Captain America (1944)

Directed by

John English, Elmer Clifton

Genre

science fiction film, superhero film

Country

United States

Runtime

4h 04m

Rating

5.4 of 10 from 34 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A district attorney secretly works as Captain America to stop a museum curator who plots to steal super-weapons.

black-and-whitepulpenergeticserial-styleaction-packeddatedcampymelodramatic

What happens

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 film was re-released in 1953. It was released in Turkey and became popular, spurring the creation of other Turkish Captain America films such as the 1968 film Binbaşı Tayfun and the 1973 film 3 Dev Adam. It was the first live-action rendition of a Marvel character. 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. 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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