Review of Captain America

With the release of a Captain America feature this summer, I thought I'd look at the first time this costumed hero from the comic books was depicted on the big screen nearly 70 years ago. Among several big differences between that character created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby and the one shown here: He's Grant Gardner, district attorney, not Steve Rogers, Army soldier. He uses a gun, not a shield. And the villains are not Nazis. In fact, the actual bad guy is one Dr. Cyrus Maldor (Lionel Atwill) a.k.a The Scarab. Oh, and instead of a teen boy named Bucky for a sidekick, Gardner has his secretary Gail Richards (Lorna Gray) helping him in his investigations. Now while I was initially along for the ride in following the story, it got a little repetitious when each chapterplay ended with a big fight that results with an explosion that always has the hero escaping just before it happens being revealed in the start of the next entry. So this would have probably been a little better at 12-instead of 15-chapters. Still, it was worth it to see how it all ends. Oh, and those fights were just as exciting to see in a Republic serial as it was on their earlier Adventures of Captain Marvel. I just wish the print I saw didn't have so many scenes playing off-sync on the soundtrack. But, all that said, I thought the three leads I mentioned did well together and Ms. Gray was certainly easy on the eyes whenever she appeared. So on that note, this version of Captain America is worth seeing.