Captain America

There have been countless film adaptations of comic strip, comic book and pulp magazine adventures. This has been true for the last 60 years or so. Hence, we have seen FLASH GORDON,BUCK ROGERS,TIM TYLER'S LUCK, JUNGLE JIM,THE SHADOW,THE SPIDER,SUPERMAN,CAPTAIN MARVEL,BATMAN and even such minor leaguers as CONGO BILL,TEX GRANGER and THE VIGILANTE (among many others)were seen on the silver screen matinée bill.

In the 30's,40's and 50's most of these were not produced as feature films, but rather in the form of the serial, AKA the chapter-play or cliffhanger. This was before the arrival of Television as the dominant media. All of the studios involved in sound serials at the time (Republic, Universal and Columbia)acquired rights to do some of these features as part of their serial output.

In 1944 Republic brought us the adventures of CAPTAIN America. One can only imagine that the juvenile audience of that time were highly excited in the expectation of CAPTAIN America being on the screen, as well in comic books published by Timley Publications (later known as Atlas and still later Marvel Comics).

Indeed, CAPTAIN America was the first Timley/Atlas/Marvel feature to be so adapted, but what happened? We all knew that C.A. was in reality Army Private Steve Rogers, a former 4F recruit who was transformed into a man of great physical power and physique (tho not super powered).Steve Rogers was to be the proto type, the first of an army of former 4F's. He had been a sort of human guinea pig for a kind of super vitamin injected into him (later accounts said a pill was used), in order to make him into the type of red-blooded fighting man we needed for World War II. (Did this foreshadow the emergence of anabolic steroids two decades later?) He wore a colorful costume, based on the American Flag. He had a juvenile assistant,"Bucky" (Bucky Barnes),who was much like Batman's Robin. He sported a shield, which functioned as a sort of giant boomerang-like weapon, as well as affording protection against enemy fire power.

He fought the Axis agents, 5th Column Sabateurs and soldiers from Nazi Germany,Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. He actually existed because of WWII, and other than the familiar figure of Uncle Sam on the recruiting posters or maybe Lady Columbia, no symbol was more representative of the USA than Captain America.

So, what of the serial from Republic? Other than the title, there is very little in common with the comic page version. His identity in the film is District Attorney Grant Gardner. He has no connection to the military.He had no Bucky, no wings on cowl and a plain .38 caliber pistol instead of the multi-purpose shield. For that matter, you'd think that there was no war going on in this story line.

This might have been okay as a serial if it was made in the pre-war years. It really should have been given a different title.

This serial isn't exactly what fans of the Captain America comic book character might expect. Here's the "bad" news: The hero in this serial isn't the same Captain America as in the comic books. This hero is called Captain America and wears a costume close to the one in the comics, but that's where the similarities end. This guy isn't Steve Rogers. He doesn't have a special shield and instead he just uses a gun!

Now here's the good news: This isn't bad! There's plenty of fun stuff in this one for serial fans. Some have commented on Dick Purcell's "pudgy" physique, but he still makes a fine 1940's serial hero whose quick on the trigger. I wouldn't mess with the guy. Purcell's Captain America is far more lethal than his comic book counterpart and he has no problem pulling a gun and sending his enemies to their graves. Purcell's Captain is one deadly superhero. His Captain America kills four different guys in just the first 15 minutes of the serial! The Captain's gal pal Gail Richards (who is very cute) also packs a pistol and knows how to use it!

The silly: There are always silly elements of comic book movies and my favorite bit of silliness in this serial is "the vibrator". The bad guys really want to get their hands on a brilliant scientist's "vibrator". At one point the scientists actually asks the chief villain "What do you know about my vibrator?"!LOL!

The verdict: Captain America is an extremely entertaining serial with plenty of enjoyable moments. This Captain America is a different guy from the comic version, but he's more of a straight shooting vigilante and I liked Purcell's Captain's style. This is fun stuff! It's a blast of entertaining escapism and I enjoyed every second of it. Captain America isn't the best serial you'll ever see, but that's part of it's charm. I give Captain America an A+ for being topnotch fun.

No, it's just a cheap 1940s serial using the Cap's good name. If you are a fan of the comic book, you will be greatly disappointed. They have radically changed the character. No shield, no Bucky, no fighting the Nazis, no wings on the side of his mask and most importantly: Captain America is now a District Attorney and no longer a GI.

Dick Purcell as Captain America? Don't look too closely when he changes into his costume. It is pretty obvious that he was not in the best physical shape when he made this serial(can you say flabby?). It is also VERY obvious that a stunt man is performing most of the action here. Almost every chapter has an obligatory fist fight that is shot and performed in exactly the same way. The villain is rather bland and although he uses an alias (The Scarab), he doesn't wear a disguise of any kind. The story is repetitive and very simple. The effects are laughable and the action is average. On the plus side we have sexy Lorna Gray as the D.A.'s assistant and the good Captain gets to ride on a cool looking motorcycle in one early chapter. Overall OK but nothing special.

A crime wave is underway in the city, all masterminded by the Scarab, a sinister genius who is actually respected citizen Dr. Cyrus Maldor (Lionel Atwill). District attorney Grant Gardner (Dick Purcell) is determined to stop this rash of murders and robberies, and if he can't do it in the courtroom, he'll do it in costume as Captain America, a two-fisted crime fighter. He's helped by reporter girlfriend Gail Richards (Lorna Gray), and he'll need all the help he can get to stop the Scarab and his array of fantastic weapons.

I have to wonder why Republic licensed the Captain America comic book character if they had no intention of having the character resemble the print version, except in costume. The comic character was a puny young man named Steve Rogers who was eager to join the army to fight in WW2, but he was deemed physically unfit for duty. He volunteers for an experiment which turns him into the perfect human specimen, with strength, speed, agility and endurance at near superhuman levels. He's also outfitted with a shield made from an indestructible alloy, and he takes off for the war front, where he battles the Axis powers. Unfortunately, Republic changes the character into a lawyer with a different name and a bit of a paunch, no shield, no experimental super-fitness, only a revolver that he has no compunction about frequently using. Oh, and bizarrely enough, no Nazis or other Axis enemies to fight, only homegrown crooks.

Purcell is the central weakness of this serial. As I mentioned, he's not in good shape, and he has no screen charisma either in or out of his costume. He actually died the week after filming was complete, with the cause attributed to overexertion while filming this. There is a lot of action, even for a serial, with several car chases, jumping and falling stunts, and dozens of fistfights and shoot-outs. I think they throw about 7 dummies off of high places, and use a crate of explosives to simulate grenade attacks or gunpowder explosions. Our hero Captain America is not above killing his foes, either, shooting several, throwing a few out of skyscraper windows, or forcing them off the side of a cliff during a high-speed chase.

Lionel Atwill is fun as the villain, whose secret identity is never secret from the audience, only from the film's good guys. He utilizes various high-tech devices, including a resurrection machine and a lightning generator. My favorite though, and a source of much unintentional hilarity early on, is an earthquake machine that its inventor refers to as his "giant vibra-tor". When Atwill demands the plans, the inventor swears that "you'll never get your hands on my vibra-tor!". Later, when a test of the device is planned, Gray's reporter character arrives with big eyes and a smile, declaring, "I can't wait to see a demonstration of your vibra-tor!" Indeed.

While this serial is action packed and entertaining, it doesn't offer anything new or original.They basically just put the generic hero in a Captain America costume with no explanation why.This version of Captain America is a district attorney who carries a gun,because that makes sense.He uses the gun as Cap too and I really like that.He shoots and kills people, that's what America is all about.The story is about The Scarab, a secretly evil scientist who is killing other scientists.He keeps stealing weapons that can destroy buildings and Cap has to save the day.The first episode is 25 minutes but the rest are 12-15 minutes with 3 minutes from the previous episode.I'm sure a 3 minute recap is nice if you saw the last episode 7 days ago but when you watch them all at once, it's quite annoying.This is only for fans of the old serials.Captain America fans will be extremely disappointed.