Cap Gets A Gun!

It's been a good many years since I busted out this VHS copy I have if the serial Captain America. I perhaps have only watched it once, when I first got it so many years ago now. Needless to say my memories of the movie had long faded.

To begin, it's a fairly standard Republic movie serial. All the tropes are here. They've got exploding barns, exploding cars, exploding planes, and even exploding skyscrapers. There are electrical death traps, rolling tractor death traps, guillotine death traps, and remote-controlled robot trucks that smash into all sorts of things. Throw in fisticuffs, gunplay, and even an exotic Mayan blowgun and you've got quite a mishmash of standard adventure serial mayhem.


Now most folks probably know that the Captain America of the serial ain't the Cap we know and love from the comics. Nowhere is Steve Rogers and not a hint of Bucky is to be found. This "Captain America" is Grant Gardner (played by Dick Purcell) the local fighting District Attorney, and a more lethal public servant it would be difficult to uncover. He throws maybe half a dozen henchmen off the tops of buildings and out of windows and guns down at least a half dozen more. And when he's killed a guy, he just packs up his gun and moseys along to find more baddies to unleash on.


He's not alone as his secretary Gail played by Lorna Gray, is often on hand to add to mix. She is pretty tough as serial dames go, but just as often ends up under a blade or stranded in a gas-filled case. She's a beautiful woman though, one of the most beautiful I've seen in a serial.

The main villain is called The Scarab and is played to the hilt by the wonderful Lionel Atwill. He slips in and out of character pretending to be a true blue friend to his fellow scientists while plotting and committing many a murder as the story unfolds. He appears to be an enemy agent of sorts, though that element of the story is undeveloped. He wants revenge on his colleagues for ruining his reputation and a lot of the action centers around an expedition to the jungles of the Mayan empire. But as far as the serial is concerned the action stays centered right on the domestic homefront.


This Captain America is a bit of a mincer too. He never looks all that comfortable in his fighting togs and the gun doesn't have the pinache of the classic shield. He does get on a motorcycle one time and looks pretty good there.


The trouble with the serial is that it's a bit generic. Any hero would've done here, and that hurts the flavor a bit. I've read that Mr.Scarlet, the Fawcett hero was originally scheduled for this serial and Cap was a late addition. That would make sense, since there's very little here that has any real feel for the specific nature of Captain America.


This is a perfectly fine serial, but nothing especially robust or spectacular.

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