Flash Gordon (1936/I)

Director:

Frederick Stephani

Writers:

Alex Raymond (based on the comic strip by) &
Ella O'Neill (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 April 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

THRILLING STRANGE WORLD ADVENTURES!!! (original Chapter 1 one-sheet poster)

Plot:

Three earthlings visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless.

Plot Keywords:

Flash Gordon | Rocket | Shark Man | Betrayal | Rocket Ship

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Buster Crabbe	...	Flash Gordon
Jean Rogers	...	Dale Arden
Charles Middleton	...	Ming the Merciless
Priscilla Lawson	...	Princess Aura
Frank Shannon	...	Dr. Alexis Zarkov
Richard Alexander	...	Prince Barin [Chs. 5-13]
Jack 'Tiny' Lipson	...	King Vultan [Chs. 5-13]
Theodore Lorch	...	High Priest #2 [Chs. 8-11, 13]
Richard Tucker	...	Prof. Gordon [Chs. 1, 4, 9-13]
George Cleveland	...	Prof. Hensley [Chs. 1, 4, 9-13]
James Pierce	...	Prince Thun [Chs. 2-9, 12-13]
Duke York	...	King Kala [Chs. 2-5] (as Duke York Jr.)
Muriel Goodspeed	...	Zona [Ch. 4]
Earl Askam	...	Officer Torch
House Peters Jr.	...	Shark Man [Chs. 3-4]

Also Known As:

Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (USA) (video title)
Space Soldiers (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

245 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

King Features Production

Trivia:

King Features Syndicate released the 3 Flash Gordon serials to US TV in 1951. Because the television show "Flash Gordon" (1954) , starring Steve Holland as Flash, was in syndication in late 1953, the three Universal Pictures' Flash Gordon theatrical serials were retitled for TV broadcast. Flash Gordon (1936/I) became "Space Soldiers", Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) became "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars", and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) became "Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe". To this day both the 3 original "Flash Gordon" serial titles and the 3 "Space Soldiers" titles are used.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Flash (who is invisible at the time) scares the guard in Vultan's cell, you can see the wires that are connected to Vultan's food.

Quotes:

Prince Thun [Chs. 2-9, 12-13]: I'll doing anything to help my friend!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

My favourite serial so far---this one has everything

My friend gives me these 3 huge boxes. "They're laserdiscs of Flash Gordon serials," he says. "I'm gonna have some giant coasters," I say. But not so. This serial rocks. (But I had to whine & moan to almost everyone I knew to find a laserdisc player for em).

There is really a little of everything in this serial: There are lion-men, hawk-men, shark-men, Earthmen, & I guess you'd call em Mongo-men. The sets & costumes combine, Greek, Roman, Oriental, Egyptian and there's even armour like English knights. Awesome costumes. And some of it was a riot. Those horrible tights with shorts over em worn by Zarkov are beyond description. And the guys in the furnace scene seem to be wearing boxers.

It's also funny the way they renamed the octopus to an octosack, the orangutan to orangapoid, and the tiger to a tigron. There's even a dragon (a Godzilla-like creature who threatens Flash on a couple of occasions before being killed off).

You like the Invisible Man? This has got you covered. You like sword fights, wrestling (both animals & men), fist fights? Plenty for any taste. We have an underwater city, a sky city, a city on top of a mountain, and tonnes of secret passages and caves.

Hokey effects? Massive amounts. The sky city is supported by radium furnaces stoked like old-time steamships. The rocketships are "powered" by fireworks and have constant backfires and/or humming noises. Lots of wires are visible holding things up (like food when Flash was invisible and of course rocketships). There's clouds out in space, but none around the earth when viewed from Mongo. "Giant" lizards show up briefly. Fighting sea creatures supposedly threaten Flash & co. on the way to the shark-men's underwater city. The "gadgets" in Dr. Zarkov's lab crack me up. And they seem to be the same ones no matter what lab he's in (he worked in Ming's lab and Vultan's).

And yeah, we have romance. Everyone wants Dale; Ming, Vultan, Flash. But at least one person wanted Princess Aura (Prince Baron) just not the person she would have preferred. In fact, it seems a lot of the sub-plots concern intrigue on the part of Princess Aura to try to win Flash.

Man I think the characters are awesome. That fat, horse-laughing, King Vultan was hilarious. How he managed those wings was pure artistry. And Ming! What can I say about Ming? He was perfect. They should have had him for the emperor in Starwars. Ming has got to be my favourite character in this serial. Princess Aura was quite a little character too. And she pulled it off nicely. I think she's a better actress than Dale Arden by a long shot. Even the sneaky high priest had a distinctive role. Zarkov was good, but not the strongest character---and he always stood in the background during fight scenes holding Dale. Now we get to Flash: Flash, of course, was the strong point, the leader, the hero---and he did it well. Crabbe is a good actor and this role fit him perfectly.

After watching this, I think I know where George Lucas got the main idea for Starwars. Watch this, you'll see what I mean.

If you ever considered watching an old serial (or any serial for that matter), this should be your first choice. The only reason I didn't give this one a 10 is because of a few story holes that could have been fixed easily, the way the giant lizards seemed just tacked in there, and a couple of weak characters (king of shark-men & king of lion-men).