Special effects and set decorations make this definitely one of the best serials of all time. I do give it 4 stars rather than 5, because of the cheating in a couple of chapters. Especially one of the great chapter endings ever, Chapter 8, only to discover the cheating at the beginning of Chapter 9. Also a little more than usual carelessness...Corrigan is bare headed at the beginning of one sequence and is suddenly wearing the cumbersome helmet...A chariot and team of horses unexplainably is waiting right by where they need it... But hey, don't you expect a bit of that in serials?It's the spectacle, developing plot, good acting that make this an important serial for your collection. Lots of familiar names in this one including Lon Chaney Jr., William Farnum, Monte Blue (as the villain), Smiley Burnette as the comic relief, Lee Van Atta as the feisty kid.This definitely should be in your basic serial collection.