the green archer be an action pack 15 chapter serial from columbia . it have all of the serial cliche that we have all come to know . first we have the mask hero whose identity be unknown and the crusading crime reporter spike holland ( victor jory ) and the mad villain with dream of glory abel bellamy ( james craven ) and the helpless heroine valerie hewett ( iris meredith ) and her sister elaine ( dorothy fay ) and the dumb cop captain thompson ( fred kelsey ) and the lame brain henchman dinky ( kit guard ) and secret passage way and trap door and numerous fist fight where the hero get knock out but never finish off and death defy escape from certain death etc . abel bellamy who control a ring of jewel thief have frame his brother for murder and take over the family castle from which he run his operation . his brother michael ( kenne duncan ) be involve in a train wreck on his way to prison and be apparently kill . his wife elaine be kidnap and take to the castle and hold prisoner . ace crime reporter spike holland whose company have insure much of the stolen jewelry and enter the case . spike have be a close friend of michael bellamy and work closely with his wife sister valerie and her father to discover the jewel thieve hideaway or identity and secure elaine release . abel bellamy enlist one of his men brad and to pose a the green archer a legendary figure from the bellamy castle past . but of course the real green archer show up and the inevitable confusion take place . much of the story have holland fight with abel henchman and fall into various trap set by the bad guy and only to escape in the nick of time and usually with the help of the good green archer . spike must have have a lot of suit because he get soak to the skin in several chapter . finally and spike and the police sort thing out and bring the crook to justice and the green archer turn out to be . it wasn not too difficult to tell who the real green archer be . in spite of a couple of red herring and it be rather obvious . there also some tacky special effect . the back projection shot be amateurish and the miniature use in the house burn be less than convincing . it be good to see veteran villain jory get to play the hero for once . he do much well in another columbia serial the shadow release the same year . with his distinctive speaking voice and jory make a career out of play smooth talk gang leader or back shooting henchman and mostly in western . serial veteran craven go way over the top a the chief villain and some of his gang be too dumb to be believe . others in the cast include robert fiske a savini and craven nervous second in command and joseph w. ross a inspector girard and herbert evans a the butler henderson who may not be what he appear to be . veteran charles king and harry harvey and bud osborne and edmund cobb and jack perrin and tom london pop in for a chapter or two . the green archer be everything that you would expect a serial to be .