Adventures of Captain Marvel
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| Adventures of Captain Marvel | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster for Adventures of Captain Marvel Episode 10: "Doom Ship" |
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| Directed by | William Witney John English |
| Produced by | Hiram S. Brown, Jr. |
| Written by | Character: Bill Parker C. C. Beck Screenplay: Ronald Davidson Norman S. Hall Arch B. Heath Joseph Poland Sol Shor |
| Starring | Tom Tyler Frank Coghlan Jr. William Benedict Louise Currie Robert Strange Harry Worth Bryant Washburn John Davidson |
| Music by | Cy Feuer |
| Cinematography | William Nobles |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  28 March 1941 |
| Running time | 216 min. (12 chapters) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $135,553 (Negative cost: $145,588)[1] |
| IMDb profile | |
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) is a twelve-chapter film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics publications. It starred Tom Tyler (who also played The Phantom) in the title role of Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as his alter ego, Billy Batson.
This serial was the twenty-first of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic and their first comic book adaptation (not counting comic strips such as Dick Tracy). Spy Smasher, also based on a Fawcett character, would follow in 1942.
This serial was the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero.[2] That claim would have gone to the previous serial, Mysterious Doctor Satan, which was intended to have been a Superman serial until National Comics (now DC Comics) pulled out of negotiations. National Comics unsuccessfully attempted to sue Republic for producing a Captain Marvel serial.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The serial featured an adaptation of the Fawcett Comics superhero, placed within an original story in which he fought a criminal mastermind, called The Scorpion, who is determined to gain total control of a magical gold scorpion figurine, which is a disguised optical weapon of incredible power (including, but not limited to, melting rock via a projected death ray).
The Golden Scorpion is found during an expedition to Siam, which is also where young journalist Billy Batson meets the wizard Shazam while trapped in a crypt. Shazam grants him the ability to change into Captain Marvel in order to prevent the Golden Scorpion from falling into the wrong hands.
Back in the USA, the lenses of the Golden Scorpion are divided among several members of the expedition for safe keeping. However, one of them is of course the Masked Mystery Villain, The Scorpion. The heroes must discover his identity whilst preventing him from gaining all of the lenses and making use of the figurine's powers for criminal purposes.
[edit] Cast
- Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel
- Frank Coghlan Jr. as Billy Batson
- William Benedict as Whitey Murphy
- Louise Currie as Betty Wallace
- Robert Strange as John Malcolm
- Harry Worth as Prof. Luther Bentley
- Bryant Washburn as Harry Carlyle
- John Davidson as Tal Chotali
- George Pembroke as Dr. Stephen Lang
- Peter George Lynn as Prof. Dwight Fisher
- Reed Hadley as Rahman Bar
- Jack Mulhall as Howell
- Kenneth Duncan as Barnett
- Nigel De Brulier as Shazam
- Tetsu Komai as Chan Lai
[edit] Chapter titles
- Curse of the Scorpion
- The Guillotine
- Time Bomb
- Death Takes the Wheel
- The Scorpion Strikes
- Lens of Death
- Human Targets
- Boomerang
- Dead Man's Trap
- Doom Ship
- Valley of Death
- Captain Marvel's Secret
[edit] Production notes
The budget for this serial was set at $135,553 but the production's negative cost rose to $145,588. While the production was $10,035 (7.4%) over budget, this is not a significantly large amount for a Republic serial - The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939) was $20,119 overbudget while Captain America (1944) went over by $40,283.[1]
The serial was an outgrowth of Republic's failed attempt at a chapterplay to feature National Periodical Publications (today DC Comics)'s Superman, the script for which had become the studio's Mysterious Doctor Satan. The film company approached Fawcett Comics for their most popular character, and that publishing house did not refuse the opportunity. Director William Witney was, however, skeptical about trying to film Captain Marvel after the problems with Superman[3].
That decision made Captain Marvel the first comic book superhero to be depicted in film. National attempted legal action to prevent the filming, citing the previous attempt at a Superman serial, but they were unsuccessful. Writing in his autobiography of the period, William Witney revealed that in his deposition he had claimed that both Superman and Captain Marvel were derivative of Popeye[3]. About a decade later, following a legal battle with National and a declining market, Fawcett ceased publication of all its comic series. In the 1970s, the Captain Marvel family of characters was licensed and revived (and ultimately purchased) by DC Comics.
The serial has been hailed as among the finest of the form for both its writing and its production values. In particular, the special effects produced primarily by the Lydecker brothers, and specifically the shots showing Captain Marvel flying, are often impressive. The flying scenes were done in long shots by sliding a hollow, slightly-oversized mannequin along a thin and slightly slanted wire to produce the illusion of a flying man. When the script called for a steep climb, the dummy was sent feet first down the wire with the cape's bottom weighted to prevent air resistance from flipping it up, and the footage was played backwards. These shots were augmented by acrobatic take-offs and landings executed by stuntman David Sharpe. The technique had been developed in the earlier serial Darkest Africa (1936) and was later used again in the "Rocket Man" serials (King of the Rocket Men, Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe) released during 1949-1953. The much cheaper Columbia Pictures Superman serials which appeared in the late 1940s used animated cartoon sequences to represent various actions, most frequently Superman's flights (Columbia produced the cheapest serials of the period and producer Sam Katzman was notorious for cutting costs).
While the Captain Marvel of the Fawcett comics participates in fairly light-hearted adventures and rarely causes injury, much less death, it was something of a shock to audiences in 1941[citation needed] when the serial Captain was shown casually tossing villains off the tops of buildings and, in the first chapter, using a machine gun to "mow down" fleeing opponents.
The Scorpion weapon would reappear, decades later, in the 1990s Power of Shazam comic book.
The opening military scenes are taken from a 1938 Republic Pictures film Storm Over Bengal.
Republic reissued this serial in 1952, under the new title The Return of Captain Marvel.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Mathis, Jack (1995). Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement. ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
- ^ See: Superhero films
- ^ a b c Witney, William. In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase: Moviemaking Remembered by the Guy at the Door. (McFarland & Company) ISBN 0786422580
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940) |
Republic Serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) |
Succeeded by Jungle Girl (1941) |
| Preceded by Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940) |
Witney-English Serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) |
Succeeded by Jungle Girl (1941) |
