I am not sure exactly how this was suppose to trap and/or hurt Cap. When Betty tells Billy that she is going to call Cap, Billy shakes his head "no". Anyway, just after Betty gets knocked out, Billy has loosened the gag enough to say Shazam! Cap then gets the unconscious Betty out of the shed in time.
Betty tells Billy about shooting Scorp in the hand. They think that they will now know which member of the expedition is Scorp. Scorp decides to do away with Billy.
The next day at stately Malcolm Manor, Billy & Whitey arrive and 2 thugs plant a bomb in Billy's car. Inside, Billy has each member of the expedition sign a form. Who has the injured hand? Why Dr. Lang does.
Billy is going to search Dr. Lang's house. Whitey warns him that Dr. Lang has armed guards at is house. Billy decides to take Dr. Lang's coat, hat, and car to hopefully bluff his way in. He tells Whitey Betty to delay Dr. Lang. The thugs finish setting the bomb in Billy's car. It will blow when he reaches 50 mph. Hey I think they stole that from Speed.
Billy is heading to Dr. Lang's house. Dr. Lang comes out of the meeting. Betty tells Dr. Lang that Billy had to borrow his car. Dr. Lang wants to call a cab, but Whitey insists on driving him - in Billy's car.
Billy manages to bluff his way pass the gate guard. But 2 of Scorp's thugs recognize him. The thugs corner Billy in the garage and a lucky blow knocks Billy out. They then start the car back up and close up the garage.
Dr. Lang tells Whitey to go faster. Whitey increases his speed to 45 mph. Billy comes to groggy from the carbon monoxide, but manages to say Shazam! Cap then beats up the thugs just as Whitey & Dr. Lang arrive. Billy confronts Dr. Lang about his wounded hand. Dr. Lang says he will explain, but inside. As they enter his study, Dr. Lang tells the butler that it is cold and he should go to the furnace and make sure they get plenty of air The butler then puts some knock out drugs in the furnace.
We never get to hear Dr. Lang's explanation for his wounded hand although Billy does. Whitey drops off and then Billy. Dr. Lang shuts the vent. (he had been periodically holding a handkerchief to his face) He tells his butler that Billy & Whitey would have delayed him and he thinks that Scorp will soon be there. Knowing that Scorp will kill Billy but not Whitey (how I don't know) he takes Billy with him. Scorp's thugs come to and see Dr. Lang leaving. They hop in Billy's car to give chase. FAster & faster they go. The thugs plan to run Dr. LAng off the road. Just as they pull aside Dr. Lang, they reach 50 mph and Boom!
Next: Dead Man's Trap
We don't get to see the fighting skills of Dr. Lang's butler, so I prefer Prof Bentley's pugilistic butler. Plus he is cuter.
-------------------- 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
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Well, that's 2 thugs we don't have to worry about anymore. Although Billy needs a new car now.
Dr. Lang's gatekeeper is in the employ of Scorp. He calls Scorp & tells him that Dr. Lang left with Billy and they are taking the Old Mill Road. Scorp sends more thugs.
Dr. Lang has gone off the road due to Billy's exploding car. Billy is still out from the knock-out drops. Oh no Dr. Lang! You are flagging down the thugs. They take Dr. Lang & Billy to Scorp.
Scorp puts Dr. Lang in an iron maiden to make him turn over his lens. Billy comes too in the cellar, but pretends to still be unconscious. Dr. Lang tells Scorp the lens is in a safe (behind a painting, natch) in his house. Scorp makes him write down the combination. Scorp then wants Billy brought up so he can be dealt with. I really don't see that Billy has been much of an interference to Scorp, but oh well. The thugs leave Billy alone to get some water to revive him. Shazam!
Cap confronts Scorp, but Scorp uses Dr. Lang as a human shield and escapes down a secret passage. And quite an extensive secret passage too. Dr. Lang, left alone calls Malcolm. Betty answers and says the Mr. Malcolm is out of town. Dr. Lang give Betty to combination to his safe. Scorp has lost his mask white running through the tunnels. He doubles back and get's the drop on Dr. Lang before he can wrn Betty about a trap on his safe. Dr. Lang sees who Scorp is, but is shot before he can name him. Scorp grabs the giant scorpion statue and flees. Cap finds Dr. Lang, who with his last breath tells Cap that he sent Betty to get the lens, but there is a death trap. "Save...save her!"
The thugs arrive first. They give the gatekeeper a shotgun and tell him to lock the gate & stay out of sight. He does lock the gate but not very well because when Betty arrives, she easily opens it. Cap arrives in time to stop the gatekeeper from shooting Betty. Then for some reason, he turns back into Billy.
The thugs have found the safe. We see what the death trap is. When the painting is opens, a panel on the opposite wall slides open revealing 2 machine guns. The thugs almost have the safe open when the hear Billy calling out to Betty. They hide.
Billy seems to think the death trap was the gatekeeper. Silly Billy! He and Betty are opening the safe. The machine guns are in place. They do the last number of the cobination and Budda-budda-budda!
Next: Doom Ship
The number of the expedition who could be Scorp is decreasing. All that are left are Mr. Malcolm, Prof. Bentley, Tal Chotali, Betty, Whitey, and Billy. Hmmm.... You never see Billy and the Scorpion together....
-------------------- 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
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Budda-budda-budda go the machine guns! But the stupid thug had jumped out of their hiding spot and got between Betty & Billy and the guns.
Billy and Betty get knocked out. Well not so much Billy. The remaining thugs look in the safe. There is no lens. But there is a map of the tomb back in Siam showing where Dr. Lang hid his lens. Billy fights the thugs. One tells the other to take off with the map. Nice flying leap there Billy! Thugs get knocked out accidentially. Shazam! Cap goes after the fleeing thug & catches him. Cap hog ties him with the thug's own belt. Cap seems pretty well practiced in doing this. Cap turns back into Billy. The other thug comes to and flees. Betty comes to.
Back at stately Malcolm Manor, the espedition realize that they have to go back to the tomb as even though Scorp doesn't have the map, he does know the last lens is back at the tomb. Malcolm has Betty book passage on the next steamer to Bangcock for all of them. Malcolm tears up the map into several pieces and divides it amongst the expedition.
Scorp leaves orders for the thugs and takes the giant scorpion with him.
They are all on the ship and there is a terrible storm raging. Malcolm is concerned that Scorp may get to the tomb before them. Which is not right. They know Scorp is one of them (I'm thinking Whitey) and they are all on the steamer, so Scorp couldn't get there any sooner than they could.
The ship hits some rocks near the shore. With the storm still raging, Billy turns into Cap and flies a rope to the shore. They use this rope with a bucket to get everyone off the ship. But before Betty goes, she remembers her part of the map is in her cabin. She rushes back to get it. Both Tal Chotali & Prof. Bentley see Betty headed to her cabin. Whoever is Scorp takes the time to put on his costume and mask before knocking Betty out and taking her piece of map. Cap turns back into Billy as everyone is being taken off the ship in the rope and chair setup. Later as they are gathered round a fire and the storm has stopped, Billy realizes that Betty's not there. Deducing that she is still on the ship, Billy has them send him back over on the rope & chair. As he is going , we see the anchor rope starting to break. He get's there and finds Betty just as the anchor rope breaks and the boat starts to sink.
Next: Valley of Death
We know that Cap could have just carried the whole ship to the shore. Seeing as this was made fairly soon after Cap debuted, it is possible that even in the comics he wasn't shown to have that much strength. Even so, Cap could have flown everybody off the ship in less time than using the rope & chair setup.
There is also a continuity error here. When Billy turns into Cap on the ship, he is wearing a raincoat & hat. But when he turns back into Billy, the raincoat and hat are gone and he is just wearing a very dry suit. No one else seems to notice this even though they are all still wearing their raincoats.
I hope Scorp had the giant scorpion statue sent by another ship otherwise, it went down with the steamer.
-------------------- 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
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Heh the steamer is the SS Carfax. Show me the Carfax!
Anyway, the ship is sinking. Billy has Betty in his arms. Water starts ruching in. If ever there was a moment to yell "Shazam!" this is it. But Billy doesn't switch. He swims with the unconscious Betty up from the sinking ship and to the shore.
Betty's part of the map is safe. Tal Chotali says that the village of Khandapur is just over the hills, about 4 hours away. Once at Khandapur, Malcolm suggests the rest up for a couple of days and sends Billy & Whitey to find some cars and equipment.
Scorp sends a message to the natives via homing pigeon. Sorry make that homing hawk. He tells the natives when the expedition is coming and to be ready. But Billy finds cars and equipment pretty easily and the expedition starts out a day sooner.
A native sees the expedition and signals to another native, who rides off. Billy sees the native signaling and Shazam! Cap captures the native, who luckily speaks English. The native tells of the trap set. A blocked road and then the mountain side will be blasted, burying the expedition. Cap flies off to help.
A large tree blocks the road. It is too heavy for the guys to move, so they start chopping it. Cap arrives warning them of the trap. Cap lifts the tree and the expedition drives through.
The natives see them arrive at the tomb. One wants to attack, but the leader says they are too few. They launch a plan to unite all the tribes together to attack. They will divert a river (stream really) to flow into the sacred volcano, causing it to flare up. The other tribes will take this a sign.
The expedition puts their map together to see where Dr. Lang hid his lens. Tal Chotali won't go into the tomb and defile it. Billy stays out to watch the cars. The natives dynamite the side of a hill, diverting the stream to flow into the volcano.
The group in the tomb find the plaque behind which Dr. Lang hid his lens. It takes Whitey with some tools and two of the men to take down the stone plaque. I don't know how Dr. Lang did this on his own. Meanwhile the volcano erupts causing a cave-in in the tomb. Whitey and Betty are trapped in the plaque room. Malcolm & Prof. Bentley go further into the passageways to escape the falling rocks.
Next: Captain Marvel's Secret
-------------------- 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
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As the tomb collapses, we hear a native ringing a giant gong summoning all the other tribes. Tal Chotali tells Billy that the erupting volcano will arouse them to kill all foreigners. Billy asks Tal Chotali to try to reason with the natives. He agrees to try.
Billy goes into the tomb to get the others so they can all leave. In the tomb Billy turns into Cap to remove the heavy stone debris. Malcolm and Prof. Bentley make their way through more cave like passages. They see a way out. Their heads become obscured by shadows. We hear the voice of Scorp. He shots the other guy, takes the lens, and makes his way out. When he comes out, he is now wearing his costume & mask. He sees Cap turn back into Billy, although he is too far away to seeor hear how Cap did it.
Meanwhile the native tribes have gathered. The native who is Scorp's man wants them to attack now. Tal Chotali says that it's possible that some bad men diverted the stream to make the volcano erupt. Another native leader is persuaded by what Tal Chotali says. Suddenly scorp enters. He wants them to kill all the white men (I guess Betty's safe). Tal Chotali says that Scorp is a false profit wearing the saced mask. He tries to take the mask off him but it held back. The other native leader also tries to take the mask off Scorp, but he is held back too. Scorp has them chained up.
Scorp tells his native henchman that Cap is Billy. Scorp think Billy uses a drug or device to turn into Cap. He instructs his henchman to capture all three alive. Scorp wants the secret of Captain Marvel.
Billy is easily captured by being knocked out. Whitey and Betty have a thrilling car chase where they even leap a gorge in their car (this model work is not as good as the model of the ship on the reef). But to no avail and are captured.
They are all tied up. Billy is also gagged. Scorp gloats and shows the natives what the giant scorpion with the lens can do by vaporizing a small monkey statue. He then uses it on the other native leader, vaporizing him. He says that Betty is next. He then tells Billy that he knows that he can turn into Cap and he will let Betty go free if Billy tells him the secret.
Billy agrees and when the gag is removed calls out Shazam! Cap breaks free of the ropes and grabs scorp. Cap then unmasks him. It's Click Here For A SpoilerProf. Bentley! Cap tells the natives that Scorp will be brought back to his own country for his many crimes there. Scorp breaks free and grabs Betty. As he is making his way out, the native henchman, angry because he was fooled, uses the scorpion statue to vaporize Scorp.
Cap makes a speech and then tosses the scorpion statue and lens into the lava of the volcano. We then hear a disembodied voice say Shazam and Cap becomes Billy. Tal Chotali explains that Cap was the protector of the scorpion statue and that once it was destroyed, the need for Captain Marvel ended. Billy, Betty, and Whitey head back to America. Betty will have to find a new job as Scorp killed her boss.
The End!
The film makers made a mistake there at the end by having Billy lose the power of Captain Marvel. Now it would be harder to do a sequel.
I also noticed that the actor playing Cap would say "Shazem" instead of "shazam"
All in all it was a good little serial. The fight scenes were very well done. A lot of the special effects were very good.
-------------------- 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
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posted
I first saw this serial in the late 80s. Then I bought it on a SLP VHS tape with a Superman-like coloring of Captain Marvel's outfit. Then I I finally got it on DVD.
The actor who played Captain Marvel also did a credible job as the Phantom. (He was also the first actor to portray the Universal character The Mummy after Boris Karloff.)
Registered: Aug 2004
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Weird fact: Despite not fitting in at all with the comics continuity, the serial is actually referenced in Whiz Comics #22, when Whitey shows up at Billy's office.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Cap turns back into Billy. The other thug comes to and flees. Betty comes to. 
