Shazam! The Original Captain Marvel at DC
Jun 8, 2021 18:44:17 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 8, 2021 18:44:17 GMT -5
So, this will be the first part of Captain marvel, in other media. We start in 1941, with the Republic Studios 12-chapter movie serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel....
Republic was the King of the Serials, having been born out of the debt of the Poverty Row low-budget studios Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic and Chesterfield Pictures. All were deeply in debt to Herbert Yates Consolidated Film Industries, which provided processing services for the studios. Yates needed steady business for the lab, since the major studios were using in-house labs and the smaller studios were feeling the heat of the Depression. He convinced the 6 companies to unite, under his leadership and formed Republic Pictures. Like other studios, Republic mixed bigger budget fare with lower budget two-reelers and Saturday matinee serials. John Wayne did some early work in these shorter films and in the serials, such as The Shadow of the Eagle and Hurricane express, for Mascot. Macot had also produced Gene Autrey's sci-fi/western mash-up, The Phantom Empire. The new Republic Pictures continued in this line, with darkest Africa, starring animal trainer Clyde Beatty, and The Undersea Kingdom, a Flash Gordon knockoff, starring football hero Ray "Crash" Corrigan. Republic put out exciting serials, with some of the best directors and stuntmen in the business and produced such classics as Dick Tracy (adapting the comic strip hero), Zorro's Fighting Legion, Fighting Devil Dogs (which would influence the look of Darth Vader), Daredevils of the Red Circle, SOS coast Guard and Drums of Fu Manchu.
Republic had adapted comic strips (see Dick Tracy); but, never comic books. It had been trying, unsuccessfully, to license Superman, from National Periodic Publications (the future DC Comics). Paramount, who distributed the Fleischer Bros animated Superman shorts, had exclusive rights to Superman, including as a live-action production. Republic had gone so far as to create a script for a Superman serial and ended up reworking it into the 1940 serial, The Mysterious Dr Satan, featuring a masked hero, called The Copperhead. Republic then turned, in frustration, to national's top competitor (or one of, at least) Fawcett Comics and their top feature, Captain Marvel. They secured the rights in 1940 and began production at the end of the year. Republic's top team of directors, William Whitney and John English, were put in charge, though Whitney was skeptical about their ability to pull it off. Frank Coghlan was cast as a slightly older Billy Batson (he was 24-25 when the serial was filmed, but smaller in stature and young-looking) and former AAU weightlifting champion and Western star Tom Tyler was tapped to portray Captain Marvel. Tyler had been working in Republic' Three Mesquiteers western films, alongside Bob Steel and Ruff Davies (and Jimmie Dodd). he was tapped for captain marvel because of his size, though he was slimmer than how the comic character evolved, at the time of release.
The costume was designed, base on Captain marvel's original, in Whiz Comics #2, complete with the tunic flap (though the costume was made in a light grey material for black and white filming, rather than the red of the comics). The stuntmen at republic were the best and they got plenty to do, in this one, doubling Tyler in stunt scenes and stuntman Dave Sharpe doubled for the take-offs and landings, and also did a few acrobatic stunts, like a backflip kick to a pair of desert warriors, in the first chapter. For the flying sequences, the studio turned to Howard & Theodore Lydecker, who had done effects work, including flying sequences, for Darkest Africa. They concocted a method for the flying sequences that was pretty effective. The created a scaled dummy, in a flying pose (based on Mac Raboy illustrations of Captain Marvel Jr) and sent it sliding along taught wire. For upshots, they weighted the cape and slid the dummy down the wire, backwards, causing the cape to billow, but not fly upwards. The dummy was shot at different angles to suggests speed and was mixed with fast cuts of Dave Sharpe leaping into the air in a flying pose (falling to a landing at the last second) and landing, by jumping off a ladder. There are a few shots of Tyler, suspended on wires, against a background of moving clouds, but these were used sparingly. The end result is pretty good, in most shots,; far better than the solution when Superman finally debuted in live action, at Columbia, where he was animated, for the flying scenes.
The plot finds young radio broadcaster Billy Batson on an archeological expedition, somewhere in Siam (Thailand), in the Valley of the Tombs. Apparently, Siam is a desert region, according the Republic, rather than a tropical climate, in Southeast Asia. They are looking for the lost secret of the Scorpion kingdom, a golden scorpion, with lenses in each limb, which, when aligned, emits a powerful energy beam. The tomb is located and the scorpion discovered and the resulting release of energy causes a cave-in, trapping part of the expedition. Young Billy obeyed the warnings not to enter the tomb and meets the Wizard, Shazam, who rewards his virtue by giving him the power to become Captain Marvel. Billy says the wizard's name and transforms into the hero and helps get the expedition out and fight off a band of marauders. A scroll reveals that the lenses can be aligned in a specific way to perform alchemy, transforming base metals into pure gold. The lenses of the scorpion are divided among the members of the expedition, for safekeeping; but, soon, they are murdered, one by one, to steal their lens and assemble to complete weapon. The murderers are under the command of the mysterious Scorpion, a hooded figure who is secretly a member of the expedition. Billy and his friends, Whitey Murphy and Betty Wallace must try to stop the murderers and uncover the identity of the scorpion.
Here is the first chapter...
Notice that Betty thinks that a skirt and high heels are sensible attire for trapesing across mountains and through scrub brush? Tal Chatali is unique to this, but is pretty much cut from the usual Chandu/Rama Singh, Punjab/Lothar cloth of the comic strips and pulp novels (and radio series).
Love the human catapult of the bandit, to get inside the expedition's stockade! Kind of hard to open the gate, if you are crippled or killed on landing!
Reed Hadley, who would voice Zorro, in Zorro's Fighting Legion (with stuntman Yakima Canutt portraying the physical body of the hero), is Rahman Bar, leader of the bandits, looking a bit like Michael Ansara.
This is, by far, the best adaptation of a comic book hero of the 20th Century! For the period, the effects are fantastic, the action is lively and engaging and the mystery plot propels the story along. Captain Marvel is treated as a mysterious figure, who kicks but, when he shows up, while Billy Batson and friends do the legwork and get into trouble. One cliffhanger has a hood, hanging onto the back of Whitey's car, who opens the gas cap and stuff a rag into it, lighting it on fire, to blow up the car! In motion!
Tyler looks the part, but he was described as a bit clumsy, as his lanky arms tended to swing about and hit things and he connected too often with punches to the stuntmen. Thankfully, he isn't required to do a lot of acting, so he can just toss people off of buildings and mow them down with machine gun fire!
The Big Red Cheese don't play!
Although it would have been nice to have Dr Sivana or Black Adam in the feature (Black Adam didn't appear until 1945, though), it would have drastically changed the tone of things and this is an attempt to do a straight adventure. As such, it is the best attempt at doing a straight version and would have a huge influence on Jerry Ordway's approach, in the Power of Shazam graphic novel, as we get the archeological expedition as the source for the loss of the Batsons and the release of Teth Adam, whose spirit takes over the murderous Theo Adam.
Tom Tyler would continue in westerns, but would return to masked heroes, in Columbia's adaptation of The Phantom...
That is also a good one, and relatively faithful to the style of the newspaper adventures.
Tyler developed severe rheumatoid arthritis and ended up being relegated to supporting roles in film and television. His last tv appearance was in 1953 and he died of a heart attack, in 1954, at the age of 50.
Frank Coghlan Jr had been a child actor, working with Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple, as well as in the Our Gang comedies. He would play Uncas in the 1932 adaptation of Last of the Mohicans, with Harry Carey as Hawkeye (no, not the Cubs announcer and not the MASH doctor; read a book!). He had a small role as a Confederate soldier, in Gone With The Wind. During World War 2, he enlisted in the Navy and became a naval aviator and served int he Pacific. He would make the Navy a career and spent the next 23 years flying and performing liason duties to such films as PT-109, The Caine Mutiny, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Mr Roberts and In Harm's Way. He later commanded the Hollywood Station, for the US navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He retired in 1965 and returned to commercials and as a spokesman for Curtis Mathis tvs. he was a featured interview, with Leonard Maltin, in the video documentary Cliffhangers! Adventures from the Thrill factory, about Republic Pictures. He published a memoir, They Still Call me Junior, in 1992. He died in 2009
Louise Currie, the attractive blond actress who plays Betty Wallace, was a staple of the serials and had small roles in other B-movies. She portrayed the stylish and sexy damsel Alice Hamilton, in Republic's masked hero adventure The Masked Marvel, where she is nearly crushed by a freight elevator, tied up in a crate, in the back of a truck that goes hurtling through a wall and off a pier, and nearly shot on a couple of occasions. She had a minor role in Citizen Kane, as a reporter at the Xanadu mansion. She retired from acting in 1956 and she and her husband (her third) started an antique import business and remained together until his death, in 1996. She appeared at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, in 2010, for a special screening of a restored print of The Adventures of Captain Marvel. She died in 2013.
Republic would also adapt Fawcett's Spy Smasher, with Kane Richmond as the hero, in probably the second greatest adventure serial of all time. This was a more direct adaptation, which included the Nazi villain, the mask, who operated from a flying wing contraption. A stunt fight on the ship would later be swiped for the flying wing fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
There is a theory that Fawcett prepared a script for a Mr Scarlet serial, based on the other headlining Fawcett hero, but scrapped the project after Mr Scarlet lost his lead feature. Instead, the script was adapted for Timely Comics hero, Captain America. The film has Captain America be the identity of crusading district attorney Grant Gardner, who uses a pistol in the serial, and never a shield. The villain is another masked man, rather than the Red Skull or even Nazis. Mr Scarlet was a crusading district attorney, Brian Butler, who carried a pistol. The theory makes a lot of sense, as there is no good reason for changing Captain America's name from that in the comics, nor in the generic villain, given that Republic would use a skull-faced villain in The Crimson Ghost, in 1946. Captain America was released in 1944, while the war was still on, so why they didn't make the villains Nazis begs some questioning. The Mr Scarlet theory is a logical possibility for the changes.
The Adventures of Captain Marvel still ranks as one of the best comic book superhero adaptations of all time, matching or beating the best of the DC and Marvel heroes and right there with indie features, like Hellboy or The Rocketeer.
Next time, this feature will examine the Filmation live-action Shazam! series, starring Michael Gray, Les Tremayne and Jackson Bostwick (Season 1 & 2 episodes of Season 2) & John Davey (Season 2 & 3), as Captain Marvel
Republic was the King of the Serials, having been born out of the debt of the Poverty Row low-budget studios Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic and Chesterfield Pictures. All were deeply in debt to Herbert Yates Consolidated Film Industries, which provided processing services for the studios. Yates needed steady business for the lab, since the major studios were using in-house labs and the smaller studios were feeling the heat of the Depression. He convinced the 6 companies to unite, under his leadership and formed Republic Pictures. Like other studios, Republic mixed bigger budget fare with lower budget two-reelers and Saturday matinee serials. John Wayne did some early work in these shorter films and in the serials, such as The Shadow of the Eagle and Hurricane express, for Mascot. Macot had also produced Gene Autrey's sci-fi/western mash-up, The Phantom Empire. The new Republic Pictures continued in this line, with darkest Africa, starring animal trainer Clyde Beatty, and The Undersea Kingdom, a Flash Gordon knockoff, starring football hero Ray "Crash" Corrigan. Republic put out exciting serials, with some of the best directors and stuntmen in the business and produced such classics as Dick Tracy (adapting the comic strip hero), Zorro's Fighting Legion, Fighting Devil Dogs (which would influence the look of Darth Vader), Daredevils of the Red Circle, SOS coast Guard and Drums of Fu Manchu.
Republic had adapted comic strips (see Dick Tracy); but, never comic books. It had been trying, unsuccessfully, to license Superman, from National Periodic Publications (the future DC Comics). Paramount, who distributed the Fleischer Bros animated Superman shorts, had exclusive rights to Superman, including as a live-action production. Republic had gone so far as to create a script for a Superman serial and ended up reworking it into the 1940 serial, The Mysterious Dr Satan, featuring a masked hero, called The Copperhead. Republic then turned, in frustration, to national's top competitor (or one of, at least) Fawcett Comics and their top feature, Captain Marvel. They secured the rights in 1940 and began production at the end of the year. Republic's top team of directors, William Whitney and John English, were put in charge, though Whitney was skeptical about their ability to pull it off. Frank Coghlan was cast as a slightly older Billy Batson (he was 24-25 when the serial was filmed, but smaller in stature and young-looking) and former AAU weightlifting champion and Western star Tom Tyler was tapped to portray Captain Marvel. Tyler had been working in Republic' Three Mesquiteers western films, alongside Bob Steel and Ruff Davies (and Jimmie Dodd). he was tapped for captain marvel because of his size, though he was slimmer than how the comic character evolved, at the time of release.
The costume was designed, base on Captain marvel's original, in Whiz Comics #2, complete with the tunic flap (though the costume was made in a light grey material for black and white filming, rather than the red of the comics). The stuntmen at republic were the best and they got plenty to do, in this one, doubling Tyler in stunt scenes and stuntman Dave Sharpe doubled for the take-offs and landings, and also did a few acrobatic stunts, like a backflip kick to a pair of desert warriors, in the first chapter. For the flying sequences, the studio turned to Howard & Theodore Lydecker, who had done effects work, including flying sequences, for Darkest Africa. They concocted a method for the flying sequences that was pretty effective. The created a scaled dummy, in a flying pose (based on Mac Raboy illustrations of Captain Marvel Jr) and sent it sliding along taught wire. For upshots, they weighted the cape and slid the dummy down the wire, backwards, causing the cape to billow, but not fly upwards. The dummy was shot at different angles to suggests speed and was mixed with fast cuts of Dave Sharpe leaping into the air in a flying pose (falling to a landing at the last second) and landing, by jumping off a ladder. There are a few shots of Tyler, suspended on wires, against a background of moving clouds, but these were used sparingly. The end result is pretty good, in most shots,; far better than the solution when Superman finally debuted in live action, at Columbia, where he was animated, for the flying scenes.
The plot finds young radio broadcaster Billy Batson on an archeological expedition, somewhere in Siam (Thailand), in the Valley of the Tombs. Apparently, Siam is a desert region, according the Republic, rather than a tropical climate, in Southeast Asia. They are looking for the lost secret of the Scorpion kingdom, a golden scorpion, with lenses in each limb, which, when aligned, emits a powerful energy beam. The tomb is located and the scorpion discovered and the resulting release of energy causes a cave-in, trapping part of the expedition. Young Billy obeyed the warnings not to enter the tomb and meets the Wizard, Shazam, who rewards his virtue by giving him the power to become Captain Marvel. Billy says the wizard's name and transforms into the hero and helps get the expedition out and fight off a band of marauders. A scroll reveals that the lenses can be aligned in a specific way to perform alchemy, transforming base metals into pure gold. The lenses of the scorpion are divided among the members of the expedition, for safekeeping; but, soon, they are murdered, one by one, to steal their lens and assemble to complete weapon. The murderers are under the command of the mysterious Scorpion, a hooded figure who is secretly a member of the expedition. Billy and his friends, Whitey Murphy and Betty Wallace must try to stop the murderers and uncover the identity of the scorpion.
Here is the first chapter...
Notice that Betty thinks that a skirt and high heels are sensible attire for trapesing across mountains and through scrub brush? Tal Chatali is unique to this, but is pretty much cut from the usual Chandu/Rama Singh, Punjab/Lothar cloth of the comic strips and pulp novels (and radio series).
Love the human catapult of the bandit, to get inside the expedition's stockade! Kind of hard to open the gate, if you are crippled or killed on landing!
Reed Hadley, who would voice Zorro, in Zorro's Fighting Legion (with stuntman Yakima Canutt portraying the physical body of the hero), is Rahman Bar, leader of the bandits, looking a bit like Michael Ansara.
This is, by far, the best adaptation of a comic book hero of the 20th Century! For the period, the effects are fantastic, the action is lively and engaging and the mystery plot propels the story along. Captain Marvel is treated as a mysterious figure, who kicks but, when he shows up, while Billy Batson and friends do the legwork and get into trouble. One cliffhanger has a hood, hanging onto the back of Whitey's car, who opens the gas cap and stuff a rag into it, lighting it on fire, to blow up the car! In motion!
Tyler looks the part, but he was described as a bit clumsy, as his lanky arms tended to swing about and hit things and he connected too often with punches to the stuntmen. Thankfully, he isn't required to do a lot of acting, so he can just toss people off of buildings and mow them down with machine gun fire!
The Big Red Cheese don't play!
Although it would have been nice to have Dr Sivana or Black Adam in the feature (Black Adam didn't appear until 1945, though), it would have drastically changed the tone of things and this is an attempt to do a straight adventure. As such, it is the best attempt at doing a straight version and would have a huge influence on Jerry Ordway's approach, in the Power of Shazam graphic novel, as we get the archeological expedition as the source for the loss of the Batsons and the release of Teth Adam, whose spirit takes over the murderous Theo Adam.
Tom Tyler would continue in westerns, but would return to masked heroes, in Columbia's adaptation of The Phantom...
That is also a good one, and relatively faithful to the style of the newspaper adventures.
Tyler developed severe rheumatoid arthritis and ended up being relegated to supporting roles in film and television. His last tv appearance was in 1953 and he died of a heart attack, in 1954, at the age of 50.
Frank Coghlan Jr had been a child actor, working with Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple, as well as in the Our Gang comedies. He would play Uncas in the 1932 adaptation of Last of the Mohicans, with Harry Carey as Hawkeye (no, not the Cubs announcer and not the MASH doctor; read a book!). He had a small role as a Confederate soldier, in Gone With The Wind. During World War 2, he enlisted in the Navy and became a naval aviator and served int he Pacific. He would make the Navy a career and spent the next 23 years flying and performing liason duties to such films as PT-109, The Caine Mutiny, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Mr Roberts and In Harm's Way. He later commanded the Hollywood Station, for the US navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He retired in 1965 and returned to commercials and as a spokesman for Curtis Mathis tvs. he was a featured interview, with Leonard Maltin, in the video documentary Cliffhangers! Adventures from the Thrill factory, about Republic Pictures. He published a memoir, They Still Call me Junior, in 1992. He died in 2009
Louise Currie, the attractive blond actress who plays Betty Wallace, was a staple of the serials and had small roles in other B-movies. She portrayed the stylish and sexy damsel Alice Hamilton, in Republic's masked hero adventure The Masked Marvel, where she is nearly crushed by a freight elevator, tied up in a crate, in the back of a truck that goes hurtling through a wall and off a pier, and nearly shot on a couple of occasions. She had a minor role in Citizen Kane, as a reporter at the Xanadu mansion. She retired from acting in 1956 and she and her husband (her third) started an antique import business and remained together until his death, in 1996. She appeared at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, in 2010, for a special screening of a restored print of The Adventures of Captain Marvel. She died in 2013.
Republic would also adapt Fawcett's Spy Smasher, with Kane Richmond as the hero, in probably the second greatest adventure serial of all time. This was a more direct adaptation, which included the Nazi villain, the mask, who operated from a flying wing contraption. A stunt fight on the ship would later be swiped for the flying wing fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
There is a theory that Fawcett prepared a script for a Mr Scarlet serial, based on the other headlining Fawcett hero, but scrapped the project after Mr Scarlet lost his lead feature. Instead, the script was adapted for Timely Comics hero, Captain America. The film has Captain America be the identity of crusading district attorney Grant Gardner, who uses a pistol in the serial, and never a shield. The villain is another masked man, rather than the Red Skull or even Nazis. Mr Scarlet was a crusading district attorney, Brian Butler, who carried a pistol. The theory makes a lot of sense, as there is no good reason for changing Captain America's name from that in the comics, nor in the generic villain, given that Republic would use a skull-faced villain in The Crimson Ghost, in 1946. Captain America was released in 1944, while the war was still on, so why they didn't make the villains Nazis begs some questioning. The Mr Scarlet theory is a logical possibility for the changes.
The Adventures of Captain Marvel still ranks as one of the best comic book superhero adaptations of all time, matching or beating the best of the DC and Marvel heroes and right there with indie features, like Hellboy or The Rocketeer.
Next time, this feature will examine the Filmation live-action Shazam! series, starring Michael Gray, Les Tremayne and Jackson Bostwick (Season 1 & 2 episodes of Season 2) & John Davey (Season 2 & 3), as Captain Marvel
