"Captain America" - The 1944 Movie Serial Quiz

Answer: Grant Gardner

I really have no idea why Captain America was changed from being Steve Rogers, to Assistant Attorney Grant Gardner. I can see changing his occupation to help facilitate the story, but why change a perfectly good name like Steve Rogers? Apparently, even back in the 40s, Hollywood had a habit of taking proven winners and completely changing things around to suit their own creative egos.

Captain America was portrayed by serial veteran Dick Purcell.

Answer: A revolver

Captain America's trademark shield was nowhere to be found in any of the fifteen chapters of this serial. We can only assume that this particular change was made because of the special effects problems that having him throwing it at the bad guys would incur. Instead, in those days before computer-generated animation, Cap was packing heat most of the time.

Answer: The Scarab

The Purple Death itself was a special chemical concoction that, when administered to someone, caused the victim to be very susceptible to suggestions, even suggestions that would be completely against their nature (such as killing someone or committing suicide). A side effect of the drug was that the victim also broke out in purple blotches on his skin, but this was only referred to in the serial, never shown. Not that it really would've mattered too much if we did see them, since it was a black and white film.

The Scarab was, in reality, Dr. Maldor. Maldor had been using the Purple death to kill all the members of an expedition to some ancient Mayan ruins in South America. He was the one who had found special information that made the trip successful, but felt he had been slighted in terms of being rewarded for his contribution. So Maldor decided to kill everyone else involved with the expedition and use the information he had discovered for his own gain.

Maldor was played by the wonderfully hammy Lionel Atwill, star of countless B-movies.

Answer: Thermodynamic Vibration Engine

Lyman also called his device the "Dynamic Vibrator" and uttered the immortal line "How'd you find out about my vibrator?" when the Scarab's men broke into his lab to steal it. It was one of those "rolling-on-the-floor" moments when I first watched the serial.

The Scarab's thugs then administered the Purple Death to the scientist, and the Scarab ordered him to commit suicide by walking out in front of a speeding truck.

Answer: It was distilled from the supridium, a little-known orchid.

After the secret ingredient was discovered, the Scarab stopped using the Purple Death as his main weapon. After the first few chapters of the serial, he started to just use the technology he stole from others to commit his crimes.

Answer: The Life Restorer Machine

Dr. Clinton Lyman invented the Life Restorer Machine. It was based on the "diathermic method of inducing fever by high temperatures, resulting from the electronic resuscitation of the circulatory system". He would also inject a special serum into the subject's vital organs. The device would only work on something that hadn't been dead too long.

The demonstration of the Life Restorer featured a dead dog being brought back to life. The procedure was viewed by Grant Gardner, Gail Richards (Lorna Gray), Dr. Maldor and Lyman's fellow members of the Mayan Explorers Club.

Answer: The Drummond Museum of the Arts and Sciences

The Drummond Museum, through the efforts of Dr. Maldor, had been exhibiting some of the artifacts that the Mayan expedition had brought back.

Answer: G.F. Hillman

Hillman had called Grant Gardner via radiophone from his private railroad car on the Westland Limited. He told the attorney that he had found a copper plaque that was half of a map to a hidden Mayan treasure, and that Maldor had the other half. Maldor was able to capture Hillman and tortured him until he agreed to decipher the map.

He later bombed the farm that Hillman was being held at, since he was the only one who knew for certain that Maldor was the Scarab.

Answer: The Temple of Emeralds in the lost city of Zada

The Temple of Emeralds was one of the final secrets of the Mayan expedition that Maldor wanted. The villain had been searching for the copper plaque amidst the ruins of the many victims of the Scarab, but fate thrust it upon him in an entirely different way.

Answer: Dr. Rodlam Baracs

Gail mentioned to Doctor Maldor that 'Dr. Baracs' was coming to help Hillman. The Scarab soon arranged for a criminal associate to impersonate the surgeon, so that Hillman could be killed and the Scarab's secret identity preserved.

This was all just a ploy by Captain America to trap the Scarab, as the distinguished surgeon he sent for did not actually exist. In fact, his name was merely "Maldor Scarab" spelled backwards, showing that, even this particular movie, Captain America had as much on the ball as his comic book counterpart.