This is my first full-length serial, and, I must confess surprisingly, that I truly enjoyed each and every minute of it. The story tells of a young man named Billy Batson and how he, having refused to enter the tomb of an ancient people with a curse while being part of an archaeological/treasure hunting team, is bestowed great powers by Shazaam. Batson turns into Captain Marvel when he utters the word Shazaam. This serial is a lot better crafted than I initially thought it would be. The sets used in this Rebublic Pictures production are very good and believable. The acting is very adequate with Frank Coghlan Jr. giving a very honest and sincere performance as Billy albeit somewhat corny perhaps. Tom Tyler plays his alter ego Captain Marvel - and while looking somewhat haggard is acceptable. All the other performers are good with John Davidson standing out as Tal Chotali - a native guide for the group. The 12 chapters of this serial tell of how each investor in the team was given a special lens of a gold scorpion found in the ancient tomb. When all the lenses are placed properly on the scorpion, it can make gold out of anything. Well, a villain named the Scorpion comes into the mix. He is covered from head to foot in a mask and costume so as not to reveal his identity because he is one of the men in the team. Each episode tells of various plots the scorpion invents to secure the lenses and thwart Captain Marvel. In true serial fashion, each chapter ends with a thrilling and exciting cliffhanger of sorts. Originally these were shown weekly with pictures and made to be exciting and suspenseful so as to entice movie-goers to return each week. Directors William Witney and John English succeed in making the viewer want to see what happens. Each chapter was packed with action and mystery. Plenty of red herrings are thrown at you so as to confuse you to who could or would be the real identity of the Scorpion. It was so refreshing to see Captain Marvel be a real super hero. He doles out real justice to real crooks. No feminization of Captain Marvel here. Sure, some of the story is pretty hokey, and, yes, some plot twists totally unrealistic(how about the scene where Betty Wallace,Batson's pseudo-love interest, is careening around one bend after another in a garage while knocked out),but the product as a whole was very compelling. I had to watch all 12 chapters in one sitting just to find out who the script chose to be the Scorpion. This serial made me a believer and makes me want to check out some of these rather forgotten films of the past.

When TVland began running the 1970s Saturday morning Shazam a year or so ago, I learned of this old serial.

I decided to compare the two and had not an ever-lovin' clue what to expect.

There are the usual cliffhanger bits, I thought.

Then the tied up Billy and Betty are in the shed about to be bombed.

"I'll call Captain Marvel on the radio," Betty says. "Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" We hear the planes overhead.

Bill struggles with the ropes. Unlike Betty, his mouth is gagged.

"Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel!" The planes fly nearer. Billy struggles more.

"CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL! CAPTAIN MARVEL!" Then it went to the cliffhanger. I had already stopped doing what I was doing on the computer and just stared.

It had to be murder for kids to watch these things, I concluded.

We are given a masked villain, and five likely suspects.

In truth, which one of them was the villain was irrelevant.

There was just so much more fascinating stuff to this series.

Betty is unconscious on a boat. Billy must save her. He stands holding her as the ship sinks. Cliffhanger.

Don't expect the obvious. Nothing worked out or played out anywhere near the way we might think it did.

The only thing that disappointed me after all this brilliance was the cheap folding down film bit when Shazam was changed back to Billy at the end.

But this must stand as one of the all-time top five most underrated programs ever.

Fascinating note.

Frank Coglan Jr, who played Billy Batson, would be working at a zoo in the seventies, and when it was learned Coglan was nearby, he got a cameo in an episode of the seventies series.

Too much fun.

In preparing to watch several superhero movies this summer, I finally-after about 30 years of reading and hearing about it-decided to watch the first of the cinema adaptations of a comic book costumed fighter, usually with "special powers" as they were then referred as, that appeared at a neighborhood theatre near you: Adventures of Captain Marvel. This 12-chapter serial has it all-thrills, some humor, and plenty of good old fashioned derring do. Tom Tyler-often considered the strongest man of that time-is perfect as The Big Red Cheese (though his costume was actually blue/gray in order to look better in black & white) with his alter ego Billy Batson done in a nice brave and optimistic turn by Frank Coghlan, Jr. And his sidekicks, Betty Wallace (Louise Currie) and Whitey Murphy (William Benedict) also bring their own charm to the proceedings. Now I'm sure some would be disappointed to not see the classic villains like Dr. Silvana or Mr. Mind here but the created-for-the-screen The Scorpion is good enough for this outing especially when he's suspected of being one of the archeology team Billy and his pals accompany to a cave which is, incidentally, where the wizard who gave Batson his powers, Shazam (Nigel De Brulier) resides. By the way, Nigel was supposedly the inspiration for the guy who mentors Mickey Mouse in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of Fantasia. Sure, there are some flaws-like why do the bad guys keep shooting at Cap's chest when they already know bullets won't hurt him-but overall, Adventures of Captain Marvel still provides thrilling entertainment galore (I was especially impressed when that driverless truck provided some POV shots that must have temporarily made some kids dizzy when they watched this at their theatre). And while in some scenes it's obviously a dummy flying, those sequences as created by Howard and Theodore Lydecker would indeed-as a tagline for Superman: The Movie can attest-insinuate "You Will Believe a Man Can Fly". Nothing more to say except, a good time should be had by all when watching this. (and while I willingly sat through the whole thing seeing this on the internet with the only break between chap. 6 & 7, some may just want to take a break with each cliffhanger that comes along...)