This is one of the 2 best movie serials of all time. I would recommend that any fan of escapist cinema and classic movies see at least a couple of the chapters, since it is such a fine example of what a good serial could be. It is fast paced, has good fight scenes, and, for the time period, excellent special effects. In fact, until perhaps the 1978 film 'Superman,' there were no superior the flying sequences anywhere on TV or cinema. Along with these legendary sequences, the screen presence and performance of Tom Tyler really make this a magical experience.
At the time of this serial, Tom Tyler was a veteran (and underrated) movie actor, entering the downward slide of a career. Besides having about 15 years of fight scenes on his resume, he had been both a lumberjack and a champion weight lifter, so that he had a lean, athletic physique and carried himself like a strong and tough man. Also, his chiseled facial features, dark hair and steely eyes projected determination and formidability. Although given very few lines, Tyler was completely believable and magnetic in the role. Tyler's Captain Marvel is truly one of the most awesome serial heroes, right up there with Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon. Frank Coghlan Jr. is perfect as Cap's alter ego, Billy Batson, and the rest of the supporting cast is good as well.
Fans of the comic book and TV versions of Captain Marvel should be warned that this serial is, in several significant ways, very different from the Cap they remember. Part of this is due to the fact that whenever Republic Pictures adapted a comic strip, they took some liberties. The other factor is that this serial was filmed when the Captain Marvel comic strip was only 1 year old, before the tone and spirit of Captain Marvel had been established (the Captain Marvel comics did not really develop a consistent style or sensibility until about 1943 or so; it isn't till around that time that the really classic Captain Marvel stuff started coming out).
Without spoiling too much, viewers should be warned that on at least 2 occasions, Captain Marvel summarily dispatches some of the minor villains. Dispatch, as in sending them to meet their maker. This is understandable within the context of the times and 1930's ideal of a hero. In 1941, comic book heroes had not settled into their now ubiquitous code of non-lethality. The forerunners of the super-heroes, the pulp heroes such as the Shadow and the Spider, had no reservations toward casually gunning down a few thugs. Likewise, audiences in 1941 were of a generation that witnessed law enforcement officers summarily executing Bonnie & Clyde as well as John Dillinger.
Captain Marvel's readiness to kill might also serve as a rationale for Billy's hesitancy to use his alter ego. In this version, Billy gets into fistfights with thugs, even when he is outnumbered, rather than turning into Cap. For dramatic purposes, this makes sense because it allows for various death traps to be set and keeps the fight scenes exiting. But it also fits into a subtext that perhaps Captain Marvel has too much power, that he is perhaps like genie from a bottle, a quasi-demonic expression of the Id. This Captain Marvel, who gets a little too violent sometimes, and who Billy Batson only reluctantly calls upon, could be considered an early forerunner of the Incredible Hulk.
Despite this Captain's occasional lapses into vigilantism, the overall spirit of this serial keeps within the norms of the era and the genre, and so is great fun and escapism. Moreover, the total experience of this serial truly captures the expansive sense of magic, power and possibility of the early period of comic book superheroes. This is vastly superior to either of the Superman serials (1948 & 1950) as well as the Captain Marvel 'Shazam!' TV series of the 1970's. On an ultra low budget and long before CGI, this serial captured the magic of the comics.
At the time of this serial, Tom Tyler was a veteran (and underrated) movie actor, entering the downward slide of a career. Besides having about 15 years of fight scenes on his resume, he had been both a lumberjack and a champion weight lifter, so that he had a lean, athletic physique and carried himself like a strong and tough man. Also, his chiseled facial features, dark hair and steely eyes projected determination and formidability. Although given very few lines, Tyler was completely believable and magnetic in the role. Tyler's Captain Marvel is truly one of the most awesome serial heroes, right up there with Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon. Frank Coghlan Jr. is perfect as Cap's alter ego, Billy Batson, and the rest of the supporting cast is good as well.
Fans of the comic book and TV versions of Captain Marvel should be warned that this serial is, in several significant ways, very different from the Cap they remember. Part of this is due to the fact that whenever Republic Pictures adapted a comic strip, they took some liberties. The other factor is that this serial was filmed when the Captain Marvel comic strip was only 1 year old, before the tone and spirit of Captain Marvel had been established (the Captain Marvel comics did not really develop a consistent style or sensibility until about 1943 or so; it isn't till around that time that the really classic Captain Marvel stuff started coming out).
Without spoiling too much, viewers should be warned that on at least 2 occasions, Captain Marvel summarily dispatches some of the minor villains. Dispatch, as in sending them to meet their maker. This is understandable within the context of the times and 1930's ideal of a hero. In 1941, comic book heroes had not settled into their now ubiquitous code of non-lethality. The forerunners of the super-heroes, the pulp heroes such as the Shadow and the Spider, had no reservations toward casually gunning down a few thugs. Likewise, audiences in 1941 were of a generation that witnessed law enforcement officers summarily executing Bonnie & Clyde as well as John Dillinger.
Captain Marvel's readiness to kill might also serve as a rationale for Billy's hesitancy to use his alter ego. In this version, Billy gets into fistfights with thugs, even when he is outnumbered, rather than turning into Cap. For dramatic purposes, this makes sense because it allows for various death traps to be set and keeps the fight scenes exiting. But it also fits into a subtext that perhaps Captain Marvel has too much power, that he is perhaps like genie from a bottle, a quasi-demonic expression of the Id. This Captain Marvel, who gets a little too violent sometimes, and who Billy Batson only reluctantly calls upon, could be considered an early forerunner of the Incredible Hulk.
Despite this Captain's occasional lapses into vigilantism, the overall spirit of this serial keeps within the norms of the era and the genre, and so is great fun and escapism. Moreover, the total experience of this serial truly captures the expansive sense of magic, power and possibility of the early period of comic book superheroes. This is vastly superior to either of the Superman serials (1948 & 1950) as well as the Captain Marvel 'Shazam!' TV series of the 1970's. On an ultra low budget and long before CGI, this serial captured the magic of the comics.