History of the CAPTAIN AMERICA Film Franchise!

I am counting down the days until the release of Disney/ Marvel's last superhero epic of this summer cinema season, Captain America: The First Avenger. After the awesome-ness that were the Iron Man films, and the CGI carnvial of Thor, we are looking forward to one helluva film and if you are any sort of fan then you have seen the posters (we blogged about them here) watched the trailers, tracked down the internet gossip and pre-ordered the action figures. But did you know that this is not the first time that Cap has made the leap from comic book page to silver screen? It may be hard to believe, but Captain America was one of the earliest comic book heroes to be adapted to film. Back in 1944 a company called Republic, renowned for its B-movies, turned Cap into the most expensive serial they ever made. Serials were short movies designed to be played in conjunction with a feature film presentation and tended to have cliff-hanger endings, like episodes of soap opera, to draw audiences back to the cinema each week. Republic changed the storyline around so that Cap was actually a mild-mannered District Attorney, named Grant Gardner, who spent his time in costume trying to bring down his evil arch-nemesis The Scarab (otherwise known as Dr Cyrus Maldor, a museum curator). You can get an understanding of the dedication to the original material when you find out that Cap had to stop The Scarab from getting such devastating super-weapons as 'The Dynamic Vibrator'! In fact this version of Captain America had no Bucky, no shield, no wings on his head and no Nazis; even though it was released in 1944 when World War II was still raging in Europe. Taking into account the vast veer that the serial takes away from the comic book, it was actually a very well written and produced film(s). There are 15 chapters of the story in total and each brings Cap closer to capturing (Cap-turing... he he) the culprit behind the fake suicides that are plaguing the returned members of a Mayan expedition. Every chapter is action-packed with action. This is not cheaply made B-grade tripe, but a big budget production full of fights, special effects, stunts, explosions and even a remote-controlled truck. Irrelevant of its age I am enjoying watching such classic film fare and the surprisingly cluey twists in the plot as The Scarab plays out his deadly schemes. You can watch the entire film as a whole, or track down each individual chapter on YouTube. Or start with a little teaser by watching this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4brA6vPY4 Although Captain America was seen in the brilliant and, for me, idealised cartoons of the 1960's, his next major foray in film was in the very strange 3 Dev Adam (1973). A crazy Turkish schlock film where Captain America and Santo (a mexican wrestler) team up to defeat the evil super-villain, Spider-Man. I have not found the entire film, which is quite lucky as I may die from an overdose of bad taste and bad acting. But there are a large number of wonderfully self-evident clips on the web that give you the general notion of what this film was about. Very little. Here is an example of the top-grade fight sequences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPpJRRiHFs (A little hint for all of you schlock fans out there... you MUST watch the Guinea Pig Torture scene!) His next appearance takes place at the end of the 1970's in two tele-movies made for CBS. Both were available on VHS, so we can be largely thankful that the VCR has long disappeared into entertainment past. Although the character much more closely resembles the Cap that we know and love, the plots are thinly conceived and badly enacted. His costume looks more like Evil Knievel's with motorcycle helmet and goggles. The only positive I can find is that the sequel has fan-favourite Christopher Lee as the evil scientist Miguel. And that brings us to the Captain America film that I know so well. As a young lad and a teenage Avengers-worshipper, I almost melted the day that I got my hands on a VHS copy of the new Captain America movie. I ran straight home and popped it into the machine, ready to be dazzled by the wonders of Hollywood. What I was greeted with was a pretty decent reinvention of the comic book mythology ruined by a desperate need to push the U.S's Environmental Act. I do not disagree with the political movement (big fan actually) but I am against ruining what could have been an okay film. The opening of the film is beautifully production designed, with its period setting in a Fascist Italy of the 40's and presents an origin of the Red Skull reminiscent of Magneto's moments in the openings of both X-Men and X-Men:First Class. The same goes for the transformation of polio-ridden Steve Rogers into the patriotic emblem of America (although I am still not sure why they needed a big laser-looking light. He clearly had the serum going into him. Oh well). Where the film begins to come apart is the battle and fight scenes. The budgetary and technical constraints are dealt with by keeping the shots too tight and cutting too often. The audience (even one of the 90's) can see where the shortcuts are being made and it is distracting from what is supposed to an epic fight of one man overcoming many. But it is the costume and make-up that ruins this film for me the most. The Red Skull's makeup reminds more of a Peking Duck hanging in a Chinatown restaurant window than a terrifying fascist super villain. Who thought giving the Red Skull hair was a good idea? And Cap's uniform has tried its best to stay true to the comic book details, but is given away by the buckling and warping PVC that they have used. He kind of looks like he is wearing colourful playdough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs8rFsmhNTc This film is a series of good intentions that came unstuck. It is clear why it was denied its publicised cinema release and slipped under the radar via straight-to-video. With a history of poor adaptation to motion picture, the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger has much to make up for. For over 60 years comic book fans have wished for something that can take the images from their mind and off the page, and deliver a spectacular visual feast with strong imagery and an even stronger story. With the narrative and critical success of Iron Man and Thor, expectations are high. I know mine are. However if the trailer is anything for us to go by then I think our dreams may soon be coming true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JerVrbLldXw