The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
James Houghland, inventor of a new method by which television signals can be instantaneously sent anywhere in the world, refuses to sell the process to television companies, who then send agents to acquire the invention any way they can. On the night of his initial broadcast Houghland is mysteriously murdered in the middle of his demonstration and it falls to Police Chief Nelson to determine who the murderer is from the many suspects present.
Clyde Beatty, an animal trainer and circus star, leads a search for his missing girlfriend and her father who were on an expedition looking for a lost tropical island. Using a dirigible as his mode of transportation, Beatty and his band head off in search of the missing explorers only to crash their airship on the same island their friends are located. Battling wild animals and a gang of greedy men searching for gold, Beatty and his party must rescue his girlfriend and father all the while trying to escape their jungle island. Feature version of the same-title serial of the same year, with refilmed sequences substantially altering the plot and characters of the original chapterplay.
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.