The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
"You Will Believe a Mannequin Can Fly!"

Billy and Shazam get ready to smoke a bowl

In the grand scheme of comic books, Captain Marvel is downright goofy. Heavyweights Superman and Batman have had their share of ridiculous adventures-- wearing rainbow costumes, hanging out with masked dogs, visiting a bottle city, or meeting extradimensional imps. But Captain Marvel wrote the book on ridiculous crap. Back in the day, ol' Cap had a senior citizen superhero partner, Uncle Marvel. Instead of a dog, he had a RABBIT, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Mr.Mind, one of his arch enemies, was an evil talking worm. For most of my generation (1974 on), Cap's been used as comic relief. He's more commonly known by his magic word "Shazam" and gets nifty dialogue like "Holey Moley". When he was re-packaged for the "Kids' Super Power Hour" cartoon in the early 80's, the show was closer to "Archie" than "Batman". During his stint in the mid 80's Justice League revival, Cap was known as "Captain Whitebread". There's also the "Elvis wanted to be Captain Marvel" theory. In short, you don't have to dig deep to find humor with Captain Marvel.

So surely an old 1941 Republic movie serial of Cap would suck, right?? Not exactly. Considering the time period, the 12-part "Adventures of Captain Marvel" is not half-bad.

As the show opens, Billy Batson is an all-purpose whipping boy for an archaeological expedition. In the comics, Billy was roughly 10-12 years old, but for this serial he's in his early 20's. The expedition has ventured in to Siam...which is portrayed as culturally indentical to India. All the "natives" wear Indian head wraps, so you have to wonder if world geography was a popular hobby in 1941. 6 doctors of the team find a hidden tomb and a weird gold scorpion idol. Billy's not into stealing sacred artifacts and wanders around the tomb until he meets the ancient wizard, Shazam. Shazam bestows the power of Captain Marvel, guardian of the scorpion idol, upon Billy. By saying the word "Shazam", an acronym of ancient Greek gods, Billy is transformed into Captain Marvel. Yes, it is curious how an old wizard living in a Siamese tomb would have control over Greek gods... but work with us, dammit!

"Git outta my driveway you zany kids!"

The 6 doctors discover that the scorpion idol can transmute any material into gold. As a bonus, it can also blow shit up! The idol is powered by six removable lenses. Each doctor takes a lens and makes a pact to keep it hidden. The team hops back to the US, but not before some attacks from the "natives".

Back home, the mysterious Scorpion appears and wants to re-assemble the idol. He looks a little bit like Cobra Commander, or any generic movie serial mastermind. He's an expert manipulator, setting into motion several schemes and deathtraps to obtain the 6 lenses. Scorpion was apparently a big Hollywood commodity back in 1941....'cuz he appears IN THE CREDITS as "The Scorpion". No, not "Joe Wassamachu as the Scorpion"..."The Scorpion" is listed in-line with all the other actors.

Like all movie serials, the plot isn't exactly linear. Instead, it's composed of several mini-adventures, each culminating with the obligatory cliffhanger ending. Billy, with friends Whitey and Betty, sets out to unmask the Scorpion and save the doctors. Obviously, Billy switches to Captain Marvel at least once an episode. This being the 40's, all of the Scorpion's thugs are well-dressed gangsters wearing suits and hats. So when did gangsters make the switch to dressing like slobs...sometime in the 60's?

Some situations make liberal use of the physics of comics. Betty is knocked unconscious in a moving car, but she lands on the steering wheel at such an angle that the vehicle is able to safely steer through six levels of a parking garage. In another episode, the Scorpion rigs up an inconsequential deathtrap using a closet space, a moving floor, a guillotine and a electric charge. Scorpion is apparently shot in his left hand... but this plot point soon evaporates.

Watch out for flying action figures!

The biggest thrill is when we actually see Cap FLYING into action. The studio rigged up a mannequin on a wire and "flew" him across the sets. The wires are impossible to see, and it's a pretty cool low-tech innovation. The dummy allows for wide, outdoor action shots that you wouldn't find in other superhero films. A scene showing Cap flying after a truck works well. The flying dummy sequences are mixed with "normal" camera shots-- the old trick where an actor is filmed in front of a moving backdrop.

When he's not Captain Marvel, Billy's rather formidable and not a worthless kid. He has his own car and airplane. He doesn't shy away from fighting the gangsters hand-to-hand. One cliffhanger involves a sinking ship. Instead of instantly changing into Captain Marvel, Billy escapes the ship and saves the damsel in distress, on his own. Billy even PACKS HEAT at times. We're not told exactly what Billy's job is. Is he an errand boy for the doctors? One episode mentions Billy's radio broadcast, but it's not essential to the plot and isn't brought up again. Despite his attributes, Billy stills manages to get tied up and gagged several times throughout the serial.

Captain Marvel isn't "Captain Whitebread" either. His powers seem scaled down a bit. He can fly and is bulletproof, but not exactly invulnerable. He's strong, but needs to build up steam to break down a door. The most notable difference is his attitude. When fighting the "natives" in Siam, he steals their machine guns and guns them down! Another time, he tosses a thug from atop a building. This was still early in the formation of modern comics, so the "code against killing" moral hadn't been engrained everywhere.

The ending is something of a surprise. The Scorpion is unmasked, but his identity isn't the swerve. The entire casts discovers Billy's secret as he yells "SHAZAM" in front of a large crowd. After the threat of the Scorpion has passed and the idol destroyed, Billy loses the powers of Captain Marvel. No memory loss gimmick, either. Whitey, Betty and Billy remember everything and simply go home. A huge divergence from typical superhero flicks, where the ending has the hero flying off above the city and "continuing the fight against evil". Nope. Captain Marvel has served his purpose and everything's done.

Watching this, I noticed that Cap actually has a better costume than Superman. Chiefly, no red undies on top of his pants! Cap's lightning bolt is a cool icon and I prefer it over Superman's "Big Red S". His costume appears as more of a uniform than spandex. However, those weird curly things on the edge of cape still suck.

The DVD version of this is well-done. The film has been re-mastered and very few cigar burns or film cracks are seen. Audio is great, too. An equal level among the sound effects, dialogue and music. All 12 episodes are broken down into smaller "chapters", which are easily accessible from a colorful menu. I couldn't find any "easter eggs", but the disc does include an un-mastered theatrical trailer. The disc is fairly easy to find from online retailers, for about 12 bucks.

I wouldn't recommend watching ALL 12 episodes at once, but "Adventures of Captain Marvel" is an enjoyable trip to 1941. There's some typical cheese, but nothing as overpowering as the "gee whiz" Captain Marvel we all know and umm....tolerate. Captain Marvel will never reach the levels of Batman and Superman, but at least his movie serial is superior.

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