By
Hank Reineke
Collectors and enthusiasts of the serials produced by
Republic Pictures Corporation (1936-1955) have reason to rejoice. Save for the too occasional and often spotty
rare film release, proprietary rights to the Republic’s vast back catalog from
that studio’s “Golden Age†have mostly languished in the vaults. Then, with little fanfare, Paramount
Pictures, Inc. - the company who had obtained the rights through a dizzying history
of corporate takeovers and mergers - began to quietly make some of these
moribund but treasured troves of rare films digitally available to fans in late
2015. Though streaming through the Youtube
channel via the company’s Paramount Vault portal was not the platform that many
of us had hoped for, it was a welcome
turn of events and certainly better than nothing.
If nothing else it was a long time coming. Devotees of these decidedly nostalgic vintage
chapter plays have too long been forced to enjoy these treasures via ropey and
gauzy VHS rips from tattered 16mm film elements. Many collectors will recall the old days when
the only conduit for tracking down copies was through the purchase of
bootleg-market videotapes from mysterious and transient P.O. Box address-only sellers
listed provocatively in back page classifieds of genre magazines.
The Adventures
of Captain Marvel, now available on Blu-Ray via Kino/Lorber
Studio Classics, is generally acknowledged as one of the finest and exciting serials. It’s also noteworthy as the titular Captain Marvel
is the first comic book superhero to make it to the big screen with an equally
big splash. The character Captain Marvel first appeared in the second issue of Whiz Comics in February of 1940. He quickly became the best-selling comic book
superhero of the 1940s, his popularity partly due no doubt to the success of
this Republic serial of 1941. On the
printed page, Captain Marvel would face down many enemies, but in real life his
greatest nemesis might have been the creators of Superman. The man from Krypton, of course, made an
earlier debut in Action Comics in
June of 1938.
With his leotards, tall boots, cape, whisk of black hair,
gift of flight and apparent invincibility, there was something about Captain
Marvel that seemed uncomfortably too similar and oddly familiar to Superman’s
copyright holders – and soon the inevitable teams of lawyers were brought in to
sort it all out. The litigation lasted
for years and years, but within a year of the character’s creation Republic
Pictures had already brought The
Adventures of Captain Marvel successfully to the big screen. In contrast, Columbia Picture’s Superman serial (starring Kirk Alyn as
the big screen’s first man from Krypton) would not be released until 1948.
In some small way, you can hold some degree of sympathy
for the litigious maneuverings of Superman’s copyright holders. Much like the fabled “Man of Steel,†Captain
Marvel was similarly styled in appearance and powers and hid behind the
protection of a secretive dual identity. He could also fly, withstand a barrage
of gunfire, and bend steel bars in his bare hands. In some small ways the Fawcett Publications
superhero was different. Though it takes
a good dose of rare Kryptonite to bring down the mighty Superman, in The Adventures of Captain Marvel it seemingly
only takes a good jolt of electricity to – if only temporarily - incapacitate
our hero. In any event, the popularity of The
Adventures of Captain Marvel would cause Republic to return to the
wellspring of their success. Throughout
the 1940s the studio would produce a score of serials featuring pop-culture characters
licensed from the pages of comic books: these iconic films would introduce
young moviegoers to the first celluloid adventures of Dick Tracy, Red Ryder, Spy Smasher, Captain America, The Lone Ranger
and Zorro.