Adventures of Captain Marvel
Encyclopedia
Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 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 such as Whiz Comics
and Captain Marvel Adventures. 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 strip
s 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
. 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.
superhero
, placed within an original story in which he fights a mysterious masked criminal mastermind, called The Scorpion, who is determined to gain total control of a magical gold
scorpion figurine. It is actually a disguised optical weapon of incredible power (including, but not limited to, melting rock via a projected death ray
).
Billy Batson is an assistant radio operator with the Malcolm archaeological expedition
to "the Valley of the Tombs" in Siam
. The expedition is attacked by natives but Tal Chotali parleys with Rahman Bar. A sacred legend states no desecration will occur until the volcano, Scorpio, is active again. At the tombs, Billy refuses to enter the inner tomb as it would desecrate the religious beliefs of others. Instead he goes to pack pottery in another tunnel. In the inner tomb, Tal Chotali, Prof Malcolm, Prof Luthor Bentley, Dwight Fisher, and Dr Stephen Lang, find the Golden Scorpion. A ray from the Scorpion collapses the entrance to the tombs and opens a hidden passage between Billy and the ancient wizard
Shazam. Shazam grants him the ability to change into Captain Marvel
in order to prevent the Golden Scorpion from falling into the wrong hands. It is his "duty to see that the curse of the Scorpion is not visited on innocent people."
The lenses
from the Golden Scorpion are divided among the five scientists. Scorpio then erupts which triggers a native attack. However, the masked mystery villain
the Scorpion is orchestrating it, stealing one of the lenses during the hostilities. The natives get into Billy's tent, knocking him out then binding and gagging him. However Billy gets to another exhibition members tent and maks sounds outside, causing the man to come out and free him. The expedition is rescued by cavalry from Fort Mooltan. Captain Marvel then flies to a group of natives with a machine gun, knocks them out by throwing one at the other, and takes over the gun. Marvel then throws aside the gun and attacks with his bare fists. Marvel learns he is invulnerable as bullets bounce off his chest.
The expedition then returns to the United States, where the Scorpion attempts to acquire all of the lenses and the Scorpion device for his own power. Several expedition members are killed in his quest despite Captain Marvel's continual efforts to thwart the villain. Billy Batson soon decides that the man behind the Scorpion's mask is one of the team.
Eventually a second expedition sets out because it has been learned that Long had actually hidden his lens in the tomb. The Scorpion witnesses Billy's change during this and captures him - one of his men hides in the tomb and knocks Billy out from behind as he comes in, tying him up and gagging him. The Scorpion interrogates Billy for the secret. When Billy agrees to tell him, The Scorpion removes the gag and Billy says "Shazam", which transforms him into Captain Marvel.
The Scorpion is then revealed to be Bentley. He is killed by the disillusioned native chief, Rahman Bar, who uses the Scorpion in death ray mode. Captain Marvel then tosses the scorpion statue into the molten lava to prevent mankind from using it for evil in the future. Once it is destroyed,Captain Marvel is transformed back into Billy Batson instantly as there is no need for a protector for the scorpion anymore.
Adventures of Captain Marvel was budgeted at $135,553 although the final negative cost
was $145,588 (a $10,035, or 7.4%, overspend). It was filmed between December 23, 1940 and January 30, 1941 under the working title Captain Marvel. The serial's production number was 1098.
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. Director William Witney
was, however, skeptical about trying to film Captain Marvel after the problems with Superman. As a result, Adventures of Captain Marvel became the first superhero film adaptation of a comic book
.
National attempted legal action to prevent the filming, citing the previous attempt at a Superman serial, but was 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 derivatives of Popeye
. 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 opening military scenes are taken from a 1938
Republic Pictures
film Storm Over Bengal.
Tyler, who was described as clumsy, knocked over props with his "lanky arms". Punches in fight scenes would sometimes connect.
Due to his performance in King of the Royal Mounted
, Robert Strange as John Malcolm was the choice as the villain in this serial; however, in the end he was not actually the villain.
s produced primarily by the Lydecker brothers
, and specifically the shots showing Captain Marvel flying, are often impressive.
The flying effects were performed with a dummy. The dummy was slightly larger than life, at 7 feet tall, and made of paper mâché so that it weighed only 15 lbs. The uniform was made of thin silk and a cotton jersey. Four pulleys connected to each shoulder and calf, which were strung on two wires so the dummy moved along them by its own weight. The wires were attached to two objects across the view of the camera, and the dummy slid from one to the other, giving the appearance of flight. This system was originally intended for a Superman serial, a prototype of which was built but discarded. The flying pose used for the dummy, arms outstretched and back arched, was based on drawing by Mac Raboy
. If Captain Marvel needed to be seen flying upwards, the cape was weighted down and the dummy slid backwards. The film of this was then reversed.
Dave Sharpe
was the human part of the effect. Dressed as Captain Marvel, he would leap from a high point with his body straight, as if able to fly, then roll to land at the last second. The combination of effects and stunts produced the overall illusion of a flying person. Sharpe also performed other stunts as Captain Marvel, such as back flipping and knocking down attacking natives in the first chapter. Some shots of Captain Marvel flying were filmed with Tyler against rear projected clouds. However, some of these scenes show the wires used to hold him up.
According to Stedman, the flight scenes were "the most successful illusion of such aerobatics ever put upon the screen, in serial or feature."
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).
One of the tunics later appeared as the costume of a member of the Kryptonian science counsel in the first episode of The Adventures of Superman
television show, filmed in 1951. The lightning bolt on the tunic is partially concealed by means of an oversized collar around the actor's neck, but it is unmistakable to anyone familiar with this serial.
After the usage in Episode 1 of Superman, two Captain Marvel tunics were sported by actors in early episodes of the original U.S. version of the pioneering TV series Space Patrol. Very soon into the series, however, the Marvel tunics were replaced by shirts custom made for the series.
At The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, one of the remaining Captain Marvel tunics has been on public display.
and Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders.
Due to the 'nostalgia' craze in the spring of 1966 resulting from the hit Batman TV show, the serial was re-released as a 4-hour movie compiling all 12 chapters.
released the serial as a two-tape VHS
set in 1995. The serial was released on DVD
in 2003.
The original Captain Marvel comics, as a rule, did not absorb many elements of this serial, but there were some effects nonetheless. The characters of Betty Wallace and Whitey Murphy both appeared in the Fawcett comics for a while in the 1940s starting with "Capt. Marvel And The Temple Of Itzalotahui" (Whiz Comics
#22, Oct. 3, 1941) featuring Murphy plus John Malcolm from the movie; Murphy made several appearances in the 1970s DC Comics incarnation of Captain Marvel.
Fawcett also published a sequel
to the film in 1941. Titled The Return of the Scorpion, it was one of the four releases in its Dime Action Books series which imitated the format of the popular Big Little Books. The book is notable for reusing several characters from the movie and for being Otto Binder
's first writing assignment at Fawcett; he went on to being a prolific scripter for the company.
A serialized two year story arc featuring Mr. Mind and the original Monster Society of Evil in Captain Marvel Adventures #22-#46 showed the influence and inspiration of the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial. This two-year story arc was the first of its kind, and is regarded by comic book fans and historians as one of the milestones of the Golden Age of Comics. In 1989, cartoonist Mike Higgs compiled this entire story arc into a hardcover limited edition collection. This book includes a photo of Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel, underscoring the linkage to this serial.
Captain Marvel was the first super-powered and costumed comic strip hero to be filmed, and the first character exclusively created for comic books (as opposed to newspaper strips, such as Flash Gordon
and Dick Tracy
) to be filmed as well. Therefore, it fell upon The Adventures of Captain Marvel to prove that comic book heroes could be bankable movie properties. The release of the serial led to a long line of comic book super-hero serials, films, and television shows, which continues to this day.
In 1994, comic book writer/artist Jerry Ordway
introduced modern audiences to Captain Marvel with a long-form painted graphic novel, The Power of Shazam!
, and an ongoing comic book series spin-off which ran from 1995 to 1999. Ordway used the Republic serial as his initial inspiration in his handling of the Captain Marvel characters, and the influence is evident in both the graphic novel and the series: Captain Marvel's costume design was restored to the button-flap tunic version seen in early issues od Whiz Comics and this serial, and the Scorpion weapon from the film serial appears in several of the issues.
Screenwriter and B-movie producer Don Glut, a fan of the serial, would later go on to become a writer for the live-action Shazam!
TV program, a popular 1970's adaptation of Captain Marvel. At least one episode of Shazam! featured outdoor shots of the famous Bronson Cave, which had been used for a memorable sequence in Adventures of Captain Marvel.
Source:
John English (director)
John English was an American film editor and film director...
and William Witney
William Witney
William Nuelsen Witney was an American film and television director. He is best remembered for the movie serials he co-directed with John English for Republic Pictures such as Daredevils of the Red Circle, Zorro's Fighting Legion and Drums of Fu Manchu.He directed many Westerns during his career,...
for Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
publications such as Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from February 1940 with issue #2 and stopping at issue #155 in June 1953, best known for introducing Captain Marvel. The first issue published of Whiz Comics was issue #2...
and Captain Marvel Adventures. It starred Tom Tyler
Tom Tyler
Tom Tyler was an American actor in silent and sound motion pictures, best known for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the acclaimed 1941 movie serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.-Biography:...
(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
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adaptation (not counting comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s such as Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy (serial)
Dick Tracy is a 15-Chapter Republic movie serial starring Ralph Byrd based on the Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by Alan James and Ray Taylor.-Synopsis:...
). Spy Smasher
Spy Smasher (serial)
Spy Smasher is a Republic movie serial based on the Fawcett Comics character Spy Smasher, which is now the property of DC Comics. It was the 25th of the 66 serials produced by Republic. The serial was directed by William Witney with Kane Richmond and Marguerite Chapman as the leads.This serial...
, also based on a Fawcett character, would follow in 1942
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
.
This serial was the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
. That claim would have gone to the previous serial, Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan is a 1940 film serial named after its chief villain. Doctor Satan's main opponent is The Copperhead, a masked mystery man secretly Bob Wayne....
, which was intended to have been a Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
serial until National Comics (now DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
) pulled out of negotiations. National Comics unsuccessfully attempted to sue Republic for producing a Captain Marvel serial.
Plot
The serial featured an adaptation of the Fawcett ComicsFawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
, placed within an original story in which he fights a mysterious masked criminal mastermind, called The Scorpion, who is determined to gain total control of a magical gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
scorpion figurine. It is actually a disguised optical weapon of incredible power (including, but not limited to, melting rock via a projected death ray
Raygun
Rayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
).
Billy Batson is an assistant radio operator with the Malcolm archaeological expedition
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
to "the Valley of the Tombs" in Siam
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. The expedition is attacked by natives but Tal Chotali parleys with Rahman Bar. A sacred legend states no desecration will occur until the volcano, Scorpio, is active again. At the tombs, Billy refuses to enter the inner tomb as it would desecrate the religious beliefs of others. Instead he goes to pack pottery in another tunnel. In the inner tomb, Tal Chotali, Prof Malcolm, Prof Luthor Bentley, Dwight Fisher, and Dr Stephen Lang, find the Golden Scorpion. A ray from the Scorpion collapses the entrance to the tombs and opens a hidden passage between Billy and the ancient wizard
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
Shazam. Shazam grants him the ability to change into Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
in order to prevent the Golden Scorpion from falling into the wrong hands. It is his "duty to see that the curse of the Scorpion is not visited on innocent people."
The lenses
Lens (optics)
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
from the Golden Scorpion are divided among the five scientists. Scorpio then erupts which triggers a native attack. However, the masked mystery villain
Masked Mystery Villain
A Masked Mystery Villain is a stock character in genre fiction. The Masked Mystery Villain was frequently used in the adventure stories of Pulp magazines and Movie Serials in the early twentieth century. They can also appear in Crime fiction to add to the atmosphere of suspense and suspicion...
the Scorpion is orchestrating it, stealing one of the lenses during the hostilities. The natives get into Billy's tent, knocking him out then binding and gagging him. However Billy gets to another exhibition members tent and maks sounds outside, causing the man to come out and free him. The expedition is rescued by cavalry from Fort Mooltan. Captain Marvel then flies to a group of natives with a machine gun, knocks them out by throwing one at the other, and takes over the gun. Marvel then throws aside the gun and attacks with his bare fists. Marvel learns he is invulnerable as bullets bounce off his chest.
The expedition then returns to the United States, where the Scorpion attempts to acquire all of the lenses and the Scorpion device for his own power. Several expedition members are killed in his quest despite Captain Marvel's continual efforts to thwart the villain. Billy Batson soon decides that the man behind the Scorpion's mask is one of the team.
Eventually a second expedition sets out because it has been learned that Long had actually hidden his lens in the tomb. The Scorpion witnesses Billy's change during this and captures him - one of his men hides in the tomb and knocks Billy out from behind as he comes in, tying him up and gagging him. The Scorpion interrogates Billy for the secret. When Billy agrees to tell him, The Scorpion removes the gag and Billy says "Shazam", which transforms him into Captain Marvel.
The Scorpion is then revealed to be Bentley. He is killed by the disillusioned native chief, Rahman Bar, who uses the Scorpion in death ray mode. Captain Marvel then tosses the scorpion statue into the molten lava to prevent mankind from using it for evil in the future. Once it is destroyed,Captain Marvel is transformed back into Billy Batson instantly as there is no need for a protector for the scorpion anymore.
Cast
- Tom TylerTom TylerTom Tyler was an American actor in silent and sound motion pictures, best known for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the acclaimed 1941 movie serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.-Biography:...
as Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2... - Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, radio operator with the Malcolm Expedition and secret identity of Captain Marvel.
- William BenedictWilliam BenedictWilliam Benedict was an American actor. Born in Haskell, Oklahoma, he took part in school theatricals, and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood. His first film was $10 Raise starring Edward Everett Horton, which launched Benedict on a busy career...
as Whitey Murphy, a friend of Billy Batson. - Louise CurrieLouise CurrieLouise Currie is a former American film actress, active from the 1940s into the early 1950s.Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Currie first attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she became interested in acting...
as Betty Wallace, a friend of Billy Batson. - Robert Strange as John Malcolm, leader of the Malcolm Expedition.
- Harry Worth as Prof Luther Bentley, a member of the Malcolm Expedition and the mystery villain The Scorpion.
- Bryant WashburnBryant WashburnBorn Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
as Harry Carlyle - John DavidsonJohn Davidson (actor)John Davidson was an American film actor. He appeared in 148 films between 1915 and 1963.He was born in New York, New York and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...
as Tal Chotali, the Malcolm Expedition's guide. - George Pembroke as Dr. Stephen Lang, a member of the Malcolm Expedition.
- Peter George Lynn as Prof Dwight Fisher, a member of the Malcolm Expedition.
- Reed HadleyReed HadleyReed Hadley was an American movie, television and radio actor.Reed Hadley was born Reed Herring in Petrolia in Clay County near Wichita Falls, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one sister, Bess Brenner. He was reared in Buffalo, New York...
as Rahman Bar, the native chief in the Valley of the Tombs. - Jack MulhallJack MulhallJack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
as Howell - Kenneth DuncanKenne DuncanKenne Duncan , born Kenneth Duncan MacLachlan, was a well-known B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction...
as Barnett - Nigel De BrulierNigel De BrulierNigel De Brulier was an English film actor, who launched his career in the theatre stage in his native country and transferred to movies after moving to USA. His first film role was a poet in The Pursuit of the Phantom in 1914...
as Shazam, the wizard who gives Billy the power to become Captain Marvel. - Tetsu KomaiTetsu KomaiTetsu Komai was a minor Hollywood actor born in Kumamoto, Japan who died in Gardena, California of congestive heart failure. Tetsu had small parts in over 50 films from the 1920s until the mid 1960s. In his early films, Tetsu was often described with derogatory terms such as Chinaman, although he...
as Chan Lai - Stanley PriceStanley PriceStanley Price was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was born in Kansas, United States.-Career:...
as Owens - Gerald MohrGerald MohrGerald Mohr was an American radio, film and television character actor who appeared in over 4,000 radio plays, 73 films and over 100 television shows....
as the voice of The Scorpion (uncredited)
Production
Negative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...
was $145,588 (a $10,035, or 7.4%, overspend). It was filmed between December 23, 1940 and January 30, 1941 under the working title Captain Marvel. The serial's production number was 1098.
The serial was an outgrowth of Republic's failed attempt at a chapterplay to feature National Periodical Publications (today DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
)'s Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, the script for which had become the studio's Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan is a 1940 film serial named after its chief villain. Doctor Satan's main opponent is The Copperhead, a masked mystery man secretly Bob Wayne....
. The film company approached Fawcett Comics for their most popular character, and that publishing house did not refuse. Director William Witney
William Witney
William Nuelsen Witney was an American film and television director. He is best remembered for the movie serials he co-directed with John English for Republic Pictures such as Daredevils of the Red Circle, Zorro's Fighting Legion and Drums of Fu Manchu.He directed many Westerns during his career,...
was, however, skeptical about trying to film Captain Marvel after the problems with Superman. As a result, Adventures of Captain Marvel became the first superhero film adaptation of a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
.
National attempted legal action to prevent the filming, citing the previous attempt at a Superman serial, but was unsuccessful. Writing in his autobiography of the period, William Witney revealed that in his deposition
Deposition (law)
In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
he had claimed that both Superman and Captain Marvel were derivatives of Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
. About a decade later, following a legal battle with National
National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications
National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 , was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel...
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 opening military scenes are taken from a 1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
film Storm Over Bengal.
Writing
The Republic writers replaced the wit and humor of the original comics with "serious, dedicated professionalism." As they could not use the standard fistfights with Captain Marvel, due to his superpowers compared to the normal antagonists, they had time for plot and characterization in the script.Casting
Republic cast Frank Coghlan as Billy Batson due to his physical resemblance to the character. However, there was some criticism that Tom Tyler did not sufficiently resemble the "beefy, baby-faced Captain Marvel." At the time, Tyler was a weightlifting champion and the costume matched Captain Marvel's original appearance, even down to slenderness. The appearance of the comic version had changed by this time, however.Tyler, who was described as clumsy, knocked over props with his "lanky arms". Punches in fight scenes would sometimes connect.
Due to his performance in King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted is a fictional series featuring the character Dave King, created by Stephen Slesinger in 1936. Slesinger licensed popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline and marketed the character as Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted....
, Robert Strange as John Malcolm was the choice as the villain in this serial; however, in the end he was not actually the villain.
Special effects
The serial has been hailed as among the finest of the form for both its writing and its production values. In particular, the special effectSpecial effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s produced primarily by the Lydecker brothers
Lydecker brothers
-Partial filmography:*Darkest Africa *Women in War - Oscar nominated*Adventures of Captain Marvel *Flying Tigers - Oscar nominated*Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe...
, and specifically the shots showing Captain Marvel flying, are often impressive.
The flying effects were performed with a dummy. The dummy was slightly larger than life, at 7 feet tall, and made of paper mâché so that it weighed only 15 lbs. The uniform was made of thin silk and a cotton jersey. Four pulleys connected to each shoulder and calf, which were strung on two wires so the dummy moved along them by its own weight. The wires were attached to two objects across the view of the camera, and the dummy slid from one to the other, giving the appearance of flight. This system was originally intended for a Superman serial, a prototype of which was built but discarded. The flying pose used for the dummy, arms outstretched and back arched, was based on drawing by Mac Raboy
Mac Raboy
Emmanuel "Mac" Raboy was an American cartoonist whose comic books and strips remain collectibles more than 40 years after his death. He was known for his work on Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel Jr...
. If Captain Marvel needed to be seen flying upwards, the cape was weighted down and the dummy slid backwards. The film of this was then reversed.
Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
was the human part of the effect. Dressed as Captain Marvel, he would leap from a high point with his body straight, as if able to fly, then roll to land at the last second. The combination of effects and stunts produced the overall illusion of a flying person. Sharpe also performed other stunts as Captain Marvel, such as back flipping and knocking down attacking natives in the first chapter. Some shots of Captain Marvel flying were filmed with Tyler against rear projected clouds. However, some of these scenes show the wires used to hold him up.
According to Stedman, the flight scenes were "the most successful illusion of such aerobatics ever put upon the screen, in serial or feature."
The technique had been developed in the earlier serial Darkest Africa
Darkest Africa
Darkest Africa is a Republic movie serial. This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle, also starring Clyde Beatty. Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and...
(1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
) and was later used again in the "Rocket Man" serials (King of the Rocket Men
King of the Rocket Men
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949 Republic movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the...
, Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
) released during 1949
1949 in film
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
-1953
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
.
The much cheaper Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
Superman
Superman (serial)
Superman is a 15-part black-and-white Columbia film serial based on the comic book character Superman. It stars an uncredited Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill as Lois Lane. It is notable as the first live-action appearance of Superman on film and for the longevity of its distribution...
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
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...
was notorious for cutting costs).
Costume
The tunic worn by Tyler and Sharpe was actually colored gray, not red, in order to be photographed well in black and white. Some Republic publicity materials featured water-colored stills of Tyler in this uniform, in which it was mistakenly colored blue instead of red.One of the tunics later appeared as the costume of a member of the Kryptonian science counsel in the first episode of The Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
television show, filmed in 1951. The lightning bolt on the tunic is partially concealed by means of an oversized collar around the actor's neck, but it is unmistakable to anyone familiar with this serial.
After the usage in Episode 1 of Superman, two Captain Marvel tunics were sported by actors in early episodes of the original U.S. version of the pioneering TV series Space Patrol. Very soon into the series, however, the Marvel tunics were replaced by shirts custom made for the series.
At The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, one of the remaining Captain Marvel tunics has been on public display.
Theatrical
Adventures of Captain Marvels official release date was March 28, 1941, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on April 15, 1953 under the title Return of Captain Marvel, between the first runs of Jungle Drums of AfricaJungle Drums of Africa
Jungle Drums of Africa is a 12-episode, American serial film, shot in black-and-white, which was an original commissioned screenplay by Ronald Davidson produced by Franklin Adreon and directed by Fred C. Brannon for Republic Pictures...
and Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders.
Due to the 'nostalgia' craze in the spring of 1966 resulting from the hit Batman TV show, the serial was re-released as a 4-hour movie compiling all 12 chapters.
Home media
Republic PicturesRepublic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
released the serial as a two-tape VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
set in 1995. The serial was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2003.
Critical reception
Harmon and Glut claim that Adventures of Captain Marvel is "unquestionably one of the finest movie serials ever made, possible the best with the exception of the three Flash Gordon epics." Cline describes this as one of the most outstanding of all serials and Republic's "masterpiece." He writes that Tyler's "striking performance...remains in thousands of minds as the most memorable serial hero of all time - bar none."Influence
The exposure of the movie serial no doubt aided sales of the Captain Marvel magazines, and it is well documented that for several years the character outsold Superman.The original Captain Marvel comics, as a rule, did not absorb many elements of this serial, but there were some effects nonetheless. The characters of Betty Wallace and Whitey Murphy both appeared in the Fawcett comics for a while in the 1940s starting with "Capt. Marvel And The Temple Of Itzalotahui" (Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from February 1940 with issue #2 and stopping at issue #155 in June 1953, best known for introducing Captain Marvel. The first issue published of Whiz Comics was issue #2...
#22, Oct. 3, 1941) featuring Murphy plus John Malcolm from the movie; Murphy made several appearances in the 1970s DC Comics incarnation of Captain Marvel.
Fawcett also published a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the film in 1941. Titled The Return of the Scorpion, it was one of the four releases in its Dime Action Books series which imitated the format of the popular Big Little Books. The book is notable for reusing several characters from the movie and for being Otto Binder
Otto Binder
Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books...
's first writing assignment at Fawcett; he went on to being a prolific scripter for the company.
A serialized two year story arc featuring Mr. Mind and the original Monster Society of Evil in Captain Marvel Adventures #22-#46 showed the influence and inspiration of the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial. This two-year story arc was the first of its kind, and is regarded by comic book fans and historians as one of the milestones of the Golden Age of Comics. In 1989, cartoonist Mike Higgs compiled this entire story arc into a hardcover limited edition collection. This book includes a photo of Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel, underscoring the linkage to this serial.
Captain Marvel was the first super-powered and costumed comic strip hero to be filmed, and the first character exclusively created for comic books (as opposed to newspaper strips, such as Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
and Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
) to be filmed as well. Therefore, it fell upon The Adventures of Captain Marvel to prove that comic book heroes could be bankable movie properties. The release of the serial led to a long line of comic book super-hero serials, films, and television shows, which continues to this day.
In 1994, comic book writer/artist Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Jeremiah "Jerry" Ordway is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining classic Crisis on Infinite Earths , his long run working on the Superman titles from 1986–1993, and...
introduced modern audiences to Captain Marvel with a long-form painted graphic novel, The Power of Shazam!
The Power of Shazam!
The Power of Shazam! is a 1994 hardcover graphic novel, written and painted by Jerry Ordway for DC Comics. The 96-page story, depicting the revamped origins of former Fawcett Comics superhero Captain Marvel, was followed by an ongoing series, also titled The Power of Shazam!, which ran from 1995 to...
, and an ongoing comic book series spin-off which ran from 1995 to 1999. Ordway used the Republic serial as his initial inspiration in his handling of the Captain Marvel characters, and the influence is evident in both the graphic novel and the series: Captain Marvel's costume design was restored to the button-flap tunic version seen in early issues od Whiz Comics and this serial, and the Scorpion weapon from the film serial appears in several of the issues.
Screenwriter and B-movie producer Don Glut, a fan of the serial, would later go on to become a writer for the live-action Shazam!
Shazam! (TV series)
Shazam! is a half-hour live-action television program produced by Filmation , based upon DC Comics' superhero Captain Marvel....
TV program, a popular 1970's adaptation of Captain Marvel. At least one episode of Shazam! featured outdoor shots of the famous Bronson Cave, which had been used for a memorable sequence in Adventures of Captain Marvel.
Chapters
- "Curse of the Scorpion" (30 min.)
- "The Guillotine" (16 min.)
- "Time Bomb" (17 min.)
- "Death Takes the Wheel" (16 min.)
- "The Scorpion Strikes" (16 min.)
- "Lens of Death" (16 min.)
- "Human Targets" (17 min.)
- "Boomerang" (17 min.)
- "Dead Man's Trap" (16 min.)
- "Doom Ship" (16 min.)
- "Valley of Death" (16 min.)
- "Captain Marvel's Secret" (16 min.)
Source: