Dr. Andrew Forbes (George Zucco), an insane archaeologist, has found the treasure of Montezuma, along with a feathered serpent that was guarding it, and is keeping the beast in a cage and using it to kill by planting one of its feathers on intended victims. How he discovered all of that may have been exciting, but we donāt see it as it happened before the film starts. Instead we follow Radio ādetectiveā Richard Thorpe (Ralph Lewis) who is sent to solve the deaths as part of a publicity campaign, and falls for Forbes’s step daughter, who’s around because a film needs a cute girl.
A poverty row horror filmādistributed by PRCāThe Flying Serpent is even cheaper looking than that would suggest. Zucco adds some dignity to the project, but he didnāt put in any more effort than his limited paycheck required. Lewis is passable as the young lead. Neither are aided by the script. Director Sam Newfield had no skill with horror, being more familiar with westerns, but then with well over 100 films under his wing at PRC, quality wasnāt his goal. He made movies fast and inexpensively.
The film is often considered a semi-remake of the The Devil Bat, which starred Bela Lugosi and was released by PRC in 1940. The Devil Bat is not a great film either, but has the advantage of often being set at night, with darkness lending a bit of atmosphere, but more importantly, hiding the many flaws. The Flying Serpent is shot mostly in sunlight, clearly displaying the shabbiness. The entrance into the mountain and the fluffy puppet would have been less embarrassing without direct lighting.
I would expect a 59 minute film to be jam packed, but The Flying Serpent has enough material for roughly half its length. The rest of the time is filled up with irrelevant scenes of a radio exec and his employee listening to broadcasts and arguing, along with minor time stretchers like showing excessive newspaper headlines.
This isnāt a bad film, but if you want a cheapie with a mad scientist sicking his flying killer on people, try The Devil Bat.