Captain America (1944)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Superhero Captain America battles the evil forces of the archvillain called The Scarab, who poisons his enemies and steals a secret device capable of destroying buildings by sound vibrations. This 1944 Captain America film although good looking for it's time is very unfaithful to the source material and dare i say even pretty bland and boring? The villains of the film were just paper thin written and only there for Captain America to fight them plus the biggest downgrade of all? Captain America doesn't have his iconic shield which was pretty freaking stupid i mean think of Wolverine for example without his claws it just takes the cool thing out of the character and makes him ordinary. (5/10)

*Spoiler/plot- Captain America, 1944. A major American city is plagued by a crime wave. And it's up to the city attorney to become a crime fighter.*Special Stars- Dick Purcell, Lorna Gray, John Hamilton, Lionel Atwill.*Theme- When the city has a crime wave hit, unknown crime fighters rise to combat it.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, 12 part theatrical weekly serials. You will notice that the lead role is not a super hero, just a city attorney civil servant that rides a Harley Davison motorbike.*Emotion- Full of action and enjoyable in it's many part theatrical serial of the era.*Based On- VERY loosely based on the Marvel comic character.

In the words of the Oldsmobile commercials, "This is not your father's Captain America!" (well, at least my father). Shield-slinging, two-fisted Super Soldier battling Nazis? Nope, this is a pudgy DA battling ordinary criminals, with a revolver!First off, let me preface this by saying there is a big difference between watching a serial in weekly installments and watching the whole thing on video. The repetition was necessary to recap the previous week's chapter. On video, it gets tiresome by the third chapter. Still, that's what the fast-forward button is for.Poor Cap! He never got a break in 50 years. He's an orphan, 4F, Bucky is killed by Baron Zemo, the Red Skull just wont die, Nixon, Rob Liefeld, and September 11! On top of it all, he has never been done justice on the silver screen or the tv screen. Captain America should have been great; you have two-fisted action, that cool shield, Nazis, the Red Skull, and a great costume. So where is all of that in the film? The fights are there, but the rest of the package is missing. And these fights don't measure up to those in Spy Smasher, Masked Marvel, or the Adventures of Captain Marvel.Republic's adaptation of comic book heroes were vastly superior to Columbia's, but this one just doesn't quite work. There's no hook to pull you into it. Still, it's better than "theatrical" effort, nearly 50 years later.

No, it's just a cheap 1940s serial using the Cap's good name. If you are a fan of the comic book, you will be greatly disappointed. They have radically changed the character. No shield, no Bucky, no fighting the Nazis, no wings on the side of his mask and most importantly: Captain America is now a District Attorney and no longer a GI.Dick Purcell as Captain America? Don't look too closely when he changes into his costume. It is pretty obvious that he was not in the best physical shape when he made this serial(can you say flabby?). It is also VERY obvious that a stunt man is performing most of the action here. Almost every chapter has an obligatory fist fight that is shot and performed in exactly the same way. The villain is rather bland and although he uses an alias (The Scarab), he doesn't wear a disguise of any kind. The story is repetitive and very simple. The effects are laughable and the action is average. On the plus side we have sexy Lorna Gray as the D.A.'s assistant and the good Captain gets to ride on a cool looking motorcycle in one early chapter. Overall OK but nothing special.