''Captain America'' is a 1944 Republic black-and-white 15 chapter

serial film A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

loosely based on the

Timely Comics Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...

(now

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

) character Captain America. It was the last Republic serial made about a superhero. It also has the distinction of being the most expensive serial that Republic ever made. It stands as the first theatrical release connected to a Marvel character; the next theatrical release featuring a Marvel hero would not occur for more than 40 years. It was the last live-action rendition of a Marvel character in any media until Spider-Man appeared in the ''

Spidey Super Stories "Spidey Super Stories" is a live-action, recurring skit on the original version of the Children's Television Workshop series ''The Electric Company''. Overview Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, provided to the Children's Te ...

'' segment of the children's TV series ''

The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The ...

'' in 1974. The serial sees Captain America, really District Attorney Grant Gardner, trying to thwart the plans of the Scarab, really museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor - especially regarding his attempts to acquire the "Dynamic Vibrator" and "Electronic Firebolt", devices that could be used as super-weapons. In a rare plot element for Republic, the secret identity of the villain is known to the audience from the beginning, if not to the characters in the serial. The studio's usual approach was the use of a

mystery villain A masked villain, also seen as masked mystery villain, is a stock character in genre fiction. It was developed and popularized in movie serials, beginning with The Hooded Terror in ''The House of Hate'', (1918) the first fully-costumed mystery v ...

who was unmasked as one of the other supporting characters only in the final chapter.

Plot

A rash of suspicious suicides among scientists and businessmen, all found holding a small scarab, gets the attention of Mayor Randolph. He demands that Police Commissioner Dryden and District Attorney Grant Gardner get to the bottom of the case, while openly wishing that Captain America, a masked man who has helped defeat crime in the past, were around to solve the mystery. Gail Richards, Grant Gardner's secretary, investigates and realizes someone knows of the "Purple Death", a hypnotic chemical responsible for the suicides. However he then pulls out a gun and takes her into another room. He then orders an associate to tie her up. The D.A. realizes she is there and forces the man to take him to her. He finds her tied up and gagged. He frees her but it is threatened that the purple death will be dropped killing them all. The D.A. shoots him then gets out of the room with Gail. All of the suicides were members of an expedition to some

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

ruins. One of the few remaining survivors, Professor Lyman, turns to his friend Dr. Maldor for support. Dr. Maldor, however, reveals that he is the man responsible for the deaths. He wants revenge because he planned and organized the expedition but everyone else claimed the fame and fortune. Lyman has developed the "Dynamic Vibrator" - a device intended for mining operations but one that can be amplified into a devastating weapon. Using his purple death Dr. Maldor forces Lyman to disclose the location of his plans. Captain America intervenes as the Scarab's heavies attempt to steal the plans and this leads to a sequence of plots by the Scarab to acquire a working version, as well as other devices, while trying to eliminate the interfering Captain before he succeeds in discovering Dr. Maldor's true identity or defeats him.

Cast

* Dick Purcell as Grant Gardner / Captain America:
The character drastically differs from his comic book counterpart, who was a frail soldier named Steve Rogers who underwent a super-soldier experiment to enhance his physiology to the peak of human perfection. These elements are completely omitted and the character's identity is changed to a District Attorney named Grant Gardner. Purcell was cast as the hero despite, as described by Harmon and Glut, having an average and slightly overweight physique. He died a few weeks after filming was completed; he collapsed in the

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...

at a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

country club. In the opinion of film historian Raymond Stedman, the strain of filming ''Captain America'' had been too much for his heart. *

Lorna Gray Virginia Pound (July 26, 1917 – April 30, 2017), known professionally as Lorna Gray and (after 1945) Adrian Booth, was an American film actress known for her comic roles, and later as a villainess. She is best known for her roles in Columb ...

Gail Richards Raa of the Caves Holden Radcliffe Radioactive Man Chen Lu Igor Stancheck Radius Irani Rael Irani Rael is a fictional alien in Marvel Comics. The character, created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Wellinton Alves and Geraldo Borges, fir ...

:
Grant Gardner's secretary *

Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...

as Dr. Cyrus Maldor / Scarab *

Charles Trowbridge Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958. Biography Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...

as Police Commissioner Dryden * Russell Hicks as Mayor Randolph * George J. Lewis as Bart Matson * John Davidson as Gruber *

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

as Lyman * Al Ferguson as Detective (uncredited) * Howard C. Hickman as Lyman's Attorney (uncredited) *

Tom London Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...

as Mack (uncredited) *

Edward Van Sloan Edward Van Sloan (born Edward Paul Van Sloun; November 1, 1882 – March 6, 1964) was an American character actor best remembered for his roles in the Universal Studios horror films such as '' Dracula'' (1931), ''Frankenstein'' (1931), and ''T ...

as Gregory (uncredited)

Production

''Captain America'' was budgeted at $182,623 although the final

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example ''The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural ho ...

was $222,906 (a $40,283, or 22.1%, overspend). It was the most expensive of all Republic serials (as well as the most over budget). It was filmed between October 12 and November 24, 1943. The serial's production number was 1297. ''Captain America'' was written by seven of the top serial screenwriters, including Harry Fraser’s only work at Republic. The Captain America costume was really grey, white and dark blue as these colours photographed better in black and white. The costume also lost the wings on the head, the pirate boots became high shoes and the chainmail became normal cloth. Miniature flags were added to the gloves and the belt buckle became a small shield. Republic was notorious for making changes in their adaptations. This occurred with ''Captain America'' more than most. Timely, the owner of Captain America, was unhappy with the omission of Steve Rogers, the lack of an army setting and his use of a gun. Republic responded in writing that the sample pages provided by Timely did not indicate that Captain America was a soldier called Steve Rogers, nor that he did not carry a revolver. They also noted that the serial was well into production by this point and they could not return to the original concept without expensive retakes and dubbing. Finally they pointed out that Republic was under no contractual obligation to do any of this. The differences between the comic book and film versions of the title character in this serial are more extreme than with other Republic comic adaptations, such as '' Adventures of Captain Marvel'' and ''

Spy Smasher Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by Fawcett and DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics. The second is a female anti-terrorism government agent, ...

''. For example: * His secret identity is District Attorney Grant Gardner rather than

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Private Steve Rogers. * The "Super-Soldier Serum" origin is not used. * His famous shield does not appear, replaced by a standard gun. * Despite the fact that this serial was made in 1944, and Captain America regularly fought Nazis in the comics, the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

are not part of the story in any way. * His

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

, Bucky, does not appear. The reason for the differences appears not to be arbitrary, but that the script for the serial originally featured an entirely different licensed lead character and it was only decided later to replace the original character with Captain America. Film historians

Jim Harmon James Judson Harmon (21 April 1933 – 16 February 2010), better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Grey ...

and

Don Glut Donald F. Glut (; born February 19, 1944) is an American writer, motion picture film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing The Empire Strikes Back (novel), the novelization of the second ''Star Wars'' film, ''The Empire Strikes ...

speculated that the script was originally written as a sequel to 1940's ''

Mysterious Doctor Satan ''Mysterious Doctor Satan'' (also known as ''Doctor Satan's Robot'') is a 1940 American film serial directed by William Witney and John English. Produced by Republic Pictures, the serial stars Edward Ciannelli, Robert Wilcox, William Newell, C ...

'', which featured the masked hero The Copperhead. This character was himself a substitution for DC's Superman, after Republic's bid for that character's film rights lost to

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, who had a series of cartoon shorts made by the Fleischer Studios, and would later on acquire Republic, as well as distribute a feature-length Captain America film. Republic previously had adapted

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel, the alter ego of ...

characters ( Captain Marvel and

). Due to the fact that the lead in ''Captain America'' is a crime-fighting district attorney aided by a female secretary who knows his identity, and that the serial includes a chapter entitled "The Scarlet Shroud" in which nothing scarlet appears, film restoration director Eric Stedman suggests that it is more likely that the script was originally developed to feature Fawcett's comic book hero

Mr. Scarlet Mr. Scarlet and Pinky the Whiz Kid are two duo fictional comic book superheroes connected to each other, and first introduced in ''Wow Comics''. The superheroes were originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. The original Mist ...

, secretly D.A. Brian Butler, whose comic book appearances had proved unpopular and who had actually disappeared from comic book covers and been relegated to being a backup feature between the time the serial was planned and the final film produced. Writer Raymond William Stedman believes that the differences between the comic-book and film versions of Captain America were "for the better" as, for example, the hero did not have to sneak out of an army base every time he needed to change identities.

Stunts

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. ...

as Captain America (doubling Dick Purcell) *Bert LeBaron as Dr Maldor/The Scarab (doubling Lionel Atwill) *Helen Thurston as Gail Richards (doubling Lorna Gray) *

Ken Terrell Kenneth Jones Terrell (April 29, 1904 – March 8, 1966) was an American western and action film actor and stuntman best known for playing Joe Marcelli in the 1956 film ''Indestructible Man ''Indestructible Man'' is a 1956 American cri ...

Bart Matson/Dirk (doubling George J. Lewis & Crane Whitley) *John Bagni * Fred Graham *Duke Green * Eddie Parker *Allen Pomeroy * Tom Steele Dale Van Sickel was the "ram rod" of the stunt crew, doubling Dick Purcell as Captain America. Ken Terrell doubled George J. Lewis and Fred Graham doubled Lionel Atwill. Additional stunts were performed by Duke Green and Joe Yrigoyen. Tom Steele only appeared in chapter one as he was busy on The Masked Marvel.

Special effects

All the special effects in ''Captain America'' were created by Republic's in-house team, the

Lydecker brothers Howard and Theodore Lydecker, always known—and billed—as such, were Howard "Babe" Lydecker (June 8, 1911 – September 26, 1969) and Theodore Lydecker (November 7, 1908 – May 25, 1990), a special effects team primarily working as contract ...

Release

''Captain Americas official release date is 5 February 1944, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was actually filmed in 1943. The serial was re-released on 30 September 1953, under the new title ''Return of Captain America'', between the first runs of ''

Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders ''Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders'' (1953) is a Republic Movie serial starring Bill Henry and both produced and directed by Franklin Adreon. It was the sixty-second serial (of sixty-six) produced by Republic. Despite the title, this is ...

'' and ''

Trader Tom of the China Seas ''Trader Tom of the China Seas'' is a 1954 Republic film serial directed by Franklin Adreon and starring Harry Lauter, Aline Towne, Lyle Talbot, Robert Shayne, Fred Graham, and Richard Reeves. In 1966 the serial was edited into ''Century 66 ...

''. All 15 episodes were released on VHS on dual cassettes.

Critical reception

''Captain America'' is regarded as the "apex of the traditional action film fight... n theopinion of many cliffhanger enthusiasts". Stedman wrote that this was a "much better serial than either '' Batman'' or ''

The Masked Marvel ''The Masked Marvel'' (1943) is a 12-chapter film serial created by Republic Pictures, who produced many other well known serials. It was Republic's thirty-first serial, of the sixty-six they produced. Plot In ''The Masked Marvel'', a hero dress ...

''". Dr. Maldor is, in Cline's opinion, Lionel Atwill's best serial role.

Later references

In '' Captain America'' vol. 1 #219 (March 1978), it is revealed that a Captain America serial also exists in the Marvel Universe. In the serial, Steve Rogers himself stars as the Star-Spangled Man in secret, and the serial also features the shield being replaced by a standard gun, the identity of Grant Gardner, and Bucky is absent. In 2007, after the ''

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

'' comic event, Rogers is seemingly killed off. News channel

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

produces a special on his death, and while Rogers' death is focused, the serial is shown. In ''Captain America'' #27, the poster is seen in the Captain America museum. Steve Rogers' ex-girlfriend in the

Ultimate Marvel Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring re-imagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Those characters ...

continuity is named after Gail Richards, Grant Gardner's secretary. The 2011

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

(MCU) film '' Captain America: The First Avenger'' features the title character starring in a serial early in his career.

Chapter titles

# ''The Purple Death'' (25:40) # ''Mechanical Executioner'' (15:38) # ''The Scarlet Shroud'' (15:33) # ''Preview of Murder'' (15:33) # ''Blade of Wrath'' (15:33) # ''Vault of Vengeance'' (15:33) # ''Wholesale Destruction'' (15:34) # ''Cremation in the Clouds'' (15:33) # ''Triple Tragedy'' (15:33) # ''The Avenging Corpse'' (15:33) # ''The Dead Man Returns'' (15:33) # ''Horror on the Highway'' (15:34) # ''Skyscraper Plunge'' (15:33) # ''The Scarab Strikes'' (15:32) # ''The Toll of Doom'' (15:33) _Source:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain America (Serial) 1944 films 1940s superhero films 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films Republic Pictures film serials Captain America films Films directed by John English Films directed by Elmer Clifton Articles containing video clips Short films based on Marvel Comics American action adventure films 1940s action adventure films Films with screenplays by Harry L. Fraser Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1940s American films