This is a brief review as the difference in the comic books and the serial have been covered very well by other writers. But I wanted to correct some incorrect information in some other reviews. In some of those reviews it mentioned that Dick Purcell was on the pudgy side and it showed when he pulled on the Capt. American suit. Purcell never wore the suit except in a few closeups. The suit was worn by well-known stunt man, Dale Van Sickel. To find a lot of information on Van Sickel go o Google and put in his name. He was a stand out in three sports at the University of Florida. In Hollywood he formed the stunt man association and become its first president. On the IMDb site you will find that he did stunts in 200 movies. In Chapter one of "Captain America" he has a fight with another well known stunt man Tom Steel (we wore the mask in "The Masked Marvel") He had a couple of appearance without the mask, a call box policeman in Chater three and a fake humane society man in Chapter 10. I find this serial to be very entertaining with a variety of cliffhangers, good production values and 16 stunt men providing the action. Purcell was in a few fight scenes as the district attorney and handled himself pretty well as you can see he is doing his own stunts there.

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.

Yes it's the Captain America of the comics, but only in regard to the suit. Instead of a super soldier fighting Nazi's here we have a district attorney fighting the scarab who is killing off the members of an archaeological expedition using a gas that leave purple blotches. Starring Dick Purcell as the Captain and Lionel Atwill as the Scarab this is neat little serial. Neat as in fun, not in regard to story. Well acted and well filmed, the story is a complete nonsensical mess. Nothing makes any real sense, trust me your brain will go into knots if you take it seriously, even on its own terms. Mostly you watch it because of the cast having such a great time and because the action is some of the best in any serial. The action scenes are huge explosions of chaos that seem bigger and more dangerous then almost any other chapter play. Usually they end in wild cliffhangers that are so daunting that the only way for the hero to escape is for the filmmakers to cheat. And cheat they do. There is a reason that the documentaries I've seen on serials use footage from this film to illustrate how the serials cheated, namely almost every cliffhanger involves a cheat. Even though it makes no sense and the cliffhangers cheat this is still a blast to watch. There is something to put on when you want some mindless (wholesome) action. Recommended.

In the words of the Oldsmobile commercials, "This is not your father's Captain America!" (well, at least my father). Shield-slinging, two-fisted Super Soldier battling Nazis? Nope, this is a pudgy DA battling ordinary criminals, with a revolver!First off, let me preface this by saying there is a big difference between watching a serial in weekly installments and watching the whole thing on video. The repetition was necessary to recap the previous week's chapter. On video, it gets tiresome by the third chapter. Still, that's what the fast-forward button is for.Poor Cap! He never got a break in 50 years. He's an orphan, 4F, Bucky is killed by Baron Zemo, the Red Skull just wont die, Nixon, Rob Liefeld, and September 11! On top of it all, he has never been done justice on the silver screen or the tv screen. Captain America should have been great; you have two-fisted action, that cool shield, Nazis, the Red Skull, and a great costume. So where is all of that in the film? The fights are there, but the rest of the package is missing. And these fights don't measure up to those in Spy Smasher, Masked Marvel, or the Adventures of Captain Marvel.Republic's adaptation of comic book heroes were vastly superior to Columbia's, but this one just doesn't quite work. There's no hook to pull you into it. Still, it's better than "theatrical" effort, nearly 50 years later.