This is not a really bad serial, but it could have been much better. There is an abundance of action from chases to fisticuffs, and the cliffhangers are fairly satisfyingly resolved in most of the chapters.

The problem is that these are the Blackhawks...known in comics for being daredevil pilots and righters of wrongs. First off, they spend more time walking or driving then they do piloting...and when they do run around together, they look like a bunch of chauffeurs heading into action.

The villains of the piece are not very well defined, and neither are their motives, other then being communists without being called communists.

Kirk Alyn is good as Blackhawk...but he doesn't have the same flair he had when he played Superman a few years earlier. He does look great in the uniform though...just like the comic book character. Blackhawk and the Phantom seemed to have made the truest transitions from comics to the screen in terms of costume, though Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher are very close as well.

A lot of later serials (1949 on up) didn't have the same panache as the older ones...probably because the genre was dying with the advent of television. Blackhawk is still good for a few thrills...and is definitely worth a look from any fan of the chapter plays.