The Serial Squadron Cinema Cliffhanger Archive

CAPTAIN AMERICA

CAPTAIN AMERICA
THE MOVIE SERIAL
Republic, 15 Chapters
Blu-Ray / DL-DVD Upgrade

FEATURING DICK PURCELL
ADRIAN BOOTH
and LIONEL ATWILL
D: John English, E. Clifton
This title has been upgraded 9/2019

A serial killer known as “the Scarab” drives former members of an archaeological expedition to suicide using “purple death” poison. Relentless District Attorney Grant Gardner decides he’s going to go after the fiend dressed as a comic book character, gets ahold of a Captain America costume missing its shield and boots and he and his trusted secretary Gail Richards work hard to put a stop to the Scarab's seemingly never-ending crime spree related to his quest for Mayan treasure.

Republic's most expensive serial, adapted from an unused script prepared by Republic Pictures for the Fawcett comics character Mister Scarlet. This serial gets random and crazy at times, with things like the Dynamic Vibrator (which destroys buildings), the Fire-Bolt, a remote control self-driving truck, a machine which brings people back to life, and a chamber which will fill with gas that turns one into a "withered mummy" all coming and going before you realize what's going on -- it is like a wild and sometimes completely off-the-wall golden age comic book brought to life.

This new set is a remastering of the original Squadron-produced transfer with complete, corrected chapter openings and closings (all in the right place now), fully stabilized, with improved sharpness, audio, damage/artifact removal, picture clarity and motion. Audio is full-volume and sharper than before but not perfect because the original tracks required a lot of hiss and hum removal.

Also includes a Captain America mini-documentary, cast bios, image collection, the re-release trailer, and a short subject on the Captain America collection at Wade's Comic Madness.

Influenced: Captain America, The Avengers films

Extras: Stills/memorabilia/character and serial history slideshows with music, interview with Captain America collector Wade Shaw, Re-release trailer

Transfer Quality: From two 16mm prints, very good quality, fully stabilized shot by shot, restored audio; this is a major upgrade from the transfer many have copied and even posted online by surviving members of Dr. Maldor's gang. If you want something better, and to order it from the people who did the work, this is it.

NOTES: This is not a "perfect" studio release. It is the best that can be done, however, with the available versions of the original, nicely stabilized and superior in quality to any other circulating version of the serial (most of which are just unauthorized copies of the Squadron's version from 2003!) It is best viewed on medium-size TVs, not really big ones. Check the quality in the sample video, and get the real thing, from those who did the restoration work.

THE BLU-RAY:

Image: 720 x 480, with improved motion quality & image smoothness (the DVD is a little grainier). Total 16+GB of data.

Order the CAPTAIN AMERICA Blu-Ray