Captain America: The Serial 1 [DVD] [1944]

One Of The Best Of The Classic Republic Pictures Cliffhanger Serials comes Captain America. long before The big blockbuster movies we have now featuring The Character just like Batman Captain America first hit The screen as a classic 15 part chapter play in 1944. Dick Purcell played The Hero smashing onto The screen in abundance as The Avenger fighting for justice. Purcell was well supported by a Talent of regular Serial stars including Lionel Atwill forever playing The bad guy and in Captain America is no exception. Stunning Lorna Gray was well at home playing villainous roles see her at her best in The classic serial The Perils Of Nyoka . in Captain America however we see her as Gail Richards The feisty insurance investigator assisting Captain America's alter ego and facing many perils in This classic 15 chapter serial. For Decades Captain America was often cited as one of The more violent movie serial filmed it certainly has it's fair share of killings and explosions in one single chapter alone Than any other chapter play. The serial as olso been shrouded in mystery over actual existing prints of The serial and was actually a lost serial at one point. Video International's release of Captain America is a little confusing as The company have Decided To release Captain America in Three separate volumes containing five chapters on each volume. That said Though given The history of The serial we are lucky To be viewing it in any format and saying That picture and sound Quality are really Quite good. One Thing I do like is The striking Artwork spread over The Three volumes Depicting reproductions of The serials original movie poster. volume one includes artwork Taken from Chapter One The Purple Death Featuring Captain America coming To The aid of a bound and gagged Lorna Gray as Gail Richards facing one of her many perils in The serial. while This review is for volume one I Thing I can add The further Two volumes won't disappoint which I do own I am simply replacing a scratched Disc by purchasing This item. have added a couple of screen caps That might give some idea on The Disc Quality overall it's a classic from Those Thrilling days of yesteryear.

This first disc (as the illustrated front cover clearly shows)it's title is 'A Republic Serial in 15 Chapters'.This first disc has only 5 Chapters: (not 15 chapters)1) The Purple Death2) The Mechanical Executioner3) Scarlet Shroud4) Preview of Murder5) Blade of WrathA further 5 Chapters (6 to 10) are on a separate disc titled 'Captain America The Serial 2'The last disc has the last remaining 5 Chapters (11 to 15) titled 'Captain America The Serial 3'So 3 discs have been made and sold as separate serials when actually they all belong to one original 15 Chapters..

There are many prints around of CAPTAIN AMERICA-THE SERIAL. It was made around 1944,and the picture shape was 4x3 full frame. ALL these prints available on DVD are very poor quality with a very fuzzy image. On this NEW DVD the image is fairly sharpe. The only bad thing about it is that the picture has been reformatted to fit a widescreen tv image of 14x9. This means that the top of the original image has been cut off.This shows up in actors close-ups ,as there heads are cut off sometimes as low as just above the eyes. However,unless paramount release an original archive print,this one is the best available.

Not what I expected but nonetheless, a worthwhile addition to the family.

Disappointing

Great