This shares a title with the famous serial which more or less started the genre, 1914's The Perils of Pauline but little else. This is, though, a pretty decent little set of cliffhangers.
Professor Hargrave (James Durkin) and his daughter Pauline (Evelyn Knapp) are in Indo-China during a time of revolution, Hargrave is working on a deadly gas which in the wrong hands would be a terrible weapon. Evil Dr Bashan (John Davidson) has those "wrong hands". With Bashan in pursuit, the Hargraves along with Robert (Craig Reynolds) seek out an ivory disc with the formula written on it...
The serial starts out strongly with a good budget and good use of newsreel footage though gets a bit stuck in the middle during an overlong stay in the Indonesian jungle (which for some reason, due to re-used sets, includes an Ancient Egyptian temple!) The climax in the US is a return to form though the ending is rather sudden.
This fulfils the brief for a perfectly acceptable movie serial, good cliffhangers, re-use of whatever sets and costumes were available and ridiculous plot lines (complete with a superbly evil baddie). Excellent entertainment.
