Adventures of Captain Marvel

A totally entertaining '40s serial with all those great hokey touches you know and love.

When Republic balked at paying for the rights to Superman, they settled for Fawcett's less-expensive superhero, Captain Marvel. The serial departs a good deal from the comic book, and does not share its humor, but it's still a bang-up example of the golden age of Republic serials. Tom Tyler is the perfect embodiment of the Big Red Cheese, and the flying effects by the Lydecker brothers are neat. This was Freder's first-ever serial and it turned me into a lifelong fan of the format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSseP8A-S9s [480p]

"SHAZAAM!" and Frank Coghlan Jr. finally becomes a man! Or in this case Captain Marvel in Tom Tyler's body. A adventurous cliffhanger serial with some exciting chapters and some surprisingly tame ones. I had actually expected more cheesiness. Republic Pictures were good at that. Of course, if you love serials, Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) is right up your alley. Especially if you like the superhero variety.

One needs to know what to expect with these cliffhanger serials. It took me a while to get used to them, and I still wish I was a bigger fan than I am. Every episode has a cheesy cliffhanger, which is often frustratingly deceptive. They could have used the format better. Captain Marvel is one of my favorite comic heroes, so I stuck it through. Tom Tyler was a good Cap and Frank Coghlan's cheesiness works for Billy Batson. The action was fun and overall I enjoyed the serial once I settled in.

Better than most cheesy serials I've seen, but that is hardly an accomplishment.

Crap. Cheesy, dull, repetitive, and Captain Marvel often seems more like a bully than a hero as he grins smugly as the bullets bounce off his chest