The main reason this serial is popular with the fans is the casting of Bela Lugosi as the chief villain. Unfortunately, although he appears in every episode, his role is comparatively small until chapter 8 when he really becomes the dominant villain. It's Lugosi's man, Richard Alexander, who provides most of the action, and even continues to prove a rousingly unworthy, stop-at-nothing opponent for super-natty hero, Ralph Byrd, even when Lugosi finally has more than a few fleeting scenes. Mind you, Lugosi doesn't do much in the way of acting. He does little more than say his lines. The same goes for hero Byrd. It's the rather boring Lee Ford as an incompetent photographer who seems to get all the attention from directors Alan James and William Witney. Ford even does his best (or worst!) to push our lovely heroine, Maxine Doyle, out of the picture. Miss Doyle started in movies as an extra in 1933 but quickly graduated to feature player (Babbitt 1934) and feminine lead (The Mystery Man 1935). She left movies after making this serial. When she returned in 1943, her roles were so small, she was usually uncredited. Another lovely girl that Hollywood wasted or didn't know what to do with! This was Republic's seventh serial and was brought in at $128,530. The original budget was $107,217. Costs and delays while shooting on location in the Los Angeles area were responsible for the increase. Barry Shipman, Franklin Adreon, Winston Miller and Edward Lynn were responsible for the screenplay, which was based on a story outlined by Morgan Cox, Ronald Davidson and Lester Scott. U.S. release: 28 August 1937. Available on two DVD discs from Alpha.

*Spoiler/plot- SOS Coast Guard, 1937, Follow a tenacious Terry Kent, US coastguard officer & secret agent as he attempts to capture the international criminal scientist, Doctor Boroff, before he can auction of a dangerous gas weapon capable of killing whole cities inhabitants. A nail-biting race to beat the clock in it's final conclusion.*Special Stars- Ralph Byrd, Bela Lugosi. Maxine Doyle *Theme- American honesty and patriotism conquers evil and foreign designs for terror.*Trivia/location/goofs- Republic theatrical Serial, black & White, Locations filmed at the west San Fernando Valley movie ranch's, Iverson Film Ranch Chatsworth California.*Emotion- I heard good things of this serial. I was NOT misinformed. A very enjoyable film for it's on-screen production values, plot and acting. Much more enjoyable with Bela Lugosi as the 'baddie' and he does add to things here. Even today, very watchable and enjoyable. Fun to see Ralph 'Dick Tracy' Byrd in his prime.

Boroff, a munitions expert, has just perfected a disintegrating gas which he plans to sell to any nation that will meet his price. Despite being a wanted man across the world, Boroff smuggles himself aboard the SS Carfax to ship a load of arnotite to Morovania, who plans to use the disintegrating gas. The Carfax is wrecked at sea and is rescued by the Coast Guard led by Lieutenant Terry Kent. Boroff is recognized but manages to escape the Coast Guard, while killing Kent's younger brother Jim. Boroff disguises himself and plans to manufacture the disintegrating gas while evading the watch of Kent and the Coast Guard, who go piece clues together to find Boroff and stop the gas from being made, which also means battling Boroff's lobotomized, hulking servant Thorg. The serial had a great first two chapters and well done ending, but the middle part of the serial was very routine since all of the atmosphere, villainous characterizations, and action packed encounters seemed to be lessened. Richard Alexander must have had a great agent for getting him these memorable serial roles, since Thorg is among his best, where he evokes a lot of sympathy from the audience. Lugosi is fine here as well, but as I said before, he loses his evil touch as the serial progresses. Byrd is somewhat disappointing comparing this to his Dick Tracy roles since his reading of lines doesn't always sound too heroic. Doyle is cute, but no actress, and Ford is annoying as he was in Dick Tracy Returns. Rating, based on serials, 6.

"S.O.S. Coast Guard" benefits from the casting of Bela Lugosi as the chief villain. He adds a certain menace that only he can provide, what with that thick Hungarian accent and his patented menacing stare.Coast Guard Lt. Terry Kent (Ralph Byrd) discovers that the evil Boroff (Lugosi) has developed a deadly disintegrating gas which he hopes to sell to a foreign power (in this case, "Morovania"). The key component of the gas, an element known as "arnatite" is being smuggled aboard the freighter "Carfax" to Boroff's hideout. En route the ship runs into a storm and runs aground.News reporter Jean Norman (Maxine Doyle) and her photographer Snapper McGee (Lee Ford) recognize the fleeing Boroff. While escaping, Boroff is pursued by Terry's brother Jim (Thomas Carr) who is murdered by Boroff. Terry vows to avenge his brother.Meanwhile, in order to hide the evidence of the arnadite, Boroff sends his hulking mute henchman, Thorg (Richard Alexander) to cut the cables securing the distressed vessel. The ship then sinks. Boroff enlists scientist Rickerby (John Picorri) to manufacture the deadly gas.Boroff has Thorg dive to the sunken ship to recover the arnadite. This leads to several death defying encounters between Terry and Thorg. Eventually Boroff is able to manufacture his gas and moves to ship it. Again and again Terry thwarts his efforts. Finally Terry and the Coast Guard bring the villains to justice in the final chapter, as we knew he would.I believe that this was the first time Republic Pictures used that "melting/disintegration" special effect. You can see variations of this effect in several of their subsequent serials.Others in the cast include Herbert Rawlinson as Terry's commanding officer, George Chesboro, Carleton Young and in an early serial villain role, Roy Barcroft as Boroff's henchmen.It's interesting to note that the name "Boroff" is a contraction of the name BORis KarlOFF. The name of the ship, "Carfax" is the same as the name of the abbey Lugosi as Dracula rented (i.e. "Carfax Abbey")in "Dracula" (1931). Coincidence? Who knows?Ralph Byrd would go on to portray comic strip detective "Dick Tracy" in three Republic serials, a role with which he would be identified for the rest of his career.