The Adventures of Captain Marvel

Review by Heckler King

It’s a trip back to the golden age of comics when we join Captain Marvel, who pits his legendary powers against the nefarious Scorpion for control of an ancient super-weapon. Shazam!

Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler)
Billy Batson (Frank Coghlan, Jr.)
Betty Wallace (Louise Currie)
Whitey (William Benedict)
John Malcolm (Robert Strange)
Howell (Jack Mulhall)
Professor Bentley (Harry Worth)
Henry Carlyle (Bryant Washburn)
Tal Chotali (John Davidson)
Dr. Stephen Lang (George Pembroke)
Dwight Fisher (Peter George Lynn)
Barnett (Kenne Duncan)
Rhaman Bar (Reed Hadley)

Year: 1941
Censorship Rating: Not rated, but suitable for pretty much everyone

Back in the 30’s and 40’s, a popular prelude to movies were serialized adventure films. They’d run for fifteen or twenty minutes before a movie and end just as the serial’s hero was face to face with an unpleasant end, increasing the chances of moviegoers returning next week to see how he would escape Certain Death. Most such series were about hard-boiled detectives or daring adventurers, but a handful were about superheroes. Batman and Robin had two serials to their credit, and Captain America was the headliner in a serial against a villain called the Scarab. Commando Cody battled moonmen for fifteen minutes a week years before he’d inspire “The Rocketeer” and the videogame “Rocket Ranger,” but probably the most daring such undertaking starred Captain Marvel.

Created by C.C. Beck and endowed with the gifts of six gods and heroes, Captain Marvel was one of the most powerful and popular superheroes of his time. He was so popular that one of him just wasn’t enough; before long he was joined in his never-ending battle against injustice by friend Freddy Freeman who changed into Captain Marvel Junior, and his sister was able to command legendary power of her own as Mary Marvel. With that kind of popularity, perhaps it was inevitable (despite the daunting task at the time awaiting anyone who tried) that the World’s Mightiest Mortal would get to star in his own serial.

I say, it’s about time the golden age got some attention here at Spandex Cinema [UnSub: I was going to get around to it one day, honest...], so that serial is what I present now. Get ready for camp, make sure you can swallow a lot of pulp, and let’s find out if superhero serials age like wine or like cheese.

Chapter 1: Curse of the Scorpion

As our story begins, an expositional crawl would have us believe, “In a remote section of Siam, near the Burmese border, lies a desolate, volcanic land, which for centuries has been taboo to white men -- The Valley of Tombs! To this realm of mystery, jealously guarded by native tribes unconquered since the dawn of time, has come the Malcolm Archeological Expedition to find the lost secret of the Scorpion Dynasty.”

A beturbaned fellow bangs a gong, getting the attention of several other beturbaned Restless Natives who mount their horses to answer this summons. We then see a camp surrounded by a stockade, and in case we were wondering whose archeological expedition this is, the camera zooms in on a crate stamped “MALCOLM ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION.”

The expedition consists of a bunch of standard Rugged Explorers, but soon we’re going to need names so there’s leader John Malcolm, secretary (and made-to-order damsel in distress) Betty Wallace, Billy Batson (the serial doesn’t spare much time to explain this, but Billy’s presumably along because he’s a radio reporter covering the story), Billy’s sidekick Whitey, Tal Chotali (whenever he’s addressed, they use his full name. Me, I’m just going to call him Tal), who I presume is their native guide because he’s wearing a turban too, a Mr. Howell (no, not that one), Dwight Fisher, Henry Carlyle, Professor Bentley, and Dr. Stephen Lang. Tal warns his companions that the gong means “the men of the hills” are being gathered to drive “the white men” out of the sacred Valley of Tombs. Malcolm tells the men to get ready for a siege.

A group of Restless Natives, led by Rahman Bar (if I’m not mistaken there was a magician back around the time this was made named Rahman Bay), does indeed attempt to storm the camp, but they pause when the expedition waves a white flag and Tal rides out to parley with his countrymen. Tal reminds his people that the legend of the Valley of Tombs says that if it is indeed desecrated, Scorpio (a volcano, home of the de rigeur vengeful native god), will erupt. Since it hasn’t, he’s able to convince his superstitious kind to cease their attack. Still, Bar insists that Tal get the expedition to leave, as there’s a curse that dictates any white man who enters the Valley of Tombs will die (uh, anything you say, dude). Tal relays this news to the expedition, but they don’t believe in ghost stories and plan to enter the tomb of the Scorpion Dynasty despite the warnings. [UnSub: Take that, supersitious savages!]

In the tomb the next day they find an inscribed stone that warns to leave the contents of the chamber it conceals undisturbed. Tal again warns the expedition to leave well alone, but they think the secret they’ve been looking for must be in there and start to remove the stone. Billy doesn’t want to “pry in anyone’s secrets” and leaves to collect specimens from elsewhere in the tomb, and Tal, not caring to be a part of the desecration of his people’s history, leaves as well. The expedition removes the stone to find another chamber which contains a scorpion idol with a lens clenched in each of four upraised claws (funky scorpion. In addition to those four raised legs it has six more low to the ground). They bring all the lenses into alignment, causing a massive explosion that blocks the entrance to the chamber.

The explosion also makes a secret door open in the room Billy’s in, revealing a bearded man in white robes who introduces himself as Shazam, sort of the custodian of the idol. He charges Billy with seeing that the curse of the scorpion doesn’t hurt innocent people by giving him the ability to transform himself into Captain Marvel by saying his name. He imparts the knowledge that Captain Marvel is vested with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury (Translation: he’s super-strong, bulletproof, and can fly). S.H.A.Z.A.M., get it?

(HK’s Aside: I’m not sure if we’re supposed to take this “curse of the scorpion” jazz as gospel or not. I’m willing to accept that otherworldly forces are at work in the creation of Captain Marvel if nothing else, but the scorpion idol is played as a product of scientific secrets lost to the ages rather than a gift from the gods, and our villain seems to be nothing more than a power-mad normal guy who’s willing to play upon the local superstitions for his own profit, instead of an innocent man driven to do evil by a supernatural power.)

Billy tries it out, and when the smoke clears has become a powerful figure in red long johns, Captain Marvel! With his strength of Hercules he easily clears the way out of the tomb, then changes back to Billy. Billy rouses the expedition members, and they take a scroll and the scorpion idol with them as they leave. Tal reads the scroll and says that the lenses, aligned a certain way, can turn any substance into gold, which proves true when tried on some pebbles (“It is gold! The purest I’ve ever seen!” one expedition member remarks after two seconds of examination). Realizing how easily such power could be abused, Howell suggests they divide up the idol’s four lenses so that all the expedition members will have to agree before it can be used (Bentley, Carlye, Lang and Fisher getting the lenses), and entrusts the instruction manual scroll to Billy. [UnSub: Boy, Tal's taking the looting of his country's heritage pretty well here...]

That night, a dark and sinister man in a hood, the Scorpion (he can command the loyalty of the natives because he’s pretending to be their scorpion god, but this isn’t stated until much, much later), lights a signal fire inside the camp which Rahman Bar sees. He uses a tree as a catapult to launch several of his men over the stockade (!), who kill the sentry and begin stealthily searching the camp. Well, sort of. One almost wakes Billy up, and then has to knife-whip him unconscious and gag him. (Was that really easier than cutting his throat?) Howell realizes something is amiss and enters Billy’s tent in time to catch the two natives in the act of stealing the scorpion idol. He puts up a valiant fight, but falls to the knife of the Scorpion himself. The villains escape with the idol and scroll.

Meanwhile, tranquil Mt. Scorpio has erupted (you might think that confirms the curse of the scorpion, but a more underhanded explanation is posited later. A lot later), so Bar is able to rally the tribes to attack the expedition. Billy wakes up and stumbles over to Malcolm’s tent, who unties him and is told the unfortunate fate of Howell. Learning the guy on watch was also cacked, Malcolm sends Billy to radio the troops at a nearby British fort for help. Soon natives are attacking from the rocks above the camp (great choice making camp there) with machine guns and goofy ballista-type weapons that shoot flaming spears. Realizing they can’t hold out until the British troops arrive, the expedition decides to make a break for it in their motor cars. Bar sends men to dynamite the bridge across the gorge they’ll have to take. Billy stays behind and changes to Captain Marvel (nobody seems overly concerned about how Billy, stranded without transportation smack dab in the middle of an army of blood-crazed natives, will get away).

Cap attacks some natives on the road so the expedition’s cars can get through safely, and Bar’s men leg it when they realize their rifles are useless against him. The car with the Rugged Explorers gets across the bridge safely, but the bridge blows and Betty and Whitey’s car is sent tumbling into the gorge!

Chapter 2: The Guillotine

…but Captain Marvel dives into the river (9.7!) and pulls them out of the car before they go under.

Topside, the British troops put Bar’s men to flight (so much for “unconquered since the dawn of time”). Cap carries Betty and White to safety, and changes back to Billy once he’s out of sight. The Rugged Explorers evidently stopped to wait for them, and they all pile into the remaining car for the rest of the drive to safety (Billy says they can wait until they’re safely away to hear the story about how they got across the gorge alive. I wonder what he told them).

After some stock footage of cruise ships, Billy is in his office broadcasting the story of the expedition, noting that the scientists are “glad to be back in this country again, out reach of the Scorpion” (how would they know about him?), when who should be listening to the broadcast but (dun dun DUN!) the Scorpion himself. He explains to a gangster, Barnett, that with all the lenses in place the scorpion (that is, the idol, not the man) can not only turn objects into gold but destroy them utterly. He goes on that it won’t be easy getting them back, as the scientists have cleverly hidden them. “But you’re one of them. That’s going to help us, isn’t it?” Barnett queries. Because the real reason the expedition was so large was so we could spend twelve chapters wondering who among them is actually the Scorpion. The Scorpion (that is, the man, not the idol) tells Barnett that the expedition members will be having a meeting at Malcolm’s house and to make sure Carlyle is… detained.

And that’s exactly what Barnett does. He pulls up next to Carlyle’s car on the road so a henchman can jump in and force him to drive to a run-down building. Barnett unveils an over-the-top deathtrap with which he plans to make Carlyle talk: there’s a doorway with “electric eyes” between it that knock out anyone who passes through it, thus dropping them on a conveyer belt that carries them right beneath a guillotine which then falls on the belt’s unfortunate cargo. Zounds! Will Carlyle crack?!

(HK’s Aside: Isn’t the point of their little abduction to extract information from Carlyle? Won’t that be hard if he’s knocked out by the electric eyes and decapitated? I don’t see him having much of a chance to agree to their demands before the blade comes down)

Luckily, Carlyle caves in before the flaws of the interrogation device can be exposed, and says the lens is kept in a safe at his house. He doesn’t remember the combination, but says Betty does. Barnett has him write her a memo to get the lens. At Malcolm’s place, they look over the note and unanimously decide that they need to hand over the lens to save Carlyle (but who among them casts his vote with a darker purpose in mind?! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Sorry). Betty is dispatched to make the delivery. Billy tells her he has a plan.

After Betty leaves a box on a bridge trestle for the goons to pick up, Billy and Whitey jump out of the back of her car to tail the goon who makes the pick-up when he leaves. How they planned to keep up with a car on foot I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter all that much since the goon’s buddies spot the duo and a fist fight breaks out. During the scuffle, Billy and his opponent fall off a bridge. The goon is (we presume) knocked out, but Billy quickly recovers and changes to Captain Marvel.

One henchman learns bullets don’t work on this guy (look at Cap’s face during this part--he’s having a grand ol’ time seeing how scared the guy is). Unfortunately, the villain realizes bullets will probably still work on Whitey and takes him hostage to make Cap back off while he enters his car and drives away, letting Whitey go (good idea). Cap jumps to the roof of the car and hitches a ride with the unsuspecting goon.

At the deathtrap showroom building, the henchman delivers the box only to learn it’s empty. Not happy about having been had, Barnett is about to have his men stick Carlyle in the trap when Cap bursts in and attacks them. Unsurprisingly, Cap has them for lunch, but Barnett knocks him into the electric eyes with a chair (so bullets don’t do anything but hitting him with a chair does?). Cap collapses and is carried toward the guillotine. Suddenly, it falls!

Chapter 3: Time Bomb

…but it shatters when it hits Captain Marvel’s indestructible body, doing no damage. Anyone really think it would?

Meanwhile, Carlyle grabs a gun but is shot by Barnett. He and his men retreat, locking the door behind them (which Cap circumvents by grabbing the last goon, throwing him at the door and knocking it open!). Cap abandons his pursuit to tend to Carlyle, but it’s already too late. Carlyle tells Cap that he thinks he knows who the Scorpion might be, but expires before he can reveal his suspicions.

Suspects-
Malcolm
Bentley
Carlyle
Tal Chotali
Lang
Fisher

Later, Billy meets Betty (I feel like I’m describing one of those short films they used to lampoon on MST3K), who tells Billy that the expedition is sending her to Oak Mountain Lodge to retrieve Carlyle’s lens. They figure, supposedly, that the Scorpion is watching them but won’t suspect her. If this was real life, Betty would’ve tendered her resignation upon finding out she had bosses like that. And what about calling the cops? Fortunately, it’s just a serial, so both issues are glossed over. Billy remarks that Scorpion seems to know all their plans. He asks her to take his car which has a CB radio so she can call him in case something happens, and Betty agrees. They find Tal sneaking around outside the door. Could he be the Scorpion?!?

Probably not, because we see someone else’s shins listening in on Billy as he calls Whitey and tells him to tail Betty as she goes to make the pick-up. Indeed, soon the Scorpion is telling Barnett about the pick-up.

Whitey sees Betty driving by and starts to tail her, but so does an ominous truck. Following a detour sign, Betty finds herself behind another truck, her escape cut off by the one behind her. A henchman gets out and forces her into the fore truck at gunpoint. Whitey, not seeming to wonder how Betty got past the two trucks in the tight alley, loses her trail. The henchman takes the combination from her. Fortunately, Betty switches on the radio and thus allows Billy to overhear the disguise of the truck and their destination. He shazams and takes off.

The flunkies pipe knockout gas into the trailer, then jump to another flunky’s car, leaving Betty to her fate. Cap saves her JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME. He changes back to Billy, then makes plans to beat the hoods to Oak Mountain Lodge in his plane. The thought of changing to his invincible alter ego and flying there doesn’t occur to him. Betty delivers Billy’s plan to the expedition. Tal asks if Billy’s taking his own plane, no doubt to make him look suspicious when Betty overhears the Scorpion telling a henchman to put a time bomb (an “atmospheric exploder” actually, which does the same thing but sounds cooler) in Billy’s plane.

Betty calls Whitey and tells him to warn Billy (phwoo!) about the bomb, but the henchman cut the radio in the plane so Whitey’s transmission doesn’t get through. Suddenly, Billy’s plane explodes in mid-air!

Chapter 4: Death Takes the Wheel

…but Billy notices the severed wires and mends them, allowing him to hear Whitey’swarning. He shazams and flies out of the plane JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME!!

Cap goes home rather than continue flying to the lodge [UnSub: well, it's been a big day and I'm sure that evil will wait until tomorrow to be foiled], and Barnett hands over the first lens to Scorpion the next day. Scorpion overheard Billy telling Betty about being saved by a “Captain Marvel,” and decides that this new threat must be dealt with before his plans proceed, and he schemes to lure Billy into another trap.

The expedition meets and discusses what to do. Bentley is for destroying the other lenses to keep them out of the Scorpion’s hands, but Lang is against it for the idol’s scientific value. Tal comes in late (SUS-PISH-US!!) and shows the others a small scorpion figurine he found in Carlyle’s house while searching for clues. Lang examines it and says only one man in the country might have a collection of such figures, a curio dealer by the name of Chan Lal. Fortunately, the one such man in the whole country just happens to operate in the same city. Bentley suggests Billy go to question Chan as, again, supposedly no one would suspect anyone outside the expedition. Betty leaves to follow up clues on the truck that Scorpion’s men kidnapped her in the other day.

Billy arrives at Chan’s store (he’s an “Orientalist”) and starts looking around. We see a shadowy shape brandishing a huge knife coming up on him from behind, but (ha ha!), it’s just Chan polishing the knife for display. Chan turns out to be a stereotypical Asian chappie of the “a thousand pardons” variety. Billy shows him the scorpion figurine and Chan tells him that his collection of scorpion figurines is completely intact, but to make Billy happy he agrees to take him down to the vault and make sure. As Billy descends the stairs, a button is pressed and that thing happens where they turn into a slide. Billy is bound, gagged and locked in the vault by henchmen. Yep, Chan is on the Scorpion’s payroll too. And I was really starting to like him.

Betty goes to talk to the truck rental guy and overhears more henchmen talking about their plan to take care of Billy. She tries to call for help but they realize the line’s in use and come after her. Betty gets captured.

Barnett arrives at Chan’s to supervise Billy’s disposal. They had to wait until he got there to shoot Billy? And that’s not the half of it; Billy hooks his gag on a knife in the vault and is able to say “Shazam!” The vault door proves no match for his strength of Hercules. Cap overhears Barnett telling his men to make Betty’s demise “look like an accident.” Cap throws the other flunkies through some balsa wood furniture and threatens Barnett with a bed of nails (just lying around the store, apparently) to find out where Betty is. Then, not even bothering to hang him on the wall until the police can get there, Cap shoves him aside to fly to Betty’s rescue.

Meanwhile, the other henchmen plan to knock out Betty, put her in her car and send it speeding down a ramp to her doom. In the most riotously ironic thing I’ve ever seen in a superhero movie, Betty manages to escape her guard and drive off in a car, but in doing so crashes through a door, knocks herself out and begins speeding down the ramp. The flunkies look as amused as I did.

(HK’s Aside: This chapter is really and truly a classic. Besides the hilarity of Betty doing the flunkies’ job for them, the car, with no one driving, goes zooming down a corkscrew ramp for four or five floors without hitting a single thing before it finally leaves the garage and approaches a wall)

Anyway, like I said, Betty is speeding out of control. Her car goes careening toward a wall, and we hear a crash!

Chapter 5: The Scorpion Strikes

…but Cap lands on the car, grabs the wheel and steers it back into the street JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME!! What was that crashing noise, then? [UnSub: The sound was logic crumpling under the impact of this serial.]

Cap flies to the roof of the garage to teach the flunkies to mess with his friends. One of them, realizing bullets won’t do any good, tries to smack him one with an engine on a chain. Me, I probably would’ve just gotten the hell out of there. Cap throws one guy off the building (and he’s the hero?!) while the other tries to escape in an elevator - no good as Cap rips out the cable and reels him back up. Cap gets the idea to have the guy identify Scorpion by his voice.

At the expedition’s next meeting, the goon is led in by Billy (!!), but he fails to finger any suspects (not that surprising when you consider Scorpion’s lines are plainly read by a different actor when he’s masked). Billy pulls a gun on him and starts to call the police. The flunky secretly reviews a note from Scorpion telling him to lead Billy to the Harrison mine with claims of it being their hideout. Billy takes the bait and they head over.

Billy has his flunky guide lead the way (notice that Billy’s pistol suddenly has a much longer barrel). They find and approach the Scorpion, but fall into a trapdoor. Billy grabs the edge, of course, but his guide isn’t so lucky. He shazams and confronts the Scorpion, only to find that it’s nothing but an empty costume with a speaker inside so the real Scorpion can mock Cap for walking right into his trap.

Scorpion tells Cap that even with one lens, the idol’s power is so great it can melt solid rock. His men aim its beam at the entrance to the mine and within seconds a river of lava is flowing toward Cap with no way out!

Chapter 6: Lens of Death

…until he jumps through a handy opening in the ceiling and lands on an upper level.

Sure that they’ve seen the last of Captain Marvel, the villains drive off. Cap finds another exit a minute later.

At the next expedition meeting, a record of the Scorpion broadcasts over the radio that he’s stolen all of the lenses but one, and the expedition members hurry home to check on the safety of their lenses. This is exactly what Scorpion wanted them to do, and he has his men tail Bentley and Fisher. Billy comes in and gets the story from Betty and Whitey, and twigs to Scorpion’s scheme. They take off to stop Scorpion’s men.

Bentley checks a bookshelf in his house when two henchmen burst in through the window. He tries to tell them to wait but they pistol-whip him and start rifling through the books. If they’d only waited ten seconds Bentley would’ve found it for them. They find the lens in one of those books with a hole cut in the pages, but before they can make their getaway Bentley’s butler enters and engages them in fisticuffs, stunning one. He must be one of those butlers who was in the War or a former boxer or something, as he manages to hold one of the flunkies at bay for a solid minute and a half before the other one recovers and pistol-whips him unconscious. [UnSub: Butlers: The superhero's friend.]

Billy arrives and tries to enter the room, but the door is locked and he has to shazam and smash it down. Cap follows the miscreants out the window (why did it look like Bentley lives in a suburban estate when everyone came in the door, but look like he lives in a penthouse in the city when Cap left through the window?) and manages to (literally) get the drop on them and recover Bentley’s lens. He shoves the two men away and heads back (!!!). Bentley is gone when Cap reenters his abode, so he hands the lens off to the butler and flies to Fisher’s.

Scorpion himself and a henchman are at Fisher’s place, and without having to torture or threaten him or anything, Fisher reveals the secret compartment where he keeps his lens. Fisher’s actually being a smart ass, because when the henchman goes to get it he finds that the Scorpion isn’t the only one with electric force fields and gets fried. What Fisher was trying to accomplish I can only guess, because that still leaves a not-terribly-amused Scorpion and he’s still got a gun pointed at the unarmed Fisher. Fortunately, Whitey arrives and a shoot out begins between him and Scorpion. Fisher tries to ambush our villain and gets capped for his troubles.

Suspects-
Malcolm
Bentley
Carlyle
Tal Chotali
Lang
Fisher

Scorpion sneaks up behind Whitey and pistol-whips him. Cap arrives, and Scorpion hides behind a curtain. Cap reaches for the lens, but when he touches it Scorpion turns the trap on and zaps him!

(HK’s Aside: If Scorpion saw where the switch was, why didn’t he just shoot Fisher, turn it off, grab the lens and skedaddle? Why am I suggesting a super villain take the rational way out? [UnSub: The ways of a supervillain are not for us to understand, HK!])

Chapter 7: Human Targets

…but Cap’s okay a minute later, although the Scorpion makes off with Fisher’s lens.

Another expedition meeting. Malcolm says that they need Cap’s help more than ever. I wonder, why not call the police too? Scorpion’s had three of their members fitted for pine overcoats already, and tried to check Billy, Betty and Whitey into the worm motel several times too. Yeah they have a superhero looking out for them, but let’s face it, Cap’s performance record at keeping them alive leaves something to be desired.

Bentley wonders how Cap always knows where the Scorpion is going to strike. Following in that vein, they ask how Whitey knew to be at Fisher’s house. He says that Billy realized what Scorpion was up to when he heard about the villain’s message. Asking how Billy could have heard about that, Whitey “guesses” Betty must have told him, even though he was right there when she did! And he told Billy about it too! Tal votes that their meetings must take place in the utmost secrecy from now on, although if the Scorpion really is one of their inner circle they’ll be letting him in on their plans while keeping the caped stranger who keeps getting in his way from finding out what the latest news is. But then, maybe we’re supposed to think Tal’s the Scorpion from this, or something. Malcolm agrees and says he’ll instruct Betty not to repeat what goes on in the meetings from now on.

Scorpion reasons that since Betty’s been talking too much, he can use her to lure Captain Marvel into a trap. While she drives out to give some broadcast notes to Billy, a flunky climbs out of the trunk of Betty’s car (sadly, Spritle and Chim-Chim are not in evidence) and blows out a tire. Some more flunkies pull up and take her for a ride. Billy shows up at… wherever Betty was to pick up the notes himself, and he and Whitey realize Betty’s probably in Big Trouble [UnSub: which she is in every other scene, so it's not a hard thing to guess].

Showing some guts, Betty palms the car’s keys and pretends to drop them out the window, forcing the flunkies to stop and look for them. One tells Betty to help look too (and why should she do that, Mr. Gangster? She’s no good to your boss dead). When nobody’s looking (great henchmen there, Scorp), Betty makes a break for it and the chase is on. Billy sees them, shazams and joins in.

Some stuff happens. Flunkies get knocked around, Betty gets saved. Asking Cap how he got there so conveniently, he tells her that transmissions on a certain radio band will always reach him before leaving her to drive back with one of the gangsters hiding on the car’s runner. Needless to say, Betty’s soon captured again. Scorpion instructs his men to capture Billy too, then to take both of them to a shack in the wilderness, but not before Betty grabs a gun and grazes his hand so he’ll have a telltale wound in his secret identity. Barnett captures Billy easily with a good ol’ pistol-whip.

Billy (gagged, naturally) and Betty are taken to the shack and left tied up while Scorpion launches a bomber to wipe them off the face of the Earth. He’s suspiciously left a radio in the shack, and Betty gets the idea of using it to call Cap for help. If she only knew, huh Billy? She uses the radio to call for help but, of course, doesn’t reach Cap.

Bombs fall and the shack begins to cave in!

Chapter 8: Boomerang

…but a falling piece of debris bonks Betty unconscious and Billy gets his gag off, allowing him to shazam and carry her (chair and all) to safety.

Betty revives and tells Billy that she winged the Scorpion with a bullet, so if he really is an expedition member they’ll be able to identify him now.

Barnett tells Scorpion about how Cap saved Billy and Betty, and Scorpion says he’ll take care of Cap in due time (HK’s Aside: Wasn’t the point of that trap to take of Captain Marvel?). He entrusts to Barnett the task of eliminating Billy, and loyal Barnett boasts of still having “one trick that never misses.” Barnett asks after Scorpion’s wound giving him away, but Scorpion assures him that everything is taken care of.

At the next expedition meeting, Billy passes around a document from a museum authenticating the specimens they found in the tomb and has each member sign it. It turns out Lang has a bandaged hand. Billy tells Betty and Whitey of his plans to search Lang’s house for the idol. To get past the guards at Lang’s place, Billy takes his hat, coat and car and leaves. Barnett rigs Billy’s car with a bomb that’ll go off when it reaches 50 MPH [UnSub: OMG! "Speed" totally ripped Captain Marvel off!!!]. Hearing that Billy had to borrow his car, Lang has Whitey take the rigged car to drive him home.

Billy arrives up at Lang’s house, and someone who appears to be the gardener lets him through the gate (HK’s Aside: I thought they said the place was guarded. By the gardener??). Two of Scorpion’s men already on the grounds, presumably there to search the house as well, realize that it’s actually Billy. He parks the car in the garage, only to be knocked out by the henchmen. They leave him to suffocate from the exhaust fumes.

Lang and Whitey are driving along and, surprise of surprises, Lang tells Whitey to step on it (Whitey replies he doesn’t like to drive above 50, which seems a slightly weird thing to say when he’s doing 40). Whitey obliges. At Stately Lang Manor, Billy revives and shazams before smashing his way out of the garage.

The henchmen see him and start shooting at him. I don’t know why they even bother at this point, and what were they supposed to be doing at Lang’s place if they were still outside? Cap uses some of Lang’s topiary to make quick work of them, then changes back. Billy accuses the recently returned Lang of being the Scorpion, but Lang protests that he can explain his injury, and invites the boys inside to hear the story. He tells his butler to turn on the furnace, and Jeeves pours some sinister liquid into ducts.

Soon Billy and Whitey are knocked out by the sleeping gas (neither of them thought it was suspicious how Lang kept a handkerchief over his nose?), and Lang makes to leave lest the Scorpion’s men come after him again. Saying they’ll kill Billy if they find him, he piles Our Hero into his car with him and speeds away. The Scorpion’s men wake up and take the rigged car to follow them.The henchmen pursue Lang, speeding up to run him off the road. Suddenly, the villains’ car explodes!

Chapter 9: Dead Man’s Trap

…but Billy and Lang are unharmed when it does. Not that Lang’s car was anywhere in sight when the pursuit car exploded even the first time we saw it.

The gardener calls Barnett (oh gardener guy, how could you?!) and tells him where Lang and Billy went. With his car run off the road, Lang flags down a passerby, but it happens to be Barnett, and they bundle Billy and Lang into their car and drive off. Soon, Lang finds himself face-to-mask with the real Scorpion. Lang refuses to hand over his lens, but Scorpion has Barnett bring out a narrow cage with a nasty array of spikes that’ll stab its unfortunate occupant. After a minute in the cage, Lang, his suit still immaculate despite just being stabbed by several sharp metal spikes, gives in and tells Scorpion about the hidden safe in his library where the lens is kept.

Scorpion has Barnett bring Billy up so he can be disposed of once and for all. The guard leaves to get some water to wake Billy up, allowing him to shazam (he’s not even gagged this time. Are the bad guys getting more incompetent as this plays out?) and open up a can of whoop-ass on the ineffectual flunkies that try to stop him. Cap confronts Scorpion, but he pulls his gun on Lang and threatens his life if Cap makes another move, allowing him to escape through a secret passage (leaving Lang behind. Real smart, Scorp). Cap smashes down the entrance and gives chase, and he’d probably catch Scorpion too if he didn’t keep pausing at every corner. Because he does, Scorpion slips away from him. Although his mask snags on a rock and comes off, we don’t see who’s beneath it yet.

Lang calls Betty and tells her about the safe so she can get the lens before the flunkies do. He also warns her that it’s booby-trapped. Scorpion comes back in and guns him down before escaping with the idol. Lang tells Cap what he told Betty before he gives up the ghost. He also saw the Scorpion without his mask and recognized him before getting shot, which is something you might think he’d try to pass on. But then, he was kind of dying at the time.

Suspects-
Malcolm
Bentley
Carlyle
Tal Chotali
Lang
Fisher

At Lang’s house, Barnett and his men find the safe in a room with nary a bookshelf in evidence. A panel opens and a pair of tommy guns train themselves on the flunkies as they begin to dial in the combination. Outside, Cap knocks out the gardener before he can shoot Betty, then changes back to Billy (!!!). Yeah, there probably won’t be anymore murderous crooks around if a guard was posted. The flunkies realize they’re not alone, then close up the painting and hide, with the trap closing itself as well (Betty, by the way, is suddenly not aware of the specific nature of the danger surrounding the safe, even though Lang had said there was a “death trap” when he called her).

Billy and Betty work to get the safe open, when suddenly the tommy guns open fire!

Chapter 10: Doom Ship

…but an over-eager henchman pushed them out of the way to get at the contents of the safe, and he’s the one who gets shot full of holes.

Barnett checks the safe and finds only a map of the tomb where they find the idol, and realizes Lang never brought his “lense” (sic) back to America at all, he hid it in the tomb before they left. Billy comes to and knocks out Barnett, and the other henchman tries to escape with the map, but Billy shazams and takes him out before reclaiming the map. Cap finally bothers to secure a criminal he’s captured, tying the goon’s hands with his own belt. Barnett escapes.

Apprised of the situation, Malcolm decides they have to race back to the Valley of Tombs before the Scorpion can find Lang’s lens. He also decides that since possession of the map will endanger its owner’s life as long as the Scorpion is out there, they tear it up and divide the pieces among themselves and their youthful aides. Pardon me, but wouldn’t that put more lives at risk? We’ve seen several times over that Scorpion’s willing to murder to further his ends. I guess not, because Malcolm declares that “this way I’m we’ll all reach Siam alive.“ Betty books passage for all six of them to Bangkok aboard the S.S. Carfax, which sails at midnight. Scorpion packs up his idol for the trip.

During the voyage, Malcolm is worried that Scorpion might travel to the valley “by clipper” and beat them there. That’s an understandable fear…so why the heck didn’t they take one? Bentley assures him that that’s “not likely.”

The ship goes to ground on some rocks because of a storm, and because of the raging waters it’d be too dangerous to use the lifeboats. Billy suggests using a rope and bucket system to evacuate the passengers, but is told there’s no way to set up the line on shore. At least not until he shazams and flies the rope to land. Betty returns to her cabin to retrieve important papers while Cap starts pulling people ashore in the bucket. Betty is knocked out by the Scorpion (in full villain regalia, which doesn’t seem that advisable given the circumstances) and relieved of her map piece. Cap has Whitey work the pulley while he goes to look for firewood (in a storm that wet?? Sounds like a big job even for him). Once out of sight, he shazams back to Billy.

Around the campfire a little later, Billy realizes Betty isn’t there. Not one single guy did a head count, or even realized the lone woman aboard wasn’t accounted for? Billy climbs into the bucket to head back to the Carfax to find her. Ominously, we see the rope starting to fray.

Billy finds Betty and starts to carry her to safety, but suddenly the rope breaks and the ship starts to sink to Davy Jones’s Locker!

Chapter 11: Valley of Death

…but Billy manages to drag Betty to shore.

Soon, Betty is drying herself by the fire and relating what happened. She reveals that her piece of the map wasn’t among the papers, it was hidden in the lining of her coat. The expedition sets out for a nearby native village.

Malcolm suggests that they stick around the village for a day or two, and dispatches Billy and Whitey to round up supplies and transportation. That night, Scorpion sends a message to Rahman Bar by falcon that the expedition is heading for the Valley of Tombs (I wonder where he got his scorpion stationary done) in a few days. Another conspirator protests that they don’t have the manpower to attack the expedition, but Bar promises that he has a trap in mind that will wipe out the expedition anyway.

Billy reports back to Malcolm that he’s gotten together some cars and equipment, and says they can leave right away. Bentley and Tal are suspiciously reluctant to leave early, but Malcolm makes the decision to head out immediately. Whitey drives a car containing the expedition members while Billy follows in another car carrying the bags. Seeing the expedition coming, one native signals another one by doing that thing where he flashes sunlight off a mirror (which is patently not reflecting any sunlight when we see the guy holding it). Billy sees this and realizes they’re up to no good, and shazams to fly after the native who did the signaling (wouldn’t it make more sense to go after the guy who was signaled?).

Cap easily catches him, of course, and wrings a confession out of him; Bar has barricaded the road the expedition is taking, and plans to bury them with an avalanche. Cap flies off to the rescue. The signallee rides up to Bar and tells him the expedition is coming. Bar is surprised they’re coming so soon, but it doesn’t really matter because his trap is already set up. He lights the fuse of the bombs they’ve planted. The expedition finds a massive tree trunk blocking the road, and the men get out to try to move it, but can’t budge the thing. They get axes out of the car and start trying to chop it into more manageable pieces (it’s amusing to see them ineffectually bonk at the tree, as it’s obviously a prop that their axes would make short work of if they really hit it).

Cap arrives and warns them about the trap, so the expedition piles back into the car while he lifts the tree out of the way. The bombs go off and an avalanche begins, but the expedition is clear and Cap flies himself to safety. His trap failed, Bar plans to rally the tribes by diverting a river into Mt. Scorpio and causing it to erupt. Since I’m not a vulcanologist (I don’t even know if that’s the right name for it), I’ll take his word for that.

The expedition arrives at the tomb, but again Tal and Billy elect to stay outside. Nearby, Bar and his men dynamite another cliffside and dam the river, causing it to flow into the crater of Scorpio and set it eruptin’. The expedition finds Lang’s lens (Bentley even compares it to his, so we can be assured that all of the lenses are on the premises) , and Malcolm takes custody of Lang’s.

The tomb starts to cave in from the shocks of the eruption, and Betty and Whitey are trapped inside!

Chapter 12: Captain Marvel’s Secret

…but they duck into the doorway to ride out the collapse.

The sacred gong is rung again, and Tal tells Billy that the tribes will be convening to attack the expedition again. He leaves to dissuade or at least stall them. Billy enters the tomb and, as Captain Marvel, starts to clear the rubble. Malcolm and Bentley, who were trapped in a tunnel, find a way out. I suddenly notice how suspiciously identical their outfits are. Indeed, soon after one pulls a gun and shoots the other, their faces covered in shadow so we can’t tell who’s really the Scorpion. He helps himself to the lens in his former comrade’s pocket. Shortly afterward, Scorpion, in full hood and robe, sees Cap carry the unconscious Betty and Whitey from the tomb and change back into Billy.

Suspects-
Malcolm (?)
Bentley (?)
Carlyle
Tal Chotali
Lang
Fisher

Bar is rallying the tribesmen to attack the expedition, but Tal is also at the meeting and drops a bomb: he knows that diverting a river into a volcano makes it erupt too, and suggests some Nefarious Party could be using the eruption to get them to serve his own ends. Another guy supports Tal (“We are not savages who kill without reason!”), but Scorpion comes in and tells them that it is indeed his will that the white men die. Tal tries to unmask him but is seized by loyal tribesmen along with Another Guy.

Scorpion has a private chat with Bar; now that he knows Billy’s secret he wants the power of Captain Marvel as well as the scorpion idol. Bar and his men depart to capture young Batson, who at that moment is sending Billy and Whitey off before he goes back into the tomb to look for their bosses. Bar enters the tomb through a backdoor and drops Billy with a knife-whip (boy, where would the bad guys in this movie be without that?). A posse of tribesmen captures Betty and Whitey too.

The good guys are soon tied to crosses before the Scorpion, who shows the full power of the idol to destroy anything, making a lethal example of Another Guy. He then demands to know how Billy effects his changes, unless he wants to see Betty atom-smashed all over the field. Billy assents, changing to Cap one last time. Bar tries to use the idol on him, but Cap slugs him aside and unmasks the Scorpion, revealing Bentley. The villain grabs Betty and threatens to shoot her if they try any funny business (a native does, and he’s actually the one who gets shot), but Bar turns the idol on his former master and disintegrates Bentley.

With Bentley’s mad dreams of power put to rest, it’s time for the part of the movie that really makes you think, so here it is. Sayeth Cap: “This scorpion is a symbol of power that could’ve helped to build a world beyond man’s greatest hopes, a world of freedom, equality and justice for all men. But in the greedy hands of men like Bentley, it would’ve become a symbol of death and destruction. Then until such time when there’s a better understanding among men, may the fiery lava of Scorpio burn the memory of this from their minds.”

His piece said, Captain Marvel hurls the idol into a handy lava pit. An otherworldly voice says, “Shazam!” and Cap finds himself changed back to Billy. Tal dispels the confusion by saying that Cap was the guardian of the idol, and since there’s no more idol, there’s no more need for Cap (how he suddenly knows that when Cap appeared to be a mystery even to him before… I don’t know). But his message of peace remains, and the tribesmen cheer as the trio head for home.

It’s sometimes hard to do a review of a movie so completely of a different time and mindset. Obviously, audience sensibilities have changed in the sixty-five years since this came out. People aren’t quite as excited to see an indestructible hero repeatedly barrel through a gang of regular toughs anymore. But in the golden age of comics it was rare indeed for a hero of Captain Marvel’s caliber to face a foe who could compare their powers to his. It must have worked that way, as his adventures were the best-selling of the era.

Even in its own day and age, though, there are some things about “The Adventures of Captain Marvel” that wouldn’t have worked. For instance, the mystery of the Scorpion’s identity doesn’t work at all. Notice how we don’t hear Lang’s alibi for his suspicious wound, or why Bentley doesn’t have one. Why did Bentley run off to check on his lens after the Scorpion bragged that he only had one to go? Certainly he didn’t need to worry about it being stolen by the Scorpion. Tal is constantly played as the biggest suspect, but in the end it’s Bentley just because he was the least likely. The only real clues we get to the Scorpion’s identity are the dead bodies that pile up as he trims the list of suspects.

And then there’s the cliffhangers. The lava thing I was willing to buy, but even back in the day, was anyone afraid that Cap had met his when he got zapped by Fisher’s electric force field or sliced by the guillotine? And after all the kidnappings and near-death incidents, are we really to believe not one of the main characters says, “Guys, this is getting too hot handle! Let’s call the cops already!”?

However, it probably took a lot of chutzpah to even try to make a movie about a hero on Captain Marvel’s level sixty-five years ago. With a character like Batman or Captain America you could basically take a guy, put him in a funny suit and start rolling. The nigh-invincible Captain Marvel was predictably a much taller order; he’d have to fly, perform feats of inhuman strength, and withstand things that would end the careers of lesser heroes in a hurry. With the special effects of the time it probably seemed a daunting task, and a commendable job is done with what they had.

Despite the shortcomings we may see perusing this from the comfort of the 21st century, The Adventures of Captain Marvel is an enjoyable little romp down memory lane. It’s certainly not high art, but for its time was probably breathtaking, and may well be the greatest serial of all time.

A few liberties were taken with Captain Marvel’s origin, but for the most part the character is intact from his source comics. After that, though, it feels like they took him and stuck him in an adventure where any pulp detective or explorer might have been the hero.

It’s a relic of a less cynical time, but it’s head and shoulders above any serial I’ve seen yet.

Given the time period, some cheesiness was inevitable, but that time when Betty knocked herself out and almost crashed her car must have been embarrassing even in the 40’s.

Date of review: 10 July 2006