Flash Gordon

After 66 years "Flash Gordon" still has an appealing scifi/adventure/epic feel that many of today's science fiction adventures strive for and fail to deliver. The only way to fully enjoy this serial is just to sit back and not pick at anything (hokey effects, dialogue, why Flash doesn't go for Princess Aura etc.). And as for you older people who saw "Flash Gordon" back on the serial screen or on T.V. "back in the day", if you want this fine serial to remain appealing to future generations, get your kids/grandkids to watch this when they're young. It worked for me (Male aged 18 or under). 9 out of 10

Universal put out three Flash Gordon chapter plays, in 1936, 1938

and 1940; but despite the larger budgets of the latter two, the first

is the by far the most fun; its successors are pale in comparison,

although the Clay People of Series II are certainly worth while. I

loved the 1936 serial dearly when I was five years old, seeing it on

TV; and I still retain a good deal of affection for it, even now when I

am old enough to be aware of the cardboard sets, ridiculous

dialogue and frequent lapses of taste. Who cares? Flash's

adventures have nothing to do with outer space and are largely

medieval, as this 1930s art deco Siegfried battles shark men,

hawk men, and cheesy rubber dragons. Buster Crabbe is ideal,

and Charles Middleton positively believes he IS Ming the

Merciless. Then there is Princess Aura. I don't know about the rest

of you male types out there, but if I were Flash I would have

dumped Dale for Priscilla Lawson's voluptuous princess by

Episode Two. Besides the perfectly obvious fact that she would be

vastly more fun in bed, consider: When Flash is in horrible danger,

what does Dale do? She faints, or gets hypnotised. Aura,

meanwhile, has swiped a rocket ship, bribed the guards, found a

cache of weapons, and is actively doing her best to rescue the

guy. She saves Flash's butt from certain horrible death about every

other episode, but does the big lunk appreciate it? Oh well. Even

when I was five I was dimly aware that there was some reason I

wanted her to take me home with her... and above all, there's

Frank Shannon's Zarkov. "You are a remarkable man. I can use

you" says Emperor Ming; and what Zarkov doesn't say, but is

clearly thinking, is: "and I can use a blithering mad emperor with

unlimited power and a fantastic laboratory"! My favorite dialogue in

the whole serial comes in Episode One. Zarkov and Flash have

just met, and Zarkov explains that the Earth's only hope of survival

is his home built rocket ship. "Sure this thing will work?" asks

Flash, after they've come aboard. "I've experimented with models"

Zarkov replies. "Ah," responds Flash; "They ever come back?" With

perfect equanimity Zarkov says "They weren't supposed to." Now,

there's a REAL Mad Scientist after my own heart! Zarkov routinely

invents the impossible on five minutes notice, from invisibility rays

to anti-gravitons. The whole thing is so absurd it's magnificent, so

hokey it's colossal. It's for the precocious five-year-old in us all.

This is probably the all time greatest serial in history. This film helped make a star of Buster Crabbe and, more importantly, helped to inspire films like Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series. Crabbe was perfect in his portrayal of Flash, Jean Rogers was the perfect Dale Arden and Charles Middleton was made to play Ming the Merciless. Also, for its day, the special effects weren't half bad. If I do have one complaint about it, its the fact that there are a lot of scenes where the editors forgot to go back and fix some of the goofs, especially with the soundtrack. Also, there are a few plot holes that are never explained. Other than that, this was a great Saturday afternoon serial that the kids definitely would enjoy.

Universal created a real fun winner here. Buster Crabbe's popularity soared as he went on to more serials both as Flash and as Buck Rogers. He also made a Tarzan or two and some westerns.

But the character actors in Flash Gordon are tops: Charles Middleton as Ming was brilliant casting; chubby Richard Alexander as the would-be hero Prince Barin looks like he stepped right out of the comics, as do the Sharkmen, Lionmen and Hawkmen.

"Tiny" Lipson as Vultan the Hawkman is hilarious; he is also seen in some Marx Brothers and Three Stooges films. Of course the actors portraying the sexy (for 1936) Dale and Princess Aura are perfect. Even Zarkov is convincing as can be expected in this dark adventure series.

The music is constantly moving things along, much of it now available on CD as the same music used in Universal's "The Bride of Frankenstein".

The challenge is to find a good print. It would be great if Universal could "restore" some their classic serials.

When a mysterious planet is menacing to collide on Earth, the athlete Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) flies by plane to meet his father in New York and stay with him during the collision. While traveling, Flash meets the blonde passenger Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and they become friends. However, their plane falls, and Flash and Dale jump together using the same parachute. They land nearby the laboratory of Dr. Alexis Zarkov (Frank Shannon), who invites them to join him in a travel in his rocket to the threatening planet in an attempt to avoid the eminent destruction of Earth. When they arrive in the planet, they meet Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), the emperor of Planet Mongo, who wants to destroy Earth, and his daughter, Princess Aura (Priscilla Lawson), who has an infatuation for Flash Gordon. This is the beginning of a magnificent transposition of Alex Raymond's cartoon to the big screen, in a cult movie. The story is divided in thirteen chapters as follows:

1) The Planet of Peril ("O Planeta do Perigo") 2) The Tunnel of Horror ("O Túnel do Terror") 3) Captured by Shark Men ("Capturado Pelos Homens-Tubarão") 4) Battling the Sea Beast ("Enfrentando a Fera do Mar") 5) The Destroying Ray ("O Raio da Destruição") 6) Flaming Torture ("Tortura Flamejante") 7) Shattering Doom ("Perdição Quebrada") 8) Tournament of Death ("Torneio da Morte") 9) Fighting the Fire Dragon ("Lutando Contra o Dragão de Fogo") 10) The Unseen Peril ("O Perigo Invisível") 11) In the Claws of the Tigron ("Nas Garras de Tigron") 12) Trapped in the Turret ("Encurralado na Torre") 13) Rocketing to Earth ("Voando Para a Terra")

The adventure of Flash Gordon in Planet Mongo shows all the characters of the comic strip: he becomes friend of the Prince Thun (James Pierce), the leader of the Lion Men, a people enemy of Ming. He is arrested by the Shark Men in the underwater Shark Palace of King Kala (Duke York Jr.), who is dominated by Ming. Flash Gordon allies to Prince Barin (Richard Alexander), who claims to be the inheritor of the Mongo's throne, and they fight against the Hawk Men, leaded by King Vultan (Jack 'Tiny' Lipson), in the palace in the air, becoming allied in the end.

In the Twentieth-First Century, the special effects of this film are very cheesy and dated, like in an Ed Wood movie: visible wires holding rockets and flying objects, quite ridiculous "maquettes" of the cities, the fire dragon, the fly and movements of the rockets with fire in the propellers, even the behavior of the character of Dale Arden, screaming, fainting, being paralyzed in the dangerous situations are very funny in the present days. But this is part of the entertainment, and the viewer must appreciate the film never forgetting when it was shot (1936). For the Brazilian readers, I would like to inform that the DVD released by Classicline has some mistakes in the translation. Inclusive some titles in Portuguese of the chapters written on back cover of the DVD are not correlated with the titles showed in the beginning of each chapter in the movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Flash Gordon no Planeta Mongo" ("Flash Gordon in the Planet Mongo")