Live action super heroes were thin on the ground when I was a boy.
We had little beyond Superman and Zorro on TV and Tarzan at the movies until 1966, when Batman wowed the tube and Superman flew to Broadway.
Imagine my surprise, then, to find that the generation ahead of me had been much luckier, thrilling to dozens of superheroes from the comic books, the newspaper comic strips, the pulp magazines, radio drama and original screenplays as they dashed manically across the movie screen in 15-minute chapter plays every Saturday during the 1930s and 1940s.
Each hero’s adventure added up to three or four hours on screen! What bliss!
But they play better if you don’t binge-watch them. Four solid hours of relentless car chases, boat chases, plane chases and fistfights turn out to be a bit much.
I longed to see them as a boy, but they were never shown. When I did get to watch them as an adult, I could still see beyond the repetitive action of the endless, breathless pulp shenanigans and the strained production values to the cinema sorcery that set someone else’s childhood soaring.
I think the best superhero movie serial was Republic’s 1942 Spy Smasher starring the able, handsome Kane Richmond as the Fawcett Comic hero. The production values were high (I suspect they used some other film’s classy leftover sets), the action was fine and the self-sacrificial wartime plot was even poignant at points.
Virtually tying Spy Smasher for best superhero serial is Republic’s 1941 Adventures of Captain Marvel starring Tom Tyler, which helped propel the good captain into stratospheric comic book sales during the 1940s. The flying effects and fight stunts are still admirable, clearly labors of love. For example, Captain Marvel kicks two thugs in their chins with a back flip — not the kind of thing you ever saw in either of the two Batman serials.
Cheryl Spoehr wrote: I first saw Flash Gordon' trip to Mars on Ghoulardi's Shock Theater. One chapter every Fri. Night, followed by various monster or occasionally crime films. I almost always fell asleep during the movie,but never during the serial. We wondered why they began with serial #2? Having seen all four Universal Space serials (including Buck Rogers) on Ghoulardi,Batman then came to my neighborhood theatre,but I only saw the first half of it. I would be well over 30, before seeing a heavily edited version of Batman. Only about ten years back,did I see the unedited version. I hated the way college kids laughed at the serials,especially when they brought so much "Weed" into the theatre I could not breathe. I joined comic book fandom in the late sixties,somewhere around 73(?)I saw Spy Smasher at Huston Con,with The Spider's web,and The Lone Ranger. Also saw many Republic serials on tv when I was in high school, a local station aired them later in the morning. So,I have been a serial fan since childhood. Much as I hate to admit it...those who saw Flash as "camp" had a point. There are so many ways these beautiful serials do not age well...but I still love them very much. Got serials on dvds,and watch them not infrequently. And I am a huge Spy Smasher fan all round. Yes, Spy Smasher is one of the very best serials... but adults have to tamp down their tendency to laugh when people refer to a man by the name of "Spy Smasher"...
ReplyDeleteRichard Brown:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, the BBC always used to show cliffhanger serials during the summer and Christmas holiday. I only saw the Captain Marvel one on Youtube a few years ago around the time the first Shazam film was in the cinema. I read at the time that it was the first live action depiction of any superhero.
I replied:
Indeed it was, and those wonderful Paramount Superman cartoons came out at about the same time. Must have been a thrill to be a kid then.
Kevin McDougall:
ReplyDeleteThe Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher serials gave us a hint as to how Republic might have handled Superman & Batman. 'Cause to be honest, the Columbia ones kinda sucked.
I replied:
Republic would have provided great action and effects, but would have taken liberties with the characters. But out of all this we got a great Captain Marvel serial and those wonderful Paramount Superman cartoons, so it all worked for the best, I think
Dennis Hanley:
ReplyDeleteI've watched "Spy Smasher." Imagine that you are 12 years old and it is a good adventure serial.
I replied:
Luckily, I never have any trouble imagining that I am 12 years old.
Michael Fraley:
ReplyDeleteI absolutely DEVOURED the 1936 Flash Gordon serial on Chicago's WGN when they showed it -- one chapter per week -- after the Friday late night movie in the 1970s. Few other serials could compare to it, and when Star Wars was finally released, even that blockbuster left me yawning. Mark Hamill was no Buster Crabbe, and Carrie Fisher was no Jean Rogers or Priscilla Lawson.
I replied:
That, too, is really one terrific serial, despite those firecracker space ships (but Star Wars was also terrific). The serial amazingly managed to retain something of the erotic charge of the strip.
Cheryl Spoehr:
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Serial Squadron site, Republic also planned on making a Bulletman serial,and may have been actively preparing for it, when D.C. sued Republic about their Captain Marvel serial. Because Superman flew, and Bulletman flew, the lawyers insisted that Bulletman was another "plagiarism " of Superman. So they turned to another new and maybe popular Fawcett character, Mr. Scarlet. But this character was not maintaining his popularity, losing his cover position in Wow Comics. Taking up a Robin-style sidekick, and losing pages to the other occupants of Wow comics, there was no reason to pay for this character, so no Mr. Scarlet serial. A shame, he is still one of my fav Golden Age heroes. Even if it had had no Pinky, and kept to the hard-core, shoot-first character created by Jack Kirby, it would have been a great serial for we Scarlet fans. And here is something that may or may not accurate. Many believe that the Mr. Scarlet script was used for Republic's Captain America serial. I normally have no use for such speculation, but this one makes perfect sense. This "Captain America" had no shield, no acrobatics, no sidekick, he mostly killed his foes, sometimes in cold-blooded ways, and used his secretary to help him. And he was a District Attorney, like Brian Butler alias Mr. Scarlet. I can't help but think that if "Captain America" WASN'T just the "Mr. Scarlet" script with a name change, it certainly could pass for it! I think ,perhaps just this once, the "rumors' about an old movie might just be true. Too bad there is no "app" which would let me push a button,and replace the costume and references to "Captain America" back (?) to "Mr. Scarlet" and watch the serial that might have been.
I replied:
I have always been dubious about that story. But in any case, the resulting serial was a tremendous disservice to Captain America fans (who were far more numerous than Mr. Scarlet fans).
Mat Green:
ReplyDeleteSpy Smasher might be the best adventure serial ever.
Pól Rua:
ReplyDeleteTwo of the absolute best serials ever!
My only regret with Spy Smasher is that, while we get to see the Gyrosub, it's only ever a bad guy superweapon.
i replied:
Yes, that was odd, but at least they included it.
Tim Clodfelter:
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie serial of all time! (Captain Marvel and Masked Marvel being the others)
I replied:
You have good taste.
Chris Burgess:
ReplyDeleteLoved your commentary!!!
ReplyDeleteJim Morrison:
The able Kane Richmond
Pun intended?
I replied:
There is a prime example of the subconcious mind at work.
Johnny Williams:
ReplyDeleteDan Hagen, my experience largely mirrored yours until the mid-60’s when I noticed, much to my surprise and pleasure, small ads in some of the monster magazines of the time (monster magazines were a pretty big deal back then) advertising copies of those same serials you mentioned above. Obviously this is years before even VHS technology existed let alone digital. No, these were black and white films on film spools and you played them on your home projector.
Well, I couldn’t believe my eyes, and while I don’t remember exactly how much they cost each, they were going for a song and a dance relatively speaking.
You already know how my Mom was in regards to comics and related media, so it should be no surprise that she greenlit the purchase of a couple of them, just to see if they were as advertised. Luckily her sister, my aunt had a projector and screen and was only too glad to lend both to us. Btw, my deal with my Mom viz-a-vi these purchases was that I’d chip in some of my allowance and saved money but she’d pay the bulk of the cost including the postage.
After the first order was mailed out those weeks waiting seemed like some of the longest of my life up until then, however it finally came. I restrained myself from tearing into the package, opting to wait for my Mother to get home from work. I wasn’t allowed to run the projector solo anyway.
Guess what that first one we’d order was?
You got it, it was….
Captain Marvel!
Boy, let me tell you, everything you said about it was true. Look, as much as I loved ‘The Adventures of Superman’, Cap’s flying special effects made Supes’ pale by comparison.
Our next order was one of the 1940s Batman serials. Mom had watched the Captain Marvel and the Batman features at the movie theater when she was a girl so she was getting as much joy out of them as I was if not more. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion.
Thank you my friend. Your essay above sparked in my mind yet another fond memory for me.
I replied:
Johnny Williams, Your mom! How I love her.