Captain Video

1788. CAPTAIN VIDEO (1949-USA). Dumont “TV net. Two complete shows. With DON HASTINGS, RICHARD COOGAN, HAL CONKLIN and FRED SCOTT (announcer). Two very rare kinescopes of one of the best-remembered live TV heroes. Modestly billed as “The Guardian Of The Safety Of The World,” the Captain was ably played by Richard Coognn before Al Hodge brought fame to the role. Add Don Hastings as “The Video Ranger” and Hal Conklin as the evil Dr. Pauli, and you had a captivating kid adventure with a production budget near zero. A partially assembled TV chassis becomes an interplanetary transmitter, a cardboard cut-out of a microphone falls over during one scene and is replaced by the Video Ranger without a second thought. With the help of Martians, inexplicably dressed as Roman Legionnaires, the Captain battles Dr. Pauli to be the first to reach “The Outer Limits” (this was years before Rod Serling)! In a second program, the Captain is in Shanghai trying to foil Dr. Pauli’s plan to rob the Imperial Bank. Both shows feature public service messages read while a test pattern fills the screen, and five – minute cutaways to a B-Western or an Arabian desert combat movie scene having nothing whatever to do with the story! Still…in the beginning, there was Captain Video! 58 minutes total. Television