“Secret Agent X-9”

For nearly a decade, I lived on Dashiell Hammett Way in what is thought to be the very same San Francisco apartment where the great hardboiled detective author briefly resided in the ‘20s. Although not much to look at, I rather liked thinking the embryonic seeds for the creation of Sam Spade, the Continental Op and Nick and Nora Charles might have begun taking form in the terrain I now called home, but I have to admit that not once in all my time there did I give attention to the author’s lesser known brainchild, “Secret Agent X-9”.

The character of Secret Agent X-9 was created by King Features in 1934 as a comic strip feature in response to the great success of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy. Alex Raymond, who would become famous for “Flash Gordon”, was hired to illustrate the work and Hammett was brought in to write the material. He lasted for only four stories and was replaced, temporarily, by Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint.  In the comics, X-9 was a kind of hybrid, a government agent who nonetheless operated in the style of a seasoned private dick.

It never really became a great success, but was popular enough to prompt Universal to use it for the basis of two serials featuring the character, once in ‘37 and a later version (same title) in ‘45. The latter incarnation has the title character engaged in an undercover effort to foil the attempts of the Japanese government to create an artificial fuel source for their planes and bombs. Situating X-9 on neutral Shadow Island in ‘43, screenwriters Joseph O’Donnell and Patricia Harper have him up to his neck in dangerous intrigue and offbeat characters—who when not trying to shoot down or burn X-9, hang out in the smoke-filled House of Shadow cantina.

The late Lloyd Bridges, who stars as X-9, built a long and solid career in motion pictures playing in nearly every genre, working at a variety of studios and being on both sides of the law. He was resourceful and dependable and usually played the good guy (although in films like “Try and Get Me” he could wear a black hat with the best of them) and can be found in everything from a Three Stooges short to the classic “High Noon”. Yet, to a lot of people, he will always be best remembered as Mike Nelson, the underwater protagonist of TV’s early syndicated series “Sea Hunt” that ran for years and which, just for the record, I tool loved as a kid.

Bridges stars in “Secret Agent X-9” (Scott Kolk played the character in the ‘37 version) and does his usual competent and professional job in this, his only serial appearance. He’s not the hardboiled wise guy of Hammett’s creation nor is he exactly a no-nonsense, by-the-book agent either. He’s breezy and relaxed but knows how to get the job done. He’s easy to like.

Aiding Bridges in the Allied cause are the always-dependable Keye Luke as his Chinese ally and blonde Jan Wiley who pretends to be working for the Japanese spreading broadcast propaganda. Also in the cast are the late Victoria Horne (whose other serial work included the evil Indian princess in “The Scarlet Horseman”, but who I will always remember as the busybody sister-in-law in “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”) as Nabura, head of the Black Dragon Intelligence Service, Samuel S. Hinds, Cy Kendall, Benson Fong, Edmund Cobb, Jack Overman, Gene Stutenroth (later Roth) and George Lynn. The great stuntman Dale Van Sickel also shows up as a truck driver not long for his world and I. Stanford Jolley also appears briefly.

It seems to me there are two kinds of serials, those where the cliffhanger provides the main impetus and direction for the action and progression of the storyline, and those where the cliffhanger is almost an impediment to the flow of the action, where it is interjected simply because it is a cliffhanger and must be inserted even if it seems a clumsy addition. “Secret Agent X-9” falls into the latter category with the majority of the cliffhangers feeling a bit intrusive and out of place. The film could easily exist as a straight espionage effort, the sort of patriotic B-efforts studios turned out by the bushel during WWII. It certainly is not a terrific serial by any means—it could definitely use a bit more action—but it’s not a bad one either. The large array of characters are fleshed out a bit more than usual with directors Ray Taylor and Lewis Collins creating a solid and nicely measured pace to things.

Eduardo Ciannelli