The Return of Captain Invincible

The US government's latest secret weapon is stolen, and the only man who can find it is an alcoholic ex-superhero. Captain Invincible returned to obscurity in his native Australia after a nasty run in with HUAC...

Captain Invincible is a hilarious, rock-opera parody of DC/Marvel superhero comics. To give away too much of the ridiculously ramshackle plot would be to spoil it, but you suspect this film was inspired by Christopher Lee's lament that he never starred in a musical comedy.

Lee steals the film as the dastardly arch-villain Mr. Midnight, belting out his numbers in a fine bass-baritone, as scantily clad slave girls massage his jodhpured thighs. Unforgettable.

I first saw this film when I was but a young lad, and loved it - the fact that some of the film was set in Australia played something of a major part in this - although some bits frightened me for no apparent reason. On repeated viewings, however, I have to say the film still holds up in the manner it was intended: over the top, extremely silly, fun.

The casting is superb; Christopher Lee and Alan Arkin skine, and I'm one Australian who wouldn't have minded seeing Graham Kennedy as the real Prime Minister...

Although they're quite well written - the "Hypno-Ray" song still sticks in my memory - the songs do seem a bit out of place, but when you're watching the story of an alcoholic ex-superhero who's retired to Australia, well... Frankly I think the sillier the better!

I love this film! Ok, the plot is a little thin, but when you have Alan Arkin playing his part so beautifully (with tongue firmly in cheek) and the marvellous spectacle of Christopher Lee as the evil Mr Midnight, coupled with songs by Richard O'Brian, who cares about a little thing like the plot?! There are lots of throwaway lines, sound gags, sight gags and puns in here which means that I can sit through repeat viewings and still find something new, much as I did with Airplane (sad but true!)and the highlight for me is Mr Midnight taunting Cap with 'Name Your Poison', one of O'Brien's best numbers (behind the Time Warp and the Floor Show from 'The Rocky Horror Show'. If the film has a weakness it's that it can't quite make up its mind whether to be a comedy, a musical, a super-hero story or indeed anything, but it still has a wonderful gentle charm. I just wish I could track down a commercial video of it in England, as my copy taped from the TV is starting to break up!

This is a film that could have become a cult classic with better editing. Some bits just don't work - in the BBC TV showing these were edited out; if you can, get that version rather than the full version on DVD. If you do have the DVD version watch it once through then just skip the bits that left you cold.

The humour is mostly pretty low-brow, with some appalling puns, but there's more than one level; if you're a fan of DC or Marvel comics, watch sci-fi movies or know Australian and American politics and history there are some fine little gags buried in here.

There are also some very subtle sight gags - a film to watch the backgrounds as well as the foregrounds...

My particular favourite is what Christopher Lee eats in the film; watch the meal scenes and you'll see what I mean.

Don't worry too much about the plot - it is there and it makes sense, but it's a comic-book plot not a big story. Also, don't worry about some of the odder characters - they are ALL there for a reason, but if you haven't read/seen the right things you'll never work them out.

The songs are generally very clever and, despite the singing not being the best, well delivered. "Drinking Song" is probably the highlight, with Christopher Lee doing what he does best - showing his teeth and megalomaniac glare, although his "singing" is on a par with certain other actors (William Shatner and Telly Savalas come to mind). "Mr. Midnight" is also funny; shot as two scenes; Chris with leathers and whip, surrounded by scantily-clad dominatrices, Alan on a train trying to be anonymous whilst singing and dancing.

This is also Terry Pratchett's favourite film - I actually have one of his books signed "to the OTHER person who likes Captain Invincible". So there are at least *four* people in the world who loved this film - granted, the other two are my kids and they may be humouring their old man.

I was a princely 13 when this film was made. Fortunately my first viewing was on television. The second time around I took the decency to make a VHS recording of it which still survives in digital form today. Thanks goodness I did.

That's because there's actually several versions of this film out there. There's the original cinematic version, then a DVD (which is very close to the original) and then there's the TV version that I've got (which was actually created in 1982 and is very different, especially the vastly superior soundtrack).

The TV version is the best - by far - and also the hardest to find.

This film was made by the Sydney film making clan in it's childhood years. Take a look at the surnames in the production credits and compare these to something made in Sydney 15 years later. You'll see similar surnames and different first names everywhere. Such is the nepotism that was the Sydney film scene in that era.

Much of the film was made on location at the (then only recently decommissioned) White Bay Power station. Magic moments abound in this film. Snapshots of a forgotten Sydney that range from musical interludes aboard a red rattler (complete with open doors). Production stories abound. Many from Art Dept Elex Graham Beatty who worked on this film and tells of many tales most should not hear! We can watch today and wonder how much of that liquor was real (likely 100%) and how much made it out of White Bay at the end of the production (likely less than 5%). Such was Sydney in the Eighties.

More than anything, "Return of Captain Invincible" is a fantastic hoot as well as a snapshot in history. It's long been my overall favourite Aussie film - and that includes the ones I worked on.

Watch it from end to end and if you need to, have some alcohol handy! ZM