Rating:  -
One of the best serial I've seen, if not the best.
Escapism at it best.It has all the elements that kept us coming back for more as preteens and seniors citizens.
Rating: -
The Adventures of Captain Marvel is an outstanding example of the magic the old serials could produce. No wonder folks used to go to the movies every week like clockwork.
Captain Marvel produces real thrills 67 years after its release. The masterful direction and editing of these 12 chapters, supplied by the kings of serials William Witney and John English, don't have an ounce of fat or dead air despite a 3 ½ hour length. The special effects are simply outstanding and jaw dropping, not losing a bit of punch even in this deep into CGI domination. The use of miniatures are perfectly edited with actual explosions and back screens to tremendous effect (explosions and cave-ins have actual thunder and weight!); and when Captain Marvel flies . . . well, I have watched a few scenes over and over, and despite an explanation on the back of the DVD box, I still can't figure out how certain scenes looked so darn real. No kidding, it looked more realistic even than the sexist CGI in the newest Superman movie.
Tom Tyler is perfectly cast as the world's most powerful mortal. He had a true superhero's face and voice, and he must have been a tremendously powerful man. In more than one scene he lifts men over his head, supporting them with nothing but his arms, and walks with them. He makes it look perfectly natural. I particularly loved Frank Coghlan Jr.'s performance as Billy Batson. Anyone that thinks Billy was a wimp must not have noticed how many times over the twelve chapters he was beaten unconscious, only to come back for more with his engaging, sideways grin and bouncy gate.
It is easy to see why this serial rates so highly in the pantheon of great popular entertainment.
Finally, it should be noted (with pleasure) that the Captain Marvel of this serial was not hindered by the strict moral code exhibited by Superman or other superheroes. No-siree. The Captain routinely throws the Scorpion's thugs off buildings and cliffs, sending them screeching to their deaths, and has no problem whatever in beating information out of folks. I think my favorite moment was when Captain Marvel pushes a captive's face ever closer to a bed of nails until he starts jabbering information for all he's worth (Tyler's face in these moments holds all the sympathy of a hawk with a mouse in its talons). Heck, in one scene while waking forward through a hail of gunfire, bullets ricocheting off his chest, he wears a grin of pure, sadistic anticipation.
This is one superhero that really loved his work.
As for the technical details - great, clear picture and very good sound.
Most highly recommended. --Mykal Banta
Rating: -
I enjoyed this serial as a kid and as an adult. All of your reviews are right on target. As a kid what impressed me most was the power of a word, i.e., SHAZAM. As and adult the thing that impressed me the most was the lack of wrinkles in his suit...unlike Steve Reeves TV Superman...and this about 20 years before the invention of SPANDEX.
gerrymac
Rating: -
This is one of the 2 best movie serials of all time. I would recommend that any fan of escapist cinema and classic movies see at least a couple of the chapters, since it is such a fine example of what a good serial could be. It is fast paced, has good fight scenes, and, for the time period, excellent special effects. In fact, until perhaps the 1978 film `Superman,' there were no superior the flying sequences anywhere on TV or cinema. Along with these legendary sequences, the screen presence and performance of Tom Tyler really make this a magical experience.
At the time of this serial, Tom Tyler was a veteran (and underrated) movie actor, entering the downward slide of a career. Besides having about 15 years of fight scenes on his resume, he had been both a lumberjack and a champion weight lifter, so that he had a lean, athletic physique and carried himself like a strong and tough man. Also, his chiseled facial features, dark hair and steely eyes projected determination and formidability. Although given very few lines, Tyler was completely believable and magnetic in the role. Tyler's Captain Marvel is truly one of the most awesome serial heroes, right up there with Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon. Frank Coghlan Jr. is perfect as Cap's alter ego, Billy Batson, and the rest of the supporting cast is good as well.
Fans of the comic book and TV versions of Captain Marvel should be warned that this serial is, in several significant ways, very different from the Cap they remember. Part of this is due to the fact that whenever Republic Pictures adapted a comic strip, they took some liberties. The other factor is that this serial was filmed when the Captain Marvel comic strip was only 1 year old, before the tone and spirit of Captain Marvel had been established (the Captain Marvel comics did not really develop a consistent style or sensibility until about 1943 or so: it isn't till around that time that the really classic Captain Marvel stuff started coming out).
Without spoiling too much, viewers should be warned that on at least 2 occasions, Captain Marvel summarily dispatches some of the minor villains. Dispatch, as in sending them to meet their maker. This is understandable within the context of the times and 1930's ideal of a hero. In 1941, comic book heroes had not settled into their now ubiquitous code of non-lethality. The forerunners of the super-heroes, the pulp heroes such as the Shadow and the Spider, had no reservations toward casually gunning down a few thugs. Likewise, audiences in 1941 were of a generation that witnessed law enforcement officers summarily executing Bonnie & Clyde as well as John Dillinger.
Captain Marvel's readiness to kill might also serve as a rationale for Billy's hesitancy to use his alter ego. In this version, Billy gets into fistfights with thugs, even when he is outnumbered, rather than turning into Cap. For dramatic purposes, this makes sense because it allows for various death traps to be set and keeps the fight scenes exiting. But it also fits into a subtext that perhaps Captain Marvel has too much power, that he is perhaps like genie from a bottle, a quasi-demonic expression of the Id. This Captain Marvel, who gets a little too violent sometimes, and who Billy Batson only reluctantly calls upon, could be considered an early forerunner of the Incredible Hulk.
Despite this Captain's occasional lapses into vigilantism, the overall spirit of this serial keeps within the norms of the era and the genre, and so is great fun and escapism. This serial is vastly superior to either of the Superman serials (1948 & 1950) as well as the Captain Marvel `Shazam!' TV series of the 1970's. On an ultra low budget and long before CGI, this serial recreated the magic of the comics.
Rating: -
If this series doesnt take you back to those days of Saturday serials and double or triple features nothing will !!! Of course its hokey , it wasnt meant to be a classic, it was meant for kids !!! GREAT!!! GREAT !! GREAT !!! That about somes it up folks!!! Have Fun Kiddies!!!
|
