Believe it or not, Captain America first appeared on the silver screen in 1944…sort of…not really. From directors Elmer Clifton, John English, and Republic Pictures, the fifteen-chapter Captain America serial stars Dick Purcell as Grant Gardner, District Attorney by day and Captain America by night (I know). Fighting crime with his trusty sidekick Bucky…I mean, with his trusty secretary, Gail Richards (Lorna Gray), no villains can stand in the way of freedom.
The villain of the story is the evil Scarab, who has been responsible for the supposed suicides of various prominent scientists. The Scarab possesses a powder known as Purple Death that acts as a truth serum and mind control agent. Once he gets the information he needs, he commands his victims to kill themselves.
The Scarab’s ultimate control is world domination. His first plan is to steal the “Dynamic Vibrator” machine. Meant for mining operations, the vibrator can shake any material apart to its molecular level, including buildings and tanks. The Scarab uses the device to lure Captain America into a collapsing building.
The Dynamic Vibrator was only a ruse for the Scarab to obtain the Electronic Firebolt, which can destroy any object, such as a bank safe. Soon, the Scarab was close to creating a portable version, but the police had the technology to detect any location in the city emitting that level of energy output. The Scarab’s most diabolical machine is the Electronic Reducing machine, which can dehydrate and disintegrate any living being.
Ultimately, the conflict between Captain America and the Scarab is one of secret identities, as neither knows who the other is. The Scarab is a prominent scientist hiding in the background as his henchmen and hypnotized victims do his bidding.
“The Scarab’s most diabolical machine is the Electronic Reducing machine, which can dehydrate and disintegrate any living being.”
Any fan of Captain America, you’ll see right away that this is not the “Timely Comics” version. This is not Steve Rogers. Even though Grant Gardner is dressed as Captain America, he does not have Captain America’s iconic shield. The villain is not the Red Skull, and Gail Richard is far too sexy to be Bucky. The script was written long before Republic Pictures acquired the rights to Captain America, meaning the character was retrofitted into an existing storyline.
The most egregious slight against Captain America is that Grant Gardner is a normal guy in a suit. He has no super-soldier serum or powers. He’s just a guy who can fight and outsmart his opponents. Ultimately, no matter what suit he wears, this is Captain America in name only.
If you take away Captain America from this film, what’s left? It’s a pretty standard serial. Each episode progresses the Scarab’s evil plan and ends on a cliffhanger, putting our heroes in peril. The villain is compelling—sadistic, with traps that are surprisingly intense for the 1940s.
It becomes a relatively standard cat-and-mouse game in which the mouse amasses weapons to foil the cat. It’s all a bait-and-switch. The series promises Captain America but instead gives us a guy in a Cap suit who isn’t anything like Steve Rogers or Captain America.
As a piece of vintage cinema, Captain America (1944) delivers all the pulpy thrills you’d expect from a Republic serial—high stakes, dastardly villains, and cliffhangers. But as a faithful adaptation of the beloved Marvel (then Timely) hero? Not even close. Stripping Cap of his super-soldier origins, iconic shield, and true identity, this is Captain America in name only. Skip this mess.
"…Gail Richard is far too sexy to be Bucky."
