ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941 serial)

This is another movie serial fans consider one of the best, and it is indeed quite entertaining, with good special effects and some decent gimmicks which would have kept the kids coming back week after week to see each new chapter—there are 12 in all here, totaling over three and a half hours, and while I can't imagine watching all the chapters in one sitting, I had fun watching two at a time over a week or so, as preludes to my evenings’ lengthier entertainments. An archaeological expedition in Siam comes across an undesecrated tomb which contains a scorpion statue outfitted with lenses that, when aligned correctly, can change metal to gold and/or emit a powerful destructive ray. Young Billy Batson (Frank Coghlan Jr.), who seems to be along as a kind of mascot, decides to follow the warnings engraved on the wall of the tomb and refuses to enter. For this, he is rewarded when a strange ancient man appears and bestows the magical power of transformation on him; when Billy says the word "Shazam," he turns from a skinny teenager to a grown-up superhero (played by Tom Tyler). Batson keeps this power secret, but is forced to use it frequently when, back in the States, the expedition members each take one scorpion lens for safekeeping and are targeted by a costumed villain called the Scorpion. Most of the chapters involve the Scorpion and his henchmen staking out the house of one of the expedition members and making a stab at stealing the lens, with Captain Marvel falling into a trap at the end of the chapter and escaping at the beginning of the next chapter. As in most serials, there is virtually no character development, and no real narrative thrust aside from the cliffhanger structure. The only continuing suspense is in figuring out who the Scorpion is, and my husband, who had never watched an entire serial before, figured it out early on. Tyler is very wooden as Marvel, though Coghlan has an appropriate gee-whiz tone. The special effects are fairly good, especially the flying sequences, which use a life-sized dummy double of Marvel which is zipped through the air quite effectively—it's basically the same sequence used once or twice an episode.  Some serial regulars, such as Reed Hadley and Robert Strange, appear, but the only supporting player who really registers is John Davidson, another serial regular, as the turbaned exotic Tal Chotali who is so mysterious, you know he can't be the villain.  The best cliffhangers involve an electrified hallway with a guillotine at its end, and a ship sinking during a storm, and one of the most memorable moments involves Captain Marvel casually tossing one the villainous goons to his death, a callous act that you won't see in most superhero movies. The image quality of the DVD is good if not quite what I would call restored.  If you've never seen a serial, this would be a good one to start with. [DVD]