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By Hank Reineke

Collectors and enthusiasts of the serials produced by Republic Pictures Corporation (1936-1955) have reason to rejoice. Save for the too occasional and often spotty rare film release, proprietary rights to the Republic’s vast back catalog from that studio’s “Golden Age” have mostly languished in the vaults. Then, with little fanfare, Paramount Pictures, Inc. - the company who had obtained the rights through a dizzying history of corporate takeovers and mergers - began to quietly make some of these moribund but treasured troves of rare films digitally available to fans in late 2015. Though streaming through the Youtube channel via the company’s Paramount Vault portal was not the platform that many of us had hoped for, it was a welcome turn of events and certainly better than nothing.

If nothing else it was a long time coming. Devotees of these decidedly nostalgic vintage chapter plays have...

I've got a pretty awesome fan-made trailer for Captain America: Civil War that you've gotta check out! It reimagines the film as if it had been directed by the legendary Ed Wood. The trailer was cut together by Darth Blender using footage from a variety of films from the '30s, '40s, and '50s. You will find a list of those films below the embed. The trailer is surprisingly entertaining, and I think you'll enjoy it.  

Films used to create this trailer include:

- Adventures Of Captain Marvel (1941).

- Captain America (1944).

- Cat-Women Of The Moon (1953).

- King Of the Rocket Man (1949).

- Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940).

- Spy Smasher (1942).

- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).

- The Green Archer (1940).

- The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938).

- The Avengers (1961).

I am not a sociologist, although I’ve known a few. But let’s assume the fact that “superheroes” (in the broadest sense) fill a need in our lives. They started out in folk lore, they appear in most if not all bibles, they were popularized in the “penny dreadfuls” which evolved into pulp magazines which evolved into comic books.

Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Zorro and others helped populate the movie theaters going back to its earliest days back to the silent era. When talkies came around, superheroes became the backbone of the short movie serials that were geared to bring patrons back week after week. Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman, Blackhawk, Captain America, Spy Smasher and others joined Zorro and Tarzan in this venue. When network radio came along, comics characters from older media (Superman, The Shadow) joined original creations (The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet) and flourished in the just-home-from-school time slots.

Make room for Mota, the man from Mars! Mota enlists a scientist and two thugs to lay the groundwork for a full-scale invasion from space. Only the heroes of Fowler Aerial Patrol can save us! Republic's serial adventure ought to carry an "80% Recycled" label -- even the flying disc craft is second-hand, bearing a Japanese Rising Sun flag from a previous wartime serial. Flying Disc Man from Mars Blu-ray Olive Films 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 169 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Walter Reed, Lois Collier, Gregory Gaye (or Gay), James Craven, Harry Lauter, Richard Irving, Sandy Sanders, Michael Carr. Cinematography Walter Strenge Film Editors Cliff Bell, Sam Starr Original Music Stanley Wilson Special Effects Howard and Theodore Lydecker Written by Ronald Davidson Produced by Franklin Adreon Directed by Fred C. Brannon

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Looking at the gloriously redundant Flying Disc Man from Mars,...

In early December 1948, Patricia Highsmith took a Christmas-season temp job as a shopgirl in the children’s toy department at Bloomingdale’s. Highsmith, a 27-year-old native of Fort Worth, Texas, and a 1942 Barnard graduate, was a budding novelist who had been supporting herself for five years as a freelance action-comic-book writer, concocting stories for lesser superheroes like Spy Smasher and Black Terror — a rare gig for a woman in the golden age of comics. But her average weekly income of $55 no longer ­sufficed now that she had started shelling out $30 a week for psychoanalysis. Highsmith had sought a shrink’s help to deal with her qualms about her pending marriage to a British novelist named Marc Brandel. Up until then, her prolific love life had been defined by a string of affairs with women.The therapy didn’t take, and the marriage never happened. The Bloomingdale’s job, which she loathed,...

Don’t you just hate it when work interferes with work? It’s a sure sign that you’re working too hard.

I am rarely accused of this. Nonetheless, it’s late Tuesday, my column goes up early Wednesday, and I’ve got more work stuff I’ve got to do. So, instead of the well-researched, rabid screaming think piece that surgically eviscerates the comic book world as we know it today, I’m going to share with you some stuff I love.

There was a time when comics fans were in touch with related media such as illustration art, pulp magazines, science fiction, old time radio and newspaper comic strips. This was a time that preceded the mega-million dollar superhero motion pictures in which many fans find their legitimacy. No, what we had were movie serials. Most of them preceded comic books per se, but not those media noted...

By Fred Blosser

Many books have been written about Hollywood Westerns. After 45 years, the late William K. Everson’s “A Pictorial History of the Western Film” (The Citadel Press, 1969) remains one of the best: a coffee-table book with substance. Everson appropriately tips his sombrero to John Ford, John Wayne, Henry Hathaway, and Howard Hawks (with measured praise for “Red River”), and his comments on films spanning the history of the genre up to the end of the 1960s, from “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) to “The Wild Bunch” (1969), are incisive and thought-provoking. As a film scholar and preservationist, Everson was particularly knowledgeable about older and often obscure movies from the silent and early sound eras. Three of the classic titles he highlights are worthy of his approval and deserve to be better known than they are.

King Vidor’s “Billy the Kid” (1930) is slow going at times, particularly if you’re...

Back in June, NBC released a new trailer for their upcoming series Constantine, which featured a special Easter Egg for comic book fans, the iconic helmet of Doctor Fate. However, there was yet another hidden clue that most fans missed, which DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns teased on his Twitter page over the weekend. Take a look at the photo, then read on for more details.

“@NBCConstantine: Parallel planes of existence. #Constantinepic.twitter.com/uINDaBLzzf” Look close behind the helmet of Fate...

— Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) August 3, 2014

Behind the helmet of Fate lies the Ibistick, which is used by Ibis the Invincible. Of course, the presence of this Ibistick, which is a magical wand that can be used for practically any purpose when used for good, doesn't exactly confirm the character will appear in the series, since it could just be a clever nod for comic book fans.

Ibis...

“@NBCConstantine: Parallel planes of existence. #Constantine pic.twitter.com/uINDaBLzzf” Look close behind the helmet of Fate... — Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) August 3, 2014 Look closer we did and it appears that the artificat behind Doctor Fate's helmet is none other than the Ibistick, a magicial wand that belongs to Ibis the Invincible. You're probably scratching your head as to who this is but the character himself isn't what's most exciting about this easter egg. It's his connection to Fawcett City and Shazam (Captain Marvel) which should have comic book fans buzzing. Ibis and "Shazam" had many Golden Age adventures protecting Fawcett City from the likes of King Kull, The Shade and other Golden Age Fawcett Comics villains. Ibis was even a member of Shazam's Squadron of Justice, a team that included Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Ibis, Bulletman and Bulletgirl and Mister Scarlet. Whether the Ibistick leads to something substantial or it's...

Well, the big day is finally here! After leading the Avengers in stopping an alien invasion Summer before last, our favorite shield-slinger returns to the multiplexes in an all new solo adventure (well, he’s got some help from the Black Widow and the high-flyin’ Falcon)! Before you head out, you may want to brush up on all things Steve Rogers (don’t worry, this won’t be on the final!)! Have fun and buy bonds!

Read my original review of Captain America Here.

Here’s my original article that ran on Wamg before Captain America: The First Avenger was released in 2011.

The very first appearance of the sentinel of liberty.

Okay fellow movie geeks! Ready for a bit of pop culture history? Before you head out to the multiplex this weekend to see Paramount’s Captain America: The First Avenger, let’s get better acquainted with the story of this star-spangled superhero.

Here at Moviefone, we think America's greatness should be celebrated all year long -- or, at the very least, for an extra week. That's why we're declaring March 31 - April 4 "America F@$& Yeah" week, with five days of patriotic interviews and features that honor America and the movies.

Captain America has been Marvel's flagship character since Joe Simon and Jack Kirby drew up the first issue in March of 1941, their star-spangled superhero punching Hitler in the face like some fever dream of Betsy Ross. Since his Silver Age revival in the 1960s (under Kirby and Stan Lee) Cap has been a man out of time, an unapologetically patriotic hero celebrated in the Vietnam/counterculture era, transcending the red, white, and blue uniform to become a universal icon.

As portrayed with surprising psychological depth by Chris Evans, our favorite frozen Capsicle has been thawed for a new generation of moviegoers, starting...