Captain America (serial)

Captain America
Theatrical poster
Directed byElmer Clifton
John English
Written byRoyal Cole
Harry Fraser
Joseph Poland
Ronald Davidson
Basil Dickey
Jesse Duffy
Grant Nelson
Based on
Captain America
by
Produced byWilliam J O'Sullivan
StarringDick Purcell
Lorna Gray
Lionel Atwill
Charles Trowbridge
Russell Hicks
George J. Lewis
John Davidson
CinematographyJohn MacBurnie
Edited byWallace Grissell
Earl Turner
Music byMort Glickman
Distributed byRepublic Pictures
Release dates
  • February 5, 1944 (1944-02-05) (U.S. serial)
  • September 30, 1953 (1953-09-30) (U.S. re-release)
[1]
Running time
15 chapters / 243 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$182,623 (negative cost: $222,906)[1]

Captain America is a 1944 Republic black-and-white 15-chapter serial film loosely based on the Timely Comics (now Marvel Comics) 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. It stands as the first theatrical release connected to a Marvel character; the next theatrical release featuring a Marvel hero would not occur for more than 40 years. It was the last live-action rendition of a Marvel character in any medium until Spider-Man appeared in the Spidey Super Stories segment of the children's television series The Electric Company in 1974.

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.[2]

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 unmasked as one of the other supporting characters only in the final chapter.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference mathis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 307. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.