading as "Nick Farrel", escaped tough guy, and his wife, Holt and Brent infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. The setting is surprisingly widespread for a chapter play, as the action moves from the gang's hideout in a lost canyon to a gambling ship on the high seas to a small island country where the gang hopes to escape U.S. extradition. The main villain is a fellow named Arnold, but he hides behind the facade of one of his men, Quist, to shield himself from the Secret Service, and lets another one of his men, Valden (frequent serial henchman Tris Coffin), do most of his dirty work. The island nation has its own pocket dictator, who is also trying to rub out our boy Jack.
Jack Holt is, simply put, the toughest leading man in serial history, the type of guy who could swallow nails and crap thumbtacks. When he gets in a fistfight with four of Arnold's boys and beats the hell out of the entire quartet, you can believe it.
As this is a James Horne serial, some of you might wonder about the "comedy" content. There is little of the funny stuff that you'll find in such Horne classics as TERRY AND THE PIRATES or THE SPIDER RETURNS, unless you count the occasional "undercranking" that makes everybody look like they are rushing out of a burning house, or the fact that, unlike the Republic serials in which bands were used to keep the Fedoras on during fights, Columbia apparently just instructed their actors and stunt men to crush their hats down tightly on their heads, making everybody resemble two-fisted Buster Keatons.
I give HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE a solid *** and recommend it highly.