review for Adventures of Smilin' Jack: The High Road to Doom on AllMovie

Although their serials usually failed to pack the punch of rival studio Republic's streamlined chapterplays, Universal could at least supply rather sumptuous surroundings courtesy of the studio's huge and varied back lot. With solid acting performances from a veteran cast, fairly good process work and above-par writing, the first chapter of the World War II serial The Adventures of Smilin' Jack screens like a Grade-B feature film. Although not as svelte as in his heyday in the 1930s, baby-faced Tom Brown makes a good hero and Sidney Toler plays his Chinese general with the same tongue-in-cheek as his concurrent Charlie Chan impersonation. One of the more prominent actresses ever to appear in serials, Rose Hobart makes a chilling villain and Universal contract star Turhan Bey is as handsome as ever as Hobart's Japanese co-conspirator.