Captain America movie storyline. A rash of suspicious suicides among scientists and businessmen, all found holding a small scarab, gets the attention of Mayor Randolph. He demands that Police Commissioner Dryden and District Attorney Grant Gardner get to the bottom of the case, while openly wishing that Captain America, a masked man who has helped defeat crime in the past, were around to solve the mystery.
Gail Richards, Grant Gardner’s secretary, investigates and realizes someone knows of the “Purple Death”, a hypnotic chemical responsible for the suicides. However he then pulls out a gun and takes her into another room. He then orders an associate to tie her up. The D.A. realizes she is there and forces the man to take him to her. He finds her tied up and gagged. He frees her but it is threatened that the purple death will be dropped killing them all. But the D.A. shoots him then gets out of the room with Gail.
All of the suicides were members of an expedition to some Mayan ruins. One of the few remaining survivors, Professor Lyman, turns to his friend Dr. Maldor for support. Dr. Maldor, however, reveals that he is the man responsible for the deaths. He wants revenge because he planned and organized the expedition but everyone else claimed the fame and fortune. However, Lyman has developed the “Dynamic Vibrator” – a device intended for mining operations but one that can be amplified into a devastating weapon. Using his purple death Dr. Maldor forces Lyman to disclose the location of his plans.
Captain America is a 1944 Republic black-and-white serial film loosely based on the Timely Comics (today known as Marvel Comics) character Captain America. It was the last Republic serial made about a superhero. It also has the distinction of being the most expensive serial that Republic ever made. It stands as the first theatrical release connected to a Marvel character; the next theatrical release featuring a Marvel hero would not occur for more than 40 years. It was the last live-action rendition of a Marvel character in any media until Spider-Man appeared in the Spidey Super Stories segment of the children’s TV series The Electric Company in 1974.
The serial sees Captain America, really District Attorney Grant Gardner, trying to thwart the plans of the Scarab, really museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor – especially regarding his attempts to acquire the “Dynamic Vibrator” and “Electronic Firebolt”, devices that could be used as super-weapons.
In a rare plot element for Republic, the secret identity of the villain is known to the audience from the beginning, if not to the characters in the serial. The studio’s usual approach was the use of a mystery villain who was unmasked as one of the other supporting characters only in the final chapter.
Captain America’s official release date is 5 February 1944, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. (The serial was actually filmed in 1943.) The serial was re-released on 30 September 1953, under the new title Return of Captain America, between the first runs of Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders and Trader Tom of the China Seas.
Captain America (1944)
Directed by: Elmer Clifton, John English
Starring: Dick Purcell, Lorna Gray, Lionel Atwill, Charles Trowbridge, Russell Hicks, George J. Lewis, John Davidson, Frank Reicher, Howard C. Hickman, Edward Van Sloan
Screenplay by: Royal Cole, Harry Fraser, Joseph Poland, Ronald Davidson, Basil Dickey, Jesse Duffy, Grant Nelson, Charles Trowbridge
Cinematography by: John MacBurnie
Film Editing by: Wallace Grissell, Earl Turner
Set Decoration by: Charles S. Thompson, John McCarthy Jr., Otto Siegel
Art Direction by: Fred A. Ritter
Makeup Department: Peggy Gray, Bob Mark
Music by: Mort Glickman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Republic Pictures
Release Date: February 5, 1944 (U.S. serial)
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