The Adventures of Captain Marvel serials

[Bizarro Amy]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033317/

I think I posted a while back that I found these on DVD for like, five bucks. I never got around to watching them until last night, and I have to say that I really like them. For a show filmed in 1941, the effects are surprisingly good. Granted, there are a few times that you can tell there's a dummy flying through the air, but it's not terribly distracting. The costume looks very good, and I liked Tom Tyler and Frank Coghlan Jr as Captain Marvel and Billy Batson, respectively. The origin was changed a bit - I always thought of Billy being a little bit younger, and a newsboy. In this version, he's around 16, maybe as old as 18 and he encounters the wizard Shazam on an archeological expedition. I think what really sold it for me though, is Tyler's acrobatics. He springs into the air and does flips in combat. It kind of looks like he used springboards similar to what George Reeves did on the Superman series. The serials were filmed when Fawcett still owned the character. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth a look.

[madmarva]

I've read that many serial buffs consider the Captain Marvel serial to be among the best. Tyler was a respected stuntman who also played the Mummy in at least one of the Universal monster films. His tunic was worn in the first episode of the Adventures of Superman by a Kryptonian.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I got this at WalMart about a year ago. I agree, for 1941, the effects are really neat. I will say that it is amazing the number of characters who die in the story and everyone sort of takes each murder in stride. lol.

[kingdom warrior]

It's a total favorite of mine, Cap is hardcore and ruthless in it...throwing bad guys off buildings and shooting them....lol The flying scenes were pretty good for the time waaaaay better than what Columbia pictures did with Kirk Alyn in the Superman serials.

Tyler also played the Phantom and was equally good.

Tyler has a scene with Abbott and Costello in the movie Buck Privates he's the ref in the Boxing scene in the movie.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I am ashamed to admit I have never seen this. I saw the DVD at FYI for years and kept passing due to the price. I never saw it cheap. I even looked at several Wal-Marts for it when you guys posted it was showing up there.

Chris

[johnnystorm]

I have it on VHS, and it's been awhile since I watched it, but it was pretty darn good. And it wasn't a kiddie flick either, it's a straight up adventure serial. I have to get a new VCR so I can watch some of my stuff again- I have quite a few serials on VHS still- Superman, Spy Smasher, Nyoka, etc.

[PNGwynne]

I have a loto f serials, too on VHS--this is one of my favorites. I missed the DVD release.

I like Tyler as the Phantom, too.

[thunderbolt]

Yep, one of the best. THe flying scenes are amazing and the same process was used for the Commando Cody serials.

[Bizarro Amy]

I'm definitely going to look for the Phantom series staring Tyler.