Post by codystarbuck on Feb 14, 2019 18:05:55 GMT -5
Cei-U!
I summon the patriotic switcheroo!
As for "patriotic switcheroo", I can't help but find it odd that while Batman had to get involved in the war effort in 1943, Captain America got to sit it out the following year in his serial. I understand that by 1944, audiences were worn down from being constantly reminded of the war, but still, "Fighting the Nazi's on the beaches of Normandy vs. investigating possible insurance fraud here in the States? hmm... sorry boys!"
Incidentally, Captain America not only avoided use of The Red Skull, but Bucky, the shield, the war, and Steve Rogers himself and, like the first Batman serial, still works.
Actually, when Marvel complained about how unfaithful the Captain America serial was to the source material, Republic responded that nowhere in the package Marvel sent them was any information about a kid sidekick or shield so how were they supposed to know about them. I suspect that that sort of reasoning was applied to a lot of serials back then. "Look, we've got The Phantom, The Spider, Mandrake, Captain Midnight, The Shadow, and who knows who else! You want us to use some guy called The Joker or The Penguin, then you better make that clear up front!"
Mr Scarlet was DA Brian Butler, who fights crime as the masked Mr Scarlet and carries a revolver. Captain America became DA Grant Gardner, who fights crime as the masked Captain America, and uses a revolver.
Very few of the serials used villains from the source material, often creating their own. For the serials, the gimmick was more unmasking the villain, by the end, who was often one of the characters featured throughout the serial. The comic strip adaptations tended to use the original characters more, probably due to contracts that gave more say to the newspaper syndicate. Comic book publishers didn't carry the same weight, which was probably a factor. Looking at most of the comic book based serials:
Adv. of Captain Marvel-the Big Red Cheese fights The Scorpion, who was not a comic villain.
Spy Smasher-fights The Mask, from the debut of the character, in Whiz Comics.
Captain America-fights The Scarab, a generic villain, rather than the Red Skull. Not even Nazi saboteurs!
Vigilante-fights a gang of criminals, led by the mysterious X-1, rather than The Dummy, from the comics (probably a bit hard to pull off)
Congo Bill-hired to find an heiress, in the jungle, and bring her back. Villain is the trustee of the estate.
Superman-faces the Spider Lady, rather than a comic book villain.
Atom Man vs Superman-battles Luthor's schemes.
Batman-faces Dr Daka, due what's described above.
Batman & Robin-faces The Wizard, generic villain.
Blackhawk-faces foreign spy, played by Carol "Spider Lady" Foreman.
So, only Lex Luthor and The Mask made the cut from page to screen.
Comic strips fared better:
Flash Gordon-fights Ming the Merciless in all three serials
Buck Rogers-faces Killer Kane
Terry & the Pirates-fights a warlord, though the Dragon Lady appears, as does Normandie
The Phantom-jungle treasure seekers, which fit the basic pattern of the Phantom tales. The Singh pirates were one of the few recurring threats, in the comics.
Mandrake-generic mad scientist.
Dick Tracy-fights the Spider, a generic masked villain, though the character isn't different from some of the strip villains, apart from appearance. Later films also feature criminals not from the strips. Probably a budget issue, since most of Tracy's enemies had weird physical features.
Adv. of Smilin' Jack-Japanese agents.
Radio heroes:
Lone Ranger-generic villains, though in the spirit of the radio adventures.
Green Hornet-fights a series of criminal gangs, ultimately leading to the Chief, organizer of the gangs. In the spirit of the series, but not adapted from it.
Pulps:
Shadow-fights the villain Black Tiger, not from the pulps or radio.
Spider-fights The Octopus, in The Spider-s Web. Villain created by Spider writer Norvell Page. Serial in the spirit of the pulps; but, greatly toned down, with masked hero gimmicks added, including spider masked cloak, swiped for Spider-Man's costume design. Spider Returns-faces the Gargoyle.
Most of the serials followed the same kind of plot structure, across episodes, usually involving the unmasking of the villain, in the final chapter. A few, like The Lone Ranger and The Masked Marvel, centered around the mystery of the hero's identity. Green Hornet was unique in that each chapter had a new gang to defeat, on the way to the head man, at the end. Dick Tracy also featured various henchmen of the Spider, before defeating and unmasking him, at the end.
Chalk a lot of it up to Hollywood knows better how to write a script than the source, causing them to ignore much of the source material, beyond contractual obligation. Also, serial budgets were pretty low (the serial studios existed along what was known as Poverty Row, apart from Universal and Columbia), making elaborate masks and make-ups too costly to consider. The serials also didn't exactly get the best writers, as their job was to move the plot along and create situations for memorable stunts and cliffhangers, to get the kiddies back the next week.
