THE PHANTOM TV PILOT (1961)

The Phantom is a 1961 American TV film. It was a pilot for a proposed TV series based on the comic strip The Phantom.[1] It is widely believed that the pilot never aired, but decades after it was filmed it leaked onto the internet.[2]

The project was developed in 1956 with Roger Creed, a former stuntman, to play the Phantom.[3]

The title of the pilot episode is "No Escape".[1] It has been criticized as having an incoherent script which fails to provide important backstory and motivation for the characters or explanation for the settings.[1][2]

Plot
The Phantom goes to a plantation owned by Mrs. Harris to find out who is killing various workers. He has learned that there is a prison where the prisoners are worked to death and tormented. So, he takes goes undercover (complete with an eyepatch) and learns the truth...the place is run by a sadistic woman (Paulette Goddard) and her hulking assistant (Lon Chaney Jr.). And, if a prisoner ends up being difficult, they let one of the homicidal prisoners (RIchard Kiel) beat them to death.

Cast
Roger Creed as The Phantom / Mr. Walker
Paulette Goddard as Mrs. Harris
Lon Chaney Jr. as Jed
Reginald Denny as Commissioner R.G. Mallory
Allan Nixon as Doc Sanders
Chaino
Marc Davis as Hardy
Richard Kiel as Big Mike