Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

There were many very fine heroes and villains of the serials, but clearly, Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, and Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless were the tops in their respective fields. These fine performers, plus the return of our old friend Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkhov, help make this an entertaining and appealing serial.

This is the most polished and opulent of the Flash Gordon serials, although it lacks the passion and visceral excitement of the 1st serial. Also, it lacks the performers who originated the roles of Dale Arden, Prince Barrin, and Princess Aura. The actors who replaced Barrin and Aura are at least adequate, although they lack the physical charisma of the originals, and we feel especially the loss of Priscilla Lawson's raw sensuality. However, the gal who replaced the wonderful Jean Rogers as Dale is not sufficient to the role, and in one chapter when she was pleading for Flash to save her, I kind of wished Flash had just left her.

This serial is not as sexy as the 1st Flash Gordon (which somehow seemed to have been sneaked completely past the Hayes Office), but while the actresses all appear to be wearing bras, there are thankfully a few bare midriffs here and there, and we have the welcome addition of a genuine femme fetalle, in the person of the wicked Sonia, played by Anne Gwynne.

While the 1st serials were characterized to a large extent by activities involving the various diverse peoples and monsters of Planet Mongo and Mars, the Lion Men, the Shark Men, the Hawk Men, the Clay People, Azura Queen of Magic, the Forest People, dragons, octosacs, beast men, etc., this serial is more preoccupied with technology and warfare. There are chapters wholly concerned with strategic materials, incendiary bombs, robot bombs, torture of political prisoners, poison gas, and there are more aerial dogfights than in the previous Flash Gordons.

Also, Ming is referred to as Dictator Ming, rather than Emperor Ming. Others have already mentioned this, but I agree with the hypothesis that this serial reflects the fact that by 1940 much of the world was at war and that many in the US had the idea that the US would inevitably be drawn into the conflict. In 1939, the Germans invaded Poland, and by the time this serial drew to a close on its first run, the Nazis had also invaded France. There is perhaps a bit of unconscious insight into the geopolitical future in the fact that Flash, whose initial mission was to stop Ming from becoming Conqueror of the Universe, ends his mission when he is declared to be the Conqueror of the Universe.

This is entertaining to fans of serials, of B-Movies, of old comic strips, and other aficionados of old school and low budget cinema. It is not as powerful as the 1st Flash serial, and suffers from being a little longer than it should be, and having a little too much back and forth. Also, the directors seemed to have no concept of how to insert a few close-ups into a fight scene to juice up the action. Nonetheless, many viewers would, like me, find it pleasurable to waste 20 minutes here and there with these old friends.

I love and have a great affinity for serials from the golden age of cinema, and this was definitely one of the better ones I have seen. Previously, I had really enjoyed Buster Crabbe's presence in the post-Weissmuller era of Tarzan, and I have had the DVD of Hodges' 1980 'Flash Gordon' for eons, but wanted to first get to the root of the phenomenon by checking out the serials. Fortunately, in purchasing a 50-film pack, 'Nightmare Worlds' from Mill Creek, it was included.

The 12 episodes of the 220-minute serial were well-edited into the fine flow that this version I saw had, and the special effects and production values were quite decent--you could tell it had been made both by a high-quality studio, in Universal, and by directors quite used to the serial format, in Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor.

There are some goofs (for example, when Ming's henchmen are looking at a mountainside for the four protagonists, and five are shown), but it's action-packed, with interestingly stylized wipe-edits, and I can see how it later influenced the likes of both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

As well, it's very interesting how the filmmakers were subtly able to use the film to offer social commentary to the growing Nazi/Fascist movements worldwide that were wreaking havoc across the globe in the Axis of Evil. Heartily recommended to anyone who enjoys the fun side of cinema.

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!

Universal's 46th sound-era film was the third and last of their serials...From the ALEX RAYMOND newspaper feature owned and copyrighted by King Features Syndicate...starring Buster Crabbe as "Flash Gordon." All featured loose adaptations of their Sunday comic page continuities but this one stayed pretty close to the long-running segment devoted to Prince Barin's Kingdom of Arboria and the Ice Kingdom of Frigia ruled by The Ice Queen, both on the planet Mongo.

This one takes off when the Earth is visited by a deadly epidemic known as the Plague of the Purple Death, easily diagnosed as it leaves a purple spot on the foreheads of its victims. Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) zoom out in Zarkov's rocket ship and make a straight-space bee-line for Mongo, where the ruthless ruler, Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) is spreading death dust in Earth's atmosphere as part of his plan to CONQUER THE UNIVERSE. Actually, he had two kingdoms on his own planet he didn't rule, but Ming had a severe case of the hots for Dale Arden from Day One, and he probably figured he could take care of the rebel kingdoms after he made the lured-back Dale his bride and, thusly inspired, take care of Arboria and Frigia in one fell swoop along with the remainder of the Universe. The man knew how to set priorities.

Upon arriving on Mongo, Flash, Dale and Zarkov visit their old friends Prince Barin (played by Roland Drew, and two Roland Drews weren't equal to Dick Alexander's Prince Barin) and his wife Aura (Shirley Dean, formerly of The Jones Family at TC-F), who was also Ming's daughter, who has been reformed by Barin's love and the realization that her father is one stark-mad, raving lunatic...and horny to boot.

The family touches and relationships between the primary characters---Flash may have had a little thing going on with Aura back in the early days of the strip when she was the total spoiled-rotten daughter and supporter of her father, and they were still exchanging Sunday glances for years even after she married Barin--- and the creation of a Queen Glenda of Frigia (Clarice Sherry) ruling over an Ice Kingdom (that one strike any chords with a 2005 film) show that Alex Raymond's plot-writing skills were on par with his top-flight illustration abilities. All of his comic strips, including "Jungle Jim" were aimed at adults, and the kids could figure it out later on their own. Some of us never did.

Glenda The Ice Queen, on Sundays for certain, also had an eye on General Lupi (William Royle), the commander-in-chief of her army, or he was until he ended up in one of Ming's dungeons, and wasn't doing much in the way of commanding when Flash & Company showed up. In fact, Ming's scientists have perfected the Purple Death Dust to the point where it only kills those with intelligence enough to pose a threat to Ming, while only making slaves out of the less intelligent. This, clearly, posed a threat for all the citizens of Earth with all the population doomed to become slaves, but Ming wasn't a man who liked to take chances, except where Dale Arden was concerned. Well, his stooge scientists tell him that this is what they have done, but Ming wants proof and they are about to experiment on General Lupi. Flash, of course, rescues him and this makes the thawed-out Ice Queen happy, and she grants Flash and Zarkov the right to mine Polarite, the antidote to the Purple Death Dust, in her kingdom. After a few incidents with avalanches and "annihilants" Flash mines enough Polarite to save the Earth, and he makes a quick day-trip back there and deposits the life-saving Polarite on top of Mt. McKinley. (Hey, settle down...it's stock footage McKinley and not a location site.) But, back on Mongo, things aren't going all that smooth and there are still many chapters to go. Somewhere toward the end, Zarkov defies Ming by informing him that his and Flash's mission is to not only save the world (Earth) but the Universe as well. Ming, always the one to indulge in tirades, even when things are going his way, scoffs: "The universe? I AM THE UNIVERSE!" Charles Middleton's eyes probably lit up when he saw that line in the script.

(Those of you who don't know how this one ends might want to move on to something else, now)....as they fly back to the safety of Arboria and then back to Earth, Prince Barin tells Flash: "By destroying Ming, you have saved the universe." and Flash replies..."In his mad ambition, Ming declared that HE WAS the universe." And Zarkov says, "Then, since you are the conquerer of Ming, I shall radio your father: Flash Gordon conquers the universe!"

And Dale, not knowing an exit line when she hears one adds..."And saves the Earth."

We thought he saved the Earth several chapters back when he deposited the Polarite atop of Mt. McKinley. Oh, that's correct...Ming later came up with Solarite.

Hey, the dialogue and character's alone overcome any "so-called" 1940's cheesy special effects. Nine out of ten...only because of the covered-up belly buttons in this one.

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.