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Captain America (1944) is a Republic serial film based (loosely) on the comic book character Captain America. It was the last Republic serial made about a superhero. It also has the distinction of being the most expensive serial that Republic ever made. The serial sees Captain America, really District Attorney Grant Gardner, trying to thwart the plans of The Scarab, really museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor - especially regarding his attempts to acquire the "Dynamic Vibrator" and "Electronic Firebolt", devices that could be used as super-weapons. In a rare plot element for Republic, the secret identity of the villain is known to the audience from the beginning, if not to the characters in the serial. The studio's usual approach was the use of a mystery villain who was only unmasked as one of the other supporting characters in the final chapter.
[edit] PlotA rash of suspicious suicides among scientists and businessmen, all found holding a small scarab, gets the attention of Mayor Randolph. He demands that Police Commissioner Dryden and District Attorney Grant Gardner get to the bottom of the case, while openly wishing that Captain America, a masked man who has helped defeat crime in the past, were around to solve the mystery. All of the suicides were members of an expedition to some Mayan ruins. One of the few remaining survivors, Professor Lyman, turns to his friend Dr Maldor for support. Dr Maldor, however, reveals that he is the man responsible for the deaths. He wants revenge because he planned and organised the expedition but everyone else claimed the fame and fortune. However, Lyman has developed the "Dynamic Vibrator" - a device intended for mining operations but one that can be amplified into a devastating weapon. Using his "Purple Death", a hypnotic chemical responsible for the suicides, Dr Maldor forces Lyman to disclose the location of his plans. Captain America intervenes as the Scarab's heavies attempt to steal the plans and this leads to a sequence of plots by the Scarab to acquire a working version, as well as other devices, while trying to eliminate the interfering Captain before he succeeds in discovering Dr Maldor's true identity or defeats him. [edit] Cast
[edit] ProductionCaptain America was budgeted at $182,623 although the final negative cost was $222,906(a $40,283, or 22.1%, overspend). It was the most expensive of all Republic serials (as well as the most over budget).[1] It was filmed between 12 October and 24 November 1943.[1] The serial's production number was 1297.[1] Captain America was written by seven of the top serial screenwriters, including Harry Fraser’s only work at Republic.[4] The Captain America costume was really grey, white and dark blue as these colours photographed better in black and white. The costume also lost the wings on the head, the pirate boots became high shoes and the chainmail became normal cloth. Miniature flags were added to the gloves and the belt buckle became a small shield.[2] Republic was notorious for making arbitrary changes in their adaptations. This occurred with Captain America more than most. Timely, the owner of Captain America, were unhappy with the omission of Steve Rogers, the lack of an army setting and his use of a gun. Republic responded in writing that the sample pages provided by Timely did not indicate that Captain America was a soldier called Steve Rogers, nor that he did not carry a revolver. They also noted that the serial was well into production by this point and they could not return to the original concept without expensive retakes and dubbing. Finally they pointed out that Republic was under no contractual obligation to do any of this.[2] The differences between the comic book and film versions of the title character in this serial are more extreme than with other Republic comic adaptations, such as Adventures of Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher. For example:
The reason for the differences appears to be not that Republic arbitrarily "changed" the character, but that the script for the serial was originally prepared to feature an entirely different licensed lead character to begin with who it was later decided would be replaced by another. So it appears it was actually this original character, not Captain America, who was the one that was "changed" by Republic into someone else. Film historians Jim Harmon and Don Glut speculated that the script was originally written as a sequel to 1940's Mysterious Doctor Satan, which featured the masked hero The Copperhead.[citation needed] This character was himself a substitution for DC's Superman, after Republic's bid for that character's film rights lost to Paramount, who had a series of cartoon shorts made by the Fleischer Studios. This idea, however, is highly questionable considering that Republic owned the Copperhead character and could have done as they pleased with him without any licensing issues.[original research?] Based on the facts that Republic had adapted other Fawcett Comics characters (Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher), that the lead is a crime-fighting district attorney, aided by his female secretary who knows his identity, and that the serial includes a chapter entitled "The Scarlet Shroud" in which nothing scarlet appears, film restoration director Eric Stedman has stated that it seems more likely that the script was originally developed to feature Fawcett's comic book hero Mr. Scarlet, secretly D.A. Brian Butler, whose comic book appearances had proved unpopular and who had actually disappeared from comic book covers and been relegated to being a backup feature between the time the serial was planned and the final film produced.[citation needed] Writer Raymond William Stedman believes that the differences between the comic-book and film versions of Captain America were "for the better" as, for example, the hero did not have to sneak out of an army base every time he needed to change identities.[3] [edit] Stunts
Dale Van Sickel was the "ram rod" of the stunt crew, doubling Dick Purcell as Captain America. Ken Terrell doubled George J. Lewis and Fred Graham doubled Lionel Atwill. Additional stunts were performed by Duke Green and Joe Yrigoyen. Tom Steel only appeared in chapter one as he was busy on The Masked Marvel.[2] [edit] Special effectsAll the special effects in Captain America were created by Republic's in-house team, the Lydecker brothers. [edit] Release[edit] TheatricalCaptain America's official release date is 5 February 1944, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges.[1] The serial was re-released on 30 September 1953, under the new title Return of Captain America, between the first runs of Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders and Trader Tom of the China Seas.[1] [edit] Critical receptionCaptain America is regarded as the "apex of the traditional action film fight...[in the] opinion of many cliffhanger enthusiasts."[2] Stedman wrote that this was a "much better serial than either Batman or The Masked Marvel"[3] Dr Maldor is, in Cline's opinion, Lionel Atwill's best serial role.[5] [edit] References to the serialIn Captain America V1 issue 219, it is revealed that a Captain America serial also exists within the Marvel Continuity. In this version, Captain America himself plays the role (in secret), taking the place of the stunt man who was shot during production due to the prop master being the Nazi spy Lyle Decker. Like the real-life serial, Cap's shield is replaced with a standard gun, his identity is changed, and his sidekick Bucky is absent. In 2007, after Marvel's Civil War event, Captain America (Steve Rogers) was killed off. News channel CNN produced a special on the death, showing the serial with Grant Gardner as Captain America while it was focusing on the death of Steve Rogers. In Issue 27[clarification needed] of Captain America, the movie poster is seen in The Captain America Museum. Steve Rogers' ex-girlfriend in the Ultimate Marvel continuity is named after Gail Richards, Grant Gardner's secretary. [edit] Chapter titles
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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