Captain America (1944 Republic 15-chapter Movie Serial)

Captain America is a 1944 Republic black-and-white 15-chapter serial film loosely based on the Timely Comics (now 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.[2]
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.

Plot
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. The D.A. shoots him then gets out of the room with Gail.

Cast
• Dick Purcell as Grant Gardner / Captain America:
• Lorna Gray as Gail Richards: Grant Gardner's secretary
• Lionel Atwill as Dr. Cyrus Maldor / Scarab
• Charles Trowbridge as Police Commissioner Dryden
• Russell Hicks as Mayor Randolph
• George J. Lewis as Bart Matson
• John Davidson as Gruber
• Frank Reicher as Lyman
• Al Ferguson as Detective (uncredited)
• Howard C. Hickman as Lyman's Attorney (uncredited)
• Tom London as Mack (uncredited)
• Edward Van Sloan as Gregory (uncredited)

Production
Captain America was budgeted at $182,623 although the final negative cost was $222,906 (a $40,283, or 22.1%, overspend). It was the most expensive of all Republic serials (as well as the most over budget). It was filmed between October 12 and November 24, 1943. The serial's production number was 1297. Captain America was written by seven of the top serial screenwriters, including Harry Fraser’s only work at Republic.
The Captain America costume was really grey, white and dark blue as these colors photographed better in black and white.

The differences between the comic book and film versions of the title character in this serial are more extreme than with other Republic comic adaptations, such as Adventures of Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher.

The reason for the differences appears not to be arbitrary, but that the script for the serial originally featured an entirely different licensed lead character and it was only decided later to replace the original character with Captain America. Film historians Jim Harmon and Don Glut speculated that the script was originally written as a sequel to 1940's Mysterious Doctor Satan, which featured the masked hero The Copperhead. This character was himself a substitution for DC's Superman, after Republic's bid for that character's film rights lost to Paramount, who had a series of cartoon shorts made by the Fleischer Studios, and would later on acquire Republic, as well as distribute a feature-length Captain America film.

Stunts
• Dale Van Sickel as Captain America (doubling Dick Purcell)
• Bert LeBaron as Dr Maldor/The Scarab (doubling Lionel Atwill)
• Helen Thurston as Gail Richards (doubling Lorna Gray)
• Ken Terrell Bart Matson/Dirk (doubling George J. Lewis & Crane Whitley)
• John Bagni
• Fred Graham
• Duke Green
• Eddie Parker
• Allen Pomeroy
• Tom Steele
Dale Van Sickel was the "ram rod" of the stunt crew, doubling Dick Purcell as Captain America. Ken Terrell doubled George J. Lewis and Fred Graham doubled Lionel Atwill. Additional stunts were performed by Duke Green and Joe Yrigoyen. Tom Steele only appeared in chapter one as he was busy on The Masked Marvel.
Special effects
All the special effects in Captain America were created by Republic's in-house team, the Lydecker brothers.