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Just a clarification: CAPTAIN CELLULOID wasn't made by Alan Barbour; it was produced, directed, photographed, and edited by long-time serial buff and veteran amateur filmmaker Lou MacMahon. Lou was a professional cinematographer, hence CAPTAIN CELLULOID's slick look.

Alan, his wife Jean, Al Kilgore, and Bill Everson were other New York-area fans, all of them members of the same informal screening group that assembled periodically to watch old serials and B-Westerns. They all had input, but if it wasn't for Lou, CAPTAIN CELLULOID would never have been made. He was the driving force behind it, and he invested the lion's share of the time, effort, and money needed to complete it. I believe a full six years passed between the project's genesis and its completion.

I think Sinister Cinema also sells CAPTAIN CELLULOID.

By the way, this serial has had three different musical scores. When Lou first made it available back in the early '70s, he prepared a soundtrack on tape (first reel-to-reel, later cassette) to accompany the prints he sold and rented. This first score consisted mainly of music "in the clear" (without dialogue or sound effects) lifted from the soundtracks of serials that had fallen into public domain -- Mascots and Universals.

Lou compiled a second score -- for use with his own screenings and those of close friends -- made up from original Republic music cues recorded from the studio's own acetate masters. As I recall, these had leaked out shortly after he finished CAPTAIN CELLULOID; later, they were briefly made available for sale on cassette. This second score consisted of the most memorable pieces from such classic '40s serials as MYSTERIOUS DR. SATAN, SPY SMASHER, THE MASKED MARVEL, and G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON. Lou was afraid to send this score to renters and purchasers of prints, because the Republic music was still under copyright.

About ten years ago, Ray Faiola got the negative from Lou and sold newly struck 16mm prints with a third score, this one also made up of old Republic cues. Unlike Lou's scores, which were only available on tape and had to be played separately, Ray's was added to the film itself. He used much of what Lou had picked and, if memory serves, added a few of his own choosing. I don't know if Ray made a deal to sell this newly scored version on video. Sinister Cinema, I believe, sells Lou's version. I haven't seen Grapevine's.

All three scores are excellent. I have a nostalgic attachment to the first because that's the one I heard when I initially saw the serial way back in 1972. A few years later, after I'd become friendly with Lou, I got a copy of his "private" score. But Ray's score is also first-rate.

There have been numerous home-movie attempts to pastiche Republic serials. Don Glut's are now available on DVD as CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE MOVIEMAKER or something like that. Earl Blair made a pretty good CAPTAIN AMERICA knockoff in 16mm. Back in the late '60s, I made a ROCKET MAN knockoff in 8mm, using an appropriately costumed G.I. Joe doll on wires for my not-very-convincing flying scenes. But nobody has ever come close to duplicating Lou's achievement.

Todd, as a former amateur filmmaker myself, I have great respect for anybody who tackles such ambitious projects. Really, I do, because I know from experience how much time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears go into these things. But I hope you aren't seriously suggesting that KING OF THE PARK RANGERS (which I've seen) deserves comparison to CAPTAIN CELLULOID in any way, shape, manner, or form.