Considered by many to be the finest serial ever made, The Adventures of Captain Marvel chronicles the exploits of "The World's Mightiest Mortal" as he combats The Scorpion, a hooded villain intent on obtaining six optical lenses that, when aligned properly, turn ordinary stones into gold! Highlighting the serial were the fabulous flying sequences by Republic's ace special effects team, Howard and Theodore Lydecker. Combining a wired dummy photographed against real backgrounds in natural sunlight, with spectacular take-off leaps and landings supplied by action ace, David Sharpe, the final effects are still as fascinating today as they were in 1941. The Adventures of Captain Marvel marked the very first time a comic book superhero's exploits were transferred to the silver screen, and the resulting 12 chapters have yet to be equaled for excitement and entertainment. I just want to know where the hell is Black Adam.
SHAZAM!
Louise Currie
This IS a great serial, one of my favorites. Good casting and energetic acting by all.
ReplyDeleteOnly one minor quibble from a comic book geek like myself - - they could have done the Lightning Bolt on the Big Red Cheese's costume a tad better.
Black Adam? Yeah... I concur... but even moreso "WHERE THE DEUCE IS MR. TAWKY TAWNY!"
I have been meaning to head over here, and when I saw you were posting about this, I knew tonight was the night.
ReplyDeleteI just watched this serial for the first time (after having read about it and seeing clips), and I agree that it's remarkable for its genre. Not only does it not skimp on the action, but it has way more characterization than most such chapterplays ever had. I was really impressed.
It does take considerable liberties with the source material, and there a gaps in logic and cheat cliffhangers, but those issues somehow seem less of a problem.
And where was Black Adam? Why, he was still in the future!
I'd like to check it out just for Louise Currie! Meow...
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