The greatest movie ever!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

While this serial is action packed and entertaining, it doesn't offer anything new or original.They basically just put the generic hero in a Captain America costume with no explanation why.This version of Captain America is a district attorney who carries a gun,because that makes sense.He uses the gun as Cap too and I really like that.He shoots and kills people, that's what America is all about.The story is about The Scarab, a secretly evil scientist who is killing other scientists.He keeps stealing weapons that can destroy buildings and Cap has to save the day.The first episode is 25 minutes but the rest are 12-15 minutes with 3 minutes from the previous episode.I'm sure a 3 minute recap is nice if you saw the last episode 7 days ago but when you watch them all at once, it's quite annoying.This is only for fans of the old serials.Captain America fans will be extremely disappointed.

Captain America was far and away my favourite hero when I was growing up in the 1960s. A lot of this was do do with artist Jack Kirby's dynamic drawings of Cap in the Marvel Comic Tales of Suspense. I especially enjoyed the war-time setting of the comics and the hero's battles with his arch-nemesis The Red Skull. When CA joined the Avengers, I bought every one of those comics, too. All this is by way of saying I was (and am) a major fan of the character.It wasn't until years later, as I was getting more into movies and hunting down classic Hollywood serials, that I got to see CAPTAIN America.Now, this serial has taken a lot of stick on this site for not following the comics ... but I have less of a problem with this than some people here.Yes, the plot is a bit repetitive - but folks, it's a serial. You're supposed to watch it one episode a week. It's going to look a bit cheap, because the budget was tiny. It's going to have second-grade actors, because A-listers would never agree to appear in serials. This was where the studio tested out new talent and put old actors (and stunt men) out to pasture.As serials go, it's one of the better ones. I was astonished at just how much the stunt men in this throw themselves into the fight scenes. How these guys weren't hurt, I'll never know. The direction from John English (who, incidentally WAS English and was responsible for all the best serials of the period) it very slick and Lionel Atwill (one of the great b-movie actors) is excellent as the villain - though he does seem to forget his lines from time to time.All in all, one of the better serials of the 1940s - great fun if you fast-forward past the lengthy episode recaps. And I don't mind a bit if it doesn't follow the comics exactly. What comic book adaptation does? This serial is quite enjoyable enough to stand on its own terms.

With the release of a Captain America feature this summer, I thought I'd look at the first time this costumed hero from the comic books was depicted on the big screen nearly 70 years ago. Among several big differences between that character created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby and the one shown here: He's Grant Gardner, district attorney, not Steve Rogers, Army soldier. He uses a gun, not a shield. And the villains are not Nazis. In fact, the actual bad guy is one Dr. Cyrus Maldor (Lionel Atwill) a.k.a The Scarab. Oh, and instead of a teen boy named Bucky for a sidekick, Gardner has his secretary Gail Richards (Lorna Gray) helping him in his investigations. Now while I was initially along for the ride in following the story, it got a little repetitious when each chapterplay ended with a big fight that results with an explosion that always has the hero escaping just before it happens being revealed in the start of the next entry. So this would have probably been a little better at 12-instead of 15-chapters. Still, it was worth it to see how it all ends. Oh, and those fights were just as exciting to see in a Republic serial as it was on their earlier Adventures of Captain Marvel. I just wish the print I saw didn't have so many scenes playing off-sync on the soundtrack. But, all that said, I thought the three leads I mentioned did well together and Ms. Gray was certainly easy on the eyes whenever she appeared. So on that note, this version of Captain America is worth seeing.

While this serial is about as unfaithful an adaptation of a comic book character as there has ever been, it's still an entertaining piece that almost (not quite) holds up today.Captain America in this serial is not a private named Steve Rogers, but a District Attorney named Grant Gardner. Instead of Bucky (and, in later years, Falcon, Battlestar, Diamondback, and various Avengers) he has an assistant named Gail. The bad guy is not one that's found in the typical Captain America rogues gallery, but a mind controlling fiend called the Scarab. And instead of a "mighty shield," he carries a pistol and that's about it.Given that, the serial is a fast paced adventure that is big on action. The various fight scenes in the movie are far beyond those in many serials of the day (and even later day action films, such as a certain 1989 excursion featuring another costumed crimefighter) and the stuntwork in the many cliffhangers is excellent.The story is fairly standard: a scientist creates a device. The bad guy steals it. The heroes try to find out who he is. Interestingly, the film gives the audience his secret identity in the first chapter. While mysteries are better in theory, this works because it allows the Scarab to have more of a personality.Dick Purcell is likable as Captain America, although it takes time before you get used to seeing him in his costume. He almost looks more "Captain America-ish" as Grant Gardner. Lorna Gray is superb as Gail rivaling most serial-era heroines. The serial isn't perfect, of course, including sometimes lackadaisical cliffhangers. There is no origin provided for Captain America. That he has any abilities similar to those he had/has in the comics (given to him by the so-called Super Soldier serum, which is also mentioned not once) is never even implied. In fact, his reason for donning the costume in the first place is unknown. The scenes wherein Grant Gardner takes matters into his own hands underscore the notion that Captain America never seems to do anything that a really tough DA couldn't do. The relationship between he and Gail is also hard to understand. They never seem to be romantically involved, no matter how intense the situation. They could be related, but there's no allusion to that. The mundane truth seems to be that she simply works for a DA who decided to become Captain America. Interestingly (and, for some, disappointingly, no doubt) there is no mention of wartime concerns such as, well, the war.Despite this, the serial is engaging, charming and often suspenseful. The action sequences are miles ahead of many of the era's best stunts and the sheer charm of the movie makes it an entertaining watch.