DVD : Adventures of Captain Marvel

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Adventures Of Captain Marvel
I Was Very pleased. I believe that this is the best of the old serials.
The quality of the restoration of "Captain Marvel" was all that I could have expected.

Rating:

- Well Done Serial
Apart from Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, this is probably the best serial ever produced. Like the above, kids love this series -- but so do many of us "old kids."

The episodes are filled with action, the actors are good, and the effects (considering it is a serial) are fine. It holds your attnetion and leaves you with the typical "cliff hangers" between episodes.

Rating:

- Captain Marvel Magic
I first saw this serial when I was a kid back in the fifties. I loved it then and seeing again now was absolute magic. It's still top class even after all those years. Great cliff hangers at the end of each episode and good acting all round. Even my teenage kids thought it was great and they are hard to please. Well worth a look.

Rating:

- STILL, The World's Mightiest Mortal!!
What can I say other than THIS serial is not only one of the best superhero adaptations ever, but as a point of historical significance, it is also the series that helped Captain Marvel's comics outsell those of The Man of Steel--Superman,which prompted the infamous DC COMICS v. Fawcett lawsuit! As entertainment, it does veer away from the comics somewhat. Billy Batson isn't a 13 year old, but a young man in his late teens or early 20s. Most of the original supporting cast is missing but Tom Tyler is near perfect as the Ol' SHAZAM-er(except for that slight Mid-Western accent!)The action centers around an ancient artifact called the Scorpion which contains lenses that can either turn base metals into gold or fire destructive power beams! The lenses are scattered and a masked villain, who also calls himself the Scorpion, spends the entire series trying to retrieve them, for they only work if they are together. The Big Red Cheese (as Marvel is nicknamed by fans) tries to stop him. The action is high octane with gunplay and violence that may be too strong for the very young. Captain Marvel is stern and like the pulp heroes of the day, isn't squeamish about using intimidation to get a thug to talk. The highlight of the series are the scenes of our hero in flight. Contrary to popular belief, it was Captain Marvel,not Superman, who first demonstrated the power of flight and in this series the stunt is pulled off by three methods: 1. Tom Tyler supported by wires against a cloudy backdrop ala George "Superman" Reeves 2. The spectacular take offs and landings by a stuntman. 3. The most clever of all, a lifelike dummy sliding on wires filmed in a real landscape! The overall affect is amazing and has you truly beleiving that a man can fly! This series is a must have for any comic book fan, devotees of the REAL Captain Marvel and action lovers everywhere!

Rating:

- Hero? Zero!
Random thoughts...
1. This was suppossed to be Superman's first movie outing, it should've been.
2. The movie itself and the special effects were okay.
3. The most vocal objection that I have is about the scene where Captain Marvel throws a thug off of a building! This is not the way heroes are suppossed to act! All the rest of them were hummanitarians and never killed; Captain Marvel seemed to enjoy throwing people around!
4. As Billy Batson, he's a wimp! He must not have his powers without the suit. The part where Billy revelas to the Scorpion the secret of "Shazam!" when he saw that his girlfriend Betty was about to get murdered is a total cop out! Superman never would've dilberatly revealed his secret identiy, but then again Superman had his powers all the time, maybe Capttain Marvel didn't.
I agree that it's a great movie otherwise, but not fantastic.

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