ABSTRACT
Movie serials based on classic works of literature served to give answers to the PTA and other organizations concerned with the films watched so fervently on Saturday afternoons by children. Most parents (and organizations created to make decisions for parents) thought serials were all the standard shoot-em-up fare, where the hero wore a white hat and the villain and his gang of thugs wore black hats. The plots, they argued, were all the same, with a dastardly archcrook out to conquer the town or the world, and a lone crime-fighter out to stop him. Between the threads of story, parents said, were the usual violent fights, chases, and devious methods of killing the hero and his friends.
