Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

In this 12-chapter serial from Universal Pictures and directors Ford Beebe & Ray Taylor, the evil Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) is once again the emperor of the far-off planet of Mongo. He has been sending ships to the Earth to drop "electrified dust" that causes a plague known as the Purple Death. To try and stop him, Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes), and Dr. Alexis Zarkov (Frank Shannon) travel back to Mongo. There they reteam with ally Prince Barin of Arboria (Roland Drew), but they face fierce foes in Ming, his chief soldier Captain Torch (Don Rowan), and the treacherous Lady Sonja (Anne Gwynne). Also featuring John Hamilton and Chief Yowlachie as the King of the Rock People.

This was the last of the great science fiction serials starring Buster Crabbe, following Flash Gordon (1936), Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938), and Buck Rogers (1939). There's a lot to enjoy here, but things are starting to wear thin, as well. The sets are obviously minor redresses of the ones used in Buck Rogers, and much time is spent in the cramped cockpits of various spaceships. Carol Hughes replaces Jean Rogers (who declined to return), and she does a decent job.

Highlights of the movie include Anne Gwynne as the evil Lady Sonja, a sweet-faced blonde always ready to stab someone in the back. Gwynne is also part of a long SF legacy, as besides her appearance in this, her grandson is Chris Pine, the most recent Captain Kirk in the three latest Star Trek movies. I also liked the Rock People, who live in a desolate rocky waste known as the Land of the Dead. They wear silly rock outfits, and their spoken language is English played backward. They also get menaced by a giant lizard in footage that looks lifted from another movie. Speaking of which, there are both scenes and music borrowed from the German movie White Hell of Pitz Palu (1930).

As I said, this marked the end of the science fiction serial for the most part, as the format leaned more heavily on superhero, police, and spy serials during the forties, with a brief return to science fiction in the early 50's before the format was permanently killed by TV.

It's better than a lot of the dreck produced today. It is best not to watch it all at once, but watch one episode a day. When I consider how low the budget was, and how long ago this was made, it adds to the appreciation of this.

For example, making a cliff face look like a plausible ice wall by opening the iris wide to let in more light. It's full of cliches - sort of. But remember, they weren't cliche at the time.

It is interesting that Ming seems rather reasonable in this - not the over-the-top monster we have come to know and loath - and love!

I'm sure that even when this came out a lot of the stuff in this serial seemed pretty silly. But if you watch it, especially if you watch it as it was meant to be watched, one chapter at a time with a break in between, you'll probably find yourself getting into the cliff hangers, and occasionally dazzled by the occasionally sumptuous production values (huge pile of writhing dancing girls, snow mountain photography) and the sometimes ingenious special effects (those mud men always make me jump).

The rest of the time, sit back & laugh.

They must have known that they were stretching the premise when they made this, the third and last Flash Gordon serial, but the plot pretty much hangs together if you choose to pay attention to it (which can be hard, a lot of explanations are pretty rushed), and the performances are mostly good.

This was a pretty good serial. Buster Crabbe was made to play the heroic Flash Gordon and Charles Middleton is the perfect Ming. However, it is the action sequences that carry this film. The special effects for this time period are also pretty good, even for the 1940's. The only flaw I find with this, though, is that Jean Rogers is not playing Dale or that Richard Alexander is not playing Barin. The two actors that replace them are okay, but the originals defined the roles. Also, there is no reference to the second serial. Maybe its because if they were to show any footage from the first two, the audience would definitely see that there are different actors playing Dale, Barin and Aura. However, despite these flaws, it is still a great Saturday afternoon serial

Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Zarkov go to the planet Mongo and fight the evil emperor Ming (Charles Middleton) who is shooting "death rays" at the Earth.

I haven't seen the previous two serials so I have nothing to compare it to--but this was pretty good. It moves quickly and there's lots of action: Flash is thrown into a fiery pit; he's trapped in an avalanche; fights silly-looking robots that explode when hit; is zapped by the "Destroying Ray"; has aerial battles with Ming's warships; is caught in a fierce explosion (twice); falls down a huge mountain AND is almost drowned! WHEW!

But he (logically) escapes being killed each time. Also he's joined by Prince Barin, the Forest Men and even some Rock Men.

I also found this pretty progressive (for its time). Dale isn't just a timid female waiting for Flash to save her--she holds her own in fights and takes over the spaceship a few times when he's wounded. The acting is just OK--but it IS just a serial--they weren't trying to win Academy Awards. Hughes is actually the best out of all of them--Middleton is (easily) the worst. Crabbe looks tired a lot--but he was probably sick of playing Flash again and again. The special effects are primitive but I've always liked those silly little spaceships--they're a guilty favorite! Some of the sets are VERY elaborate (probably used from another movie) and the score is wonderful--until you realize you're hearing the same thing over and over.

The best way to see this is one a day or (like I did) three a day. No way can you watch the whole 4 hours in one sitting!