The Night of the Deadly Bubble - Recap

Jim and Artie arrive at a lighthouse to meet with to meet with Professor McClennan. They admit that they’re late because of the recent tidal and point out that he summoned them on what he claimed was a matter of national security. McClennan notes that there has been a string of tidal waves across the world in the last 36 hours. H explains that tidal waves are caused by earthquakes and volcanoes, but both can be ruled out. Before McClennan can continue, a blind beggar finds his way into the lighthouse and says he has a message from his associate, Professor Pringle. McClennan takes the note to the outside glass to read it and is shot down. The agents turn off the light and check on McClennan to confirm that he’s dead. The note asks for McClennan to meet with Pringle at the Cantina Del Pescado and Jim tells the beggar that they won’t be getting any answers.



Jim rides to the cantina on the waterfront and a man practicing his knife throwing just misses him. The agent asks the bartender for Professor Pringle and the bar’s occupants attack him. He makes short work of them and departs. Once Jim’s gone, the beggar emerges from the back room.

At the Wanderer, Jim is changing his clothing when Artie returns from his session with the police. He’s arranged for a private inquest and claimed the bullet used to kill McClennan. Investigating it, Artie has confirmed that it came from a Steyr-Magnum. Jim heads for the hotel where McClennan was staying, leaving Artie to his studies. Jim pays off the clerk to look the other way and goes upstairs. He enters the room and discovers that someone has broken in and searched the place. Jim notices someone hiding behind the drapes, draws his gun, and approaches them. A woman emerges, holding a gun, and demands that Jim surrender. He points out that her gun’s safety is on and she explains that she is Professor Abigail Pringle, and that she wrote the note to Washington on McClennan’s behalf. Jim compliments her as a woman and Pringle insists that she is a scientist first and a woman second. When Jim wonders why she’s there, Abigail explains that McClennan wanted her to recover his papers if he was gone for more than 12 hours. However, someone has taken the papers. Jim breaks the news that McClennan is dead, and Abigail admits that she didn’t know what McClennan had concluded about the tidal waves.



Looking for a clue, Jim searches the drawers for clues. However, a man fires a shot into the wall next to Jim and asks him for an explanation. Abigail introduces herself and the man explains that he is Captain Horatio Philo, one of McClennan’s admirers. He came to invite McClennan to dinner the next night and asks them to come instead. Jim agrees for both of them and Philo leaves. When Abigail objects to his presumption, Jim points out that coming to a hotel room at 10 p.m. to issue a dinner invitation is unusual. He digs the bullet out of the wall and takes it to Artie, who confirms that both bullets were fired out of the same gun. Artie figures that McClennan believed that the tidal waves were not natural phenomena. The agents get a wire confirming that Philo is a marine biologist and supports organizations dedicated to preserving sea life.

Jim and Artie go to Philo’s manor, the Crow’s Nest, and have dinner with Philo and Abigail. The agents are less than thrilled about eating sea-based dishes and Philo takes offense, insisting that he’s no eccentric. He rants about the nutritional value of kelp and then apologizes and offers them more brandy. Jim proposes a toast to McClennan and Artie adds that they’ll soon close in on his murderer. A tipsy Abigail offers a toast to McClennan’s work and Philo asks what it was. Jim explains that it was about a tidal wave, hinting that McClennan knew about the source of the current disturbances. Philo asks about the records and Abigail tells everyone that McClennan filled her in on all of his findings and she has them memorized.



Jim and Artie escort Abigail back to her hotel. She admits that she lied about knowing McClennan’s work to shake up Philo and then passes out. Artie stays to guard Abigail while Jim goes back to Philo’s manor to snoop around. He finds a hidden door in the outside wall and slips into the basement, and the door closes behind him. When Jim goes into the next room, the door closes behind him and the agent realizes that he’s in a high-speed elevator. It drops into the bowels of the earth and Jim makes his way through an underground tunnel.

At the hotel, the maid puts Abigail to bed and Artie comes in to stand watch. The hotel clerk, Pepe, calls to him and Artie runs downstairs only to find the man dead with a knife in his back. Realizing he’s been lured away, Artie runs back upstairs and discovers that Abigail is gone. The agent hears a tapping noise behind him just as the blind beggar knocks him unconscious.

As Jim makes his way through the tunnel, he discovers that the walls are covered with seepage from the ocean above. He comes to a dead end wall and a gate closes behind him, trapping him. The stone panel opens, revealing a vast chamber filled with a vast dynamo. Philo is there, wearing his captain’s uniform, and explains that the machine is for salvation. He opens a curtain, revealing a window onto the ocean, and tells Jim that his base occupies an extinct volcano. Philo talks of the beauty of the ocean and his dedication to ending water pollution and the extermination of whole species of fish and whales. Now he plans to use the sea to take revenge on humanity for its ways.



The beggar returns to the cantina and pays the men, and tells them that there’ll be more if they find Artie. Artie is there, disguised as a sailor, overhears the conversation, and staggers out.

As Philo shows Jim around his base, the captain’s men arrive with Abigail. He greets her courteously enough but Abigail defies him, and Philo explains that now he plans to demonstrate that her colleagues are wrong. The captain invites her to explain that the machine is a compressor designed to blow bubbles. Using a tank to demonstrate, Philo shows them how he can fill an underwater pocket with air and then release it to create a tidal wave. He has run high-pressure lines to a pocket big enough to swallow an entire city. Nearby is a man-sized experimental pneumatic delivery tube that goes through the side of the volcano. Philo plans to release canisters of poisonous gas and take his revenge.



Philo orders his men to kill Jim and the agent takes the captain hostage. The villain orders his men to surrender and Abigail takes his gun. As Jim tries to escape, one of Philo’s men comes in through the exit, distracting the agent. Jim gets the upper hand but Philo grabs a gun and tells him to surrender.

The beggar goes to the Crow’s Nest and removes his glasses, revealing that he can see. Artie, having followed him, captures him at gunpoint.

Philo and his thugs escort Jim and Abigail into a steam-condensing cave holding one of the compressors. There is a release valve for the steam and Philo leaves them to imagine what will happen. Once they’re alone, Jim uses his jacket to block the valve outlet as steam starts to pour in. The pressure blasts the jacket free and the chamber fills with blistering steam. Jim places explosive putty from his boot heel onto the door and tries to light it, but discovers that his matches are too damp. Believing they’re going to die, Abigail kisses Jim. However, he spots a chain and gets an idea. He fastens it around the pump and then the pipe, and the mechanism crushes the pipe shut.



As Philo prepares to put his scheme in motion, Artie comes in, disguised as the beggar, Felix. Philo tells him to round up all the men and get them to safety in the base in the next 30 minutes. Artie says that he dispatched Gordon but hasn’t found Jim yet, and Philo directs him to the steam-condensing cave. When he arrives, Artie takes the guard’s gun and keys and dismisses him. When he goes inside, Jim attacks him until he realizes that his partner has arrived. Jim sends Artie and Abigail to warn the nearby town while he goes to stop Philo.

Jim approaches the base entrance and knocks out a couple of thugs, taking one of their uniforms. Concealing his face, Jim slips inside and spots the primary compressor. He closes off the pressure valve and slips away, but a technician notices the pressure drop and calls Philo over. Jim calls out to him from where he’s guarding the valve and Philo shoots at him. He warns Jim that the apparatus wasn’t designed to work in reverse and it will soon bring the walls down. His men hear him talk of their imminent destruction and flee, but Philo throw a switch sealing off the only way out. The captain then tries to get to the valve and undo the sabotage, and Jim manages to shoot him. Philo is caught in the gears of his own machine and Jim goes to the pneumatic, turns up the pressure, and gets inside. He’s blasted out just ahead of the volcano’s collapse and swims to safety.



Later at the Wanderer, Abigail offers a toast to the two brave agents and then says she has to be going. She explains that she plans to take advantage of the benefits of being a woman and thanks Jim for reminding her of that. She’s off to Boston to marry her fiancé. As she goes, Artie realizes that she’s forgotten her glasses. As he goes to take them to her, Jim points out that they’re ordinary glass and that Abigail wore them as a pretense. When Artie tries them on, Jim tells him that he’s beautiful.



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