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.

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.

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.

The success of the 2 prior Flash Gordon serials and the continued and ever expanding popularity of the Newspaper Comic Strip no doubt were the prime movers behind the filming of the third installment. Universal Pictures had done well with the production of many other titles belonging to Hearst's King Features, so they were given the go ahead for the new project.

Buster Crabbe was brought back for his powerful, faithful characterization. This was after he had time out to portray rival Spaceman* in the title role of BUCK ROGERS (Universal 1939).Also returning were Charles B. Middleton (Emperor Ming) and Frank Shannon (the good Dr. Zarkov).

Replacement for Miss Jean Rogers was Carol Hughes, a dark haired beauty of a starlet, who had a lot of success in the '30's and '40 in many supporting roles and Female leads, mostly in 'B' Films.

Prince Barin(Roland Drew) and Princess Aura(Shirley Deane)** were also played by newcomers to the roles. But it wasn't just a difference of actors, for their appearance as well as the overall look of the Planet Mongo, was now radically different.We'll try to explain, at least offering some theory.

The surface of Mongo now looked more like medieval western and northern Europe. Barin's domain, the Kingdom of Arboria was like one, giant Sherwood Forest. Baron, himself, and his soldiers often sported the green costuming of a Robin Hood and his Mery Men.They were armed with long bows and swords in addition to their ray guns.The frozen land to the north was called Frigia and was the Domain of one Queen Fria. The Queen looked very much like popular Sweedish Ice Skating Champion turned Movie Star, Sonja Hejne. The Queen also had a very Scandanavian sounding accent.

All of these changes would seem extremely puzzling to any modern day viewer, 'for back in the day', everybody read the comic page and knew the story lines. It was the comic strip,in the news print,that caused all the changes. Creator, Alex Raymond, had made gradual changes in the design and artwork. This equaled a sort of evolution from a setting that looked like a of combination Romanesque,Chinese, Egyptian and Art Decco to a very modern, western-styled decor*** and costuming. Now Ming had secret police, slave labor camps and spies. We also hear Ming referred to as 'Dictator' Ming. In short, the comic page and serial now mirrored developments in Western Europe and the rest of the World in that period of time between World Wars.

The story line in this FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE is most action filled and loaded with a load of new developments. Robot attackers, invisibility screened rockets, a new race of 'Rock Men' and incendiary projectiles were all featured prominently in the see-saw action. There is a sort of back and forth series of battles in which combatants from either side are captured and subsequently rescued or ransomed.

Maybe I'm being a little too critical here, as we must remember that these Serials were meant to be seen a chapter a week, not all at once in one or two sittings.

There is one point thus far overlooked in this review, and that is the general look of the production. The Robin Hood type sets were as good as there were around. The cinematography is as beautiful as any in a serial, ever.

As a kid growing up in Chicago one could identify with this last of the FLASH GORDON Trilogy. Afterall, our area is annually transformed into a veritable Frigia for at least 6 to 8 weeks every December, January and February.

NOTE: * Flash and Buck were not and could not be rivals as Buck Rogers's adventures are set 1n the 25th Century. They were real competitors in the market place,for "Box Office"(more newspaper subscribers),if you will.

NOTE: ** The evolution of this Royal Couple also was effected by the 1938 Waener Brothres' Film, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, as Barin's appearance morphed from looking like a Power Lifter in Roman garb to a sort of 'Road Show' Errol Flynn. Aura changed from a scantily clothed nymphomaniac to a perfect picture of nobility.

NOTE*** 'Western'as in Western Civilization, not Country & Western.