posted
In 1950,there was a film called 'The Good Humor Man' and Fawcett released a tie-in comic called Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
If you look on the cover,you can see the star of the film,Jack Carson surrounded by some boys known as The Captain Marvel Club-they wear capes similar to Captain Marvel,Jr.and they are also wearing shirts with Captain Marvel printed all over and beanie caps that read the magic word 'SHAZAM!'
Anyone seen this film on video and is there a DVD release?
[ May 22, 2012, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: Reboot ]
Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Inspired by Lash's reviews of Lost, I am going to write reviews of the Republic Pictures serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel".
In addition to Billy Batson, the cast of characters are: Honky er.... I mean Whitey, Billy's friend and presumed comic relief Betty Wallace, secretary to John Malcolm John Malcolm Prof. Bentley Henry Carlyle Tal Chotali (the foreign guide and presumed villain) Dr. Stephen Lang Dwight Fisher
and
The Scorpion All of the other characters are credited with the actor's name except The Scorpion. So presumably, one of the other characters is the Scorpion.
No Sterling Morris. The serial was released in 1941 and Captain Marvel started in 1940. So other than Sterling Morris I don't know of any other supporting cast from the comic books that could have been included. Both Mary & Freddy don't debut until after the serial is made.
The story starts out in the jungles of Siam. The Malcolm Archaeological expedition is searching the Valley of the Kings for the secrets of the Scorpion dynasty. Natives (all white actors) attack the camp, but are held off. The expedition is given one day to leave.
So without a minute to spare, they break into the Tomb. However before breaking into the main chamber, Billy feels like they are grave robbing and goes off to another part of the tomb to pack up some of the pots they found in the tomb.
The team breaks in and discovers a giant golden scorpion with five lens, one on each of four legs and one on the tail. Putting the lens in order produces an explosion that knocks them out and seals them in the tomb. Meanwhile a secret door opens near Billy. He goes into check it out and there finds Shazam. This kind of reminded me of Dr. Fate's origin. Shazam tells Billy he is to guard the scorpion as Captain Marvel and only call out Cap for a good reason otherwise the curse of the scorpion will be upon him.
Cap rescues the team. They also recover a scroll that tells them to position the lens in a certain way and it can change ordinary things into pure gold. Realizing how valuable and dangerous this is, they divy up the lens. That night a hood figure lights a signal fire and some natives break into camp. They kill a guard and Mr. Howell (poor Lovey) who had been given a lens. They steal the giant scorpion and the scroll from Billy.
The local volcano erupts and the natives take it as a sign of war and attack again. The British army comes to the rescue. The team is escaping across the gorge bridge. The first car makes it, but the second car with Whitey & Betty are on the bridge when it explodes.
Next episode: The Guillotine.
For the flying effects they use a combinatin of the effect from the Superman TV series and a mannequin zipping along a wire. I haven't actually seen a wire yet. Cap at first is surprized to find that he is bullet proof.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I remember seeing some of those old series in elementary school; our principal would show them during lunch.
We saw the 40s Captain Marvel, Batman, the Masked Marvel (A takeoff n The Spirit), among others.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
Oh Nos! The bridge explodes! Whitey and Betty are still in the car. Will Cap reach them in time? He arrives just as the bridge explodes and... and... Whew! The car lands safely in the river below while Cap just watches. Cap did almost lose his balance when he landed on a boulder.
Cap dives down a la Tarzan. He rips open the roof and pulls out Whitey. Cap carries Whitey to the shore. Hmmmm.... I guess Betty drowned. Oh no wait. She's already on the shore.
And it is back to America and not a moment too soon. Billy is still a radio broadcaster. And does he have a story to tell. But the Scorpion is here too. And per his henchman, Scorpion is one of the Malcolm expedition. It also looks like they didn't get the lens given to poor Mr. Howell. I wonder who got it?
The first person they are going after is Henry Carlyle. And they got him. The thugs show him a doorway to a hall. The doorway is covered with electric eyes that will knock out anyone going through it. They toss a chair in to show how it works. Once unconscious the chair falls onto a conveyor belt and is brought under a Click Here For A Spoilerguillotine which falls down destroying the chair. Poor innocent chair.
Henry Carlyle then writes a note having Betty get the lens and deliver it to a bridge. The rest of expedition agree to this. Billy takes Betty aside to say he has a cunning plan.
Betty put a small box on the bridge and drives off. A thug hiding in the bushes comes out and takes the box. Billy & Whitey pop up in the back of Betty's car and jump out of the car. They plan to follow the thug. Although how they are going to follow the thug who has a car while on foot, I don't know. But it is a moot point as other thugs surprize Billy & Whitey. A fight ensues. Billy and one thug fall off the bridge. The thug is knocked out and SHAZAM!. Cap is again surprized to find out that he is bullet proof. The last thug uses Whitey as a hostage and drives off.
Cap flies up and lands on the roof of the car. The stupid thug drives Cap right to the hideout. The box is empty though. The thugs threated Carlyle with the death trap. They are about to toss him in when Cap busts through the window. Another fight ensues. Cap is no longer surprized that he is bullet proof. Even though he has seen that Cap is not harmed by bullets, Carlyle throws himself on one thug about to shoot Cap. Another thug grabs a chair and smashes it against Cap. poor innocent chair. Cap staggers back and into the electric eyes which shock him into unconsciousness and the conveyor belt send him right into the guillotine.
Next episode: Time Bomb
Ok so this isn't so much a review as a telling you what happened.
Everyone is wearing suits. what is this? Madmen? Even Billy and Whitey are wearing suits when they know that they are going out to the countryside to follow the thug(s). The fights are pretty well choreographed. In the first episode they did have Cap fly into the natives and it looks more like he fell on them than flew into them. After Billy changes into Cap, he leaps up onto the bridge. I assume the special effect was playing a film of him leaping off the bridge played backwards, but it was very well done.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Do you need me to tell you that the guillotine breaks upon Cap's invulnerable body?
More gun play between the thugs and Carlyle. Carlyle is shot. He tells Cap that he thinks he knows who the Scorpion is, but dies before saying who.
Betty is going to Carlyle's Oak Mountain lidge to get his lens. Tal Chotali is suspiciously acting suspicious. Someone overhears Billy telling Whitey to follow Betty as she goes to Oak Mountain Lodge.
The Scorpion's thugs trick Betty with a fake detour and have her drive Billy's car into a big truck. Whitey passes the truck unaware. But smart Betty secretly turns on the 2 way radio in BIlly's car & Billy hears that she is in an Acme truck and where they are. The thugs take the combination to Carlyle's safe from Betty, start gasing Betty, and leap from the truck to another car while both are in motion. They like doing this as they did it in the last episode too. Cap stops the runaway truck and pulls Betty away from the gas. He then turns back into Billy before Betty wakes up. She tells him that the thugs have the combination. Billy says that he can beat the thug upto the lodge by flying in his plane.
Back at stately Malcolm Manor, Betty relays this to the group. Tal Chotali again suspiciously acts suspicious. Betty is about to leave when she sees a unhooked phone and hears the Scorpin talking on the other end. The Scorpion, who put on his costume to make this phone call, tells a henchman at the airport to put a bomb in Billy's plane - a time bomb! Betty calls Whitey to have him radio a warning to Billy. Whitey is sleeping but manages to wake up to answer the phone. WHitey then tries calling Billy on the radio, but Billy is already in the plane and we see that the wires to his radio have been cut.
The time ticks down..... and Boom! goes the plane.
Next: Death Takes the Wheel
The flying sequences are pretty well done. You can tell that it is a dummy, but so far you can't see the string.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hmmmm...... Seeing how I am giving a play-by-play of each episode rather than a review, do people want me to continue?
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Feel free to continue!
I'm pretty sure I've seen these, but I don't remember them very well.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Ah but Billy sees the radio wires are cut, and twists them together in time to hear Whitey warn him of the bomb and....Shazam!
The Scorpion has gotten Carlyle's lens. And plans a trap for Billy. At the meeting of the expedition the next day he will arrange to have Billy go to the trap.
At the meeting Tal Chotali arrives late. He was at Carlyle's Lodge and found a small golden scorpion. Dr. Lang says that only Chan Lal the oriental dealer would have something like this. Prof. Bentley questions whether Chan Lal might be working for the Scorpion and if any of the members of the expedition go, they will be recognized. Dwight Fisher then suggests that Billy go. To which Billy agrees.
Betty is going to see if she can find out who owns the truck that was used to capture her. As Betty & Billy leave the house, a planter is pushed from a 2nd floor window, and just misses them.
At Chan Lal's ... Holy Moley! Chan Lal is an actual Chinese person! Anyway, Chan tells BIlly that the little scorpion must be a fake, but let's go down to the basement to check the collection. Trick stairs cause Billy to fall and some of the Scorpion's men come out and knock him out with the butt of a gun. They tie and gag him and lock him in the walk-in vault.
Meanwhile, Betty has gone to the garage where the truck came from. The owner says that the truck never came back and a phony name was given. Betty's leaving when she see one of the Scorpion's thugs drive up. He and the owner drive up to the top of the parking garage. Betty follows them up using the elevator. A secret room. Betty overhears that Billy has been captured. She starts to go, but is seen and captured. More jumping into moving cars.
The main thug comes to Chan Lal's to do Billy in. In the vault, Billy comes to and on a handy knife, pulls the gag away and Shazam! CAp. hears that Betty has been captured. He beats up the thugs and finds out where Betty is. He flies to her rescue. Oops I can see a string as he flies.
The thugs in the garage are going to kill Betty, but have to make it look like an accident. They decide to knock her out, put her in the car, and let is go down the ramps and crash. But Betty get the jump on the thug guarding her. She gets into the car and crashes through the secret door. But oh no, she got knock unconscious, and the car is going down the ramps at a high rate of speed. Will Cap get to her in time?
It is amazing that the car is able to turn as it goes down the ramps without anyone steering and then straighten out as it exits the garage.
Next;: The Scorpion Strikes
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Yea! Cap got there in tme. Betty is saved. She comes to and points to the top of the garage and says "The Scorpin's men are there." The thugs see Cap. Two draw guns, but the third tells them to put them away as they won't hurt Cap. As they strt to flee, they see an engine block on a chain. The thug that said guns wouldn't hurt Cap, thinks the engine block will. They drop it on Cap, but he catches it. Cap tosses the engine block at one thug. Cap then takes the thug that was the garage owner and tosses him over the side and he falls screaming to his death. The last thug (Mr. Guns don't hurt him but maybe engine blocks will) reaches the elevator. He thinks he's in the clear. Ha! Cap does his whole pull the elevator up by the cable thing. Like he did in his very first issue.
Cap questions the thug about the Scorpion. The thug says he doesn't know who the Scorpion is because he always wears a mask. Cap asks if he could recognize the Scorpion's voice. The thug says "yes". So Cap takes him to stately Malcolm Manor. But it is Billy who brings him into a meeting. Billy tells the group that he thinks that one of them is the Scorpion and that the thug can identify him by voice. Each man speaks, but the thug does not recognize any voice. The men first look relieved, but the become indignant and storm out. As they go, someone slips a note to the thug. It tells him to tell Billy that the Scorpion is at the Harrison mine. He does so and Billy makes the thug take him there.
Billy and thug wander through the mine/cave and finally see the Scorpion. As they approach, the floor drops out. Thug falls to his death, but Billy managed to catch the side, giving him enough time to say Shazam!
Cap now confronts the Scorpion. But it's not the real Scorpion, just a dummy rigged up with a speaker. The real Scorpion is outside the mine. He has the giant scorpion and with using just the one lens he has, he is able to melt the rock over the mine. Molten rock starts flowing through the cave towards Cap.
Next: Lens of Death
The effect they use to show the mine/cave mouth melting is really good. The minature cave throough which the molten rock flows is not as good.
They (the film makers) don't seem to grasp that Cap is invulnerable and that the molten rock would not hurt him. They also forget his strength. Cap could easily punch his way through the solid rock. It was cool seeing him pull the elevator up.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
I got it from Netflix. They seem to have the Spy Smasher one, but the description says that it is the condensed TV version of the serial.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Many serials are available at the The Internet Archive.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Molten rock is flowing towards Captain Marvel. We know it can't hurt him, but the film makers don't. Luckily, Cap notices a hole in the cavern ceiling and leaps through it.
For some reason, once out of the cave, Cap turns back into Billy instead of searching the area for the Scorpion. The Scorpion tells his men that he has a trick to find where the others hid their lenses. At stately Malcolm Manor, the expedition is meeting once again. They get a message from the Scorpion to turn on their radio to a certain frequency. When the do so, they hear the Scorpion telling them that he has their lenses except for one. We see that it is not the Scorpion speaking, but a recording that the head thug is playing. Dr. Lang states that the Scorpion hasn't gotten his lens. The men then leave to check their lenses and if they are gone, look for clues. As they leave, they are each followed by the Scorpion's thugs.
Billy deduces the Scorpion's trick. He heads over the Prof. Bentley's house and sends Whitey to Dwight Fisher's house. Prof. Bentley arrives home and after having his butler leave the study, goes towards where the lens is. Two thugs come in through the window and knock him out. They search the room and find the lens in a hollowed out book. The butler returns and puts up a really good fight, but loses. Billy arrives, changes to Cap (when no one answers the door), and bursts in. The butler points out the window and tells Cap they got the lense. Cap goes out and pursues the 2 thugs.
Now here is a bit of bad continuity. Although the building Prof Bentley & Billy go in is clearly an apartment building, it is in a residential neighborhood. But upon exiting the window, it is now a city neighborhood.
Anyway, Cap easliy dispatches the two tugs and returns the lens to the butler for safe keeping before rushing to Dwight Fisher's house.
It is now night time and raining as we see Whitey driving towards Fisher's house. Inside we find Fisher being held at gunpoint by the Scorpion and one thug. Fisher gives in just as Whitey arrives. Fisher flips a secret switch and a wall panel slides back. The Scorpion has the thug get the lens, but when the thug reaches in, he is electrocuted. The Scorpion tells Fisher to switch off the current and get the lens, but Whitey gets the drop on the Scorpion. Scorp see the light switch and plunges the room onto darkness. A gun battle rages between Whitey & Scorp. When Fisher tries to leave, Scorp shoots him.
Scorp runs out of bullets, but manages to sneak behind Whitey and knock him out. He is about to get the lens when Cap shows up. Scorp hides behind the curtain where the controls for the panel and electric trap are. Cap comes in to the room, checks on Whitey & Fisher (Fisher is dead), sees the lens and reaches for it. Scorp turns on the electricity and Cap is knocked out.
Next: Human Targets
I got tired of writing out The Scorpion each times, so from now on he is Scorp. The fight scene with the butler was very well done and action packed. Boy can he fight.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
The electricity didn't kill Cap, but while he was unconscious, Scorp took the lens.
The next day Whitey is telling the expedition members about what happened. They want to know how Whitey knew to go to Fisher's house. Whitey said that Billy told him and that Billy heard about Scorp's broadcast from Betty. The members seem upset that Betty is telling Billy about the meeting even though Billy is part of their group.
Scorp plans to trap Cap using Betty as bait. A trick call has Betty going off. As she is driving a thug climbs out of her trunk. He shoots her tire and she skids off the road. Another car with more thugs pulls up and they take Betty away. Meanwhile Billy arrives at stately Malcolm Manor and realizes that Betty has been tricked away. He drives after her and finds her abandoned car.
The thugs have Betty in the front seat of their car. Betty reaches over and takes the key out of the ignition and toss it out the window. They stop to look for it. They make Betty look too. Which shows how stupid these thugs are. "Oh Mr. Thug! Here is the key I tossed out the window." Yeah right. Betty takes the opportunity to run off. Two of the thugs chase her, while the third keeps looking from the key.
Billy sees the third thug and changes to Cap. After beating him up Cap heads in the direction the thug said Betty went. Betty manages to elude the 2 thugs and they spilt up. Cap sees one and tosses im into the lake. The other one spots Betty and chases her onto the top of a dam. Cap sees them and flies down. The thug tries shooting Cap and as he backs away, he loses his footing and falls to his death. Betty screams and starts to faint. But Cap grabs her before she falls off the dam.
The first thug comes to just as Cap & Betty return to the car. He manages to hide on the side of the car on the runningboard. He hears Cap tell Betty of a radio frequency that will get a message to him. Betty drives off with the thug. Cap turns back into Billy.
The thug recaptures Betty & takes her to Scorp. Scorp wants the thugs to capture Billy too. He plans to take them to a shed on a bombing range. In the shed will be a radio for Betty to contract Cap. The thugs waylay Billy and knock him out. Boy the way people are getting constantly knocked out, they are going to have problems with concussions. OH I forgot, Betty manages to get one of the thugs' gun and shoots Scorp in the hand.
In the shack, Betty is tied to a chair, Billy is bounded and gagged. Over the radio, Scorp tells the thugs to leave as the bomber is approaching. When they leave, Betty wiggles over to the radio to call Cap. The bomber appproaches and starts dropping bombs. Boom! Boom! Boom! Betty gets knocked out yet again.
Next: Boomerang
I have to say, Whitey is pretty cute. Billy's not so bad looking himself.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
