Captain Midnight (Serial set/VCI)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Chapters: C+
Some
heroes of the past are forgotten and one of the ones we always hear about, but
never see these days is Captain Midnight. That may have been Capt. Albright’s code name
on the legendary radio show, but Columbia Pictures took it further to make him
a sort of superhero. This is a good
idea, but the serial suffers as it works best when the disguised captain shows
up, which is not enough.
The radio
show went back to 1938 and was strongly established, so as was the case in so
many hero and radio characters, this serial was the first screen appearance of Midnight.
Columbia got the costume right for a change, though it was not as
tough as doing Batman, Robin or Superman.
Maybe deviating too much form the radio program is one of the reasons
for the pullback, but the best moments are later in the serial and when the Midnight persona shows up. Regular villain Ivan Shark makes a good
villain and fans know that his appearance here is one of his all-time classic
battles.
The full
frame image is off of a late analog master that has some rippling here and
there, but the original print material is decent. Too bad many of the night scenes are too
dark, more evidence of the analog legacy.
However, there is no better looking version on DVD right now. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono fares better,
sounding just fine. Extras include
trailers, three biographies, a photo gallery set to music and four other serial
trailers on DVD 1, and a VCI compendium of dozens of serials they already have
in print on DVD 2.
A later
1954 – 1956 show also materialized as the radio show continued to its end, then
the character disappeared. The original
shows are still hunted by collectors, while the tie-in toys and premiums continue
to be expensive and highly sought. Once
you get into it, you get the fun part. No
doubt this has influenced Indiana Jones and the endless imitators that included
airplanes, including The Rocketeer
to some extent and the current Sky
Captain & The World Of Tomorrow, which may be the most explicit shades
of the legendary captain yet. That alone
is reason enough to see this Captain
Midnight serial at least once before you see Sky Captain.
- Nicholas Sheffo
