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Flash Gordon (1936/I)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
6 April 1936 (USA)
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Tagline:
THRILLING STRANGE WORLD ADVENTURES!!! (original Chapter 1 one-sheet poster) more
Plot:
Three earthlings visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Flash Gordon
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Rocket
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Shark Man
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Betrayal
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Rocket Ship
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Awards:
1 win
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NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Joe Moe: Horrorwood Babbles On: Frights! Ephemera! Auction!
(From Dread Central. 30 March 2009, 1:02 AM, PDT)
Buck Rogers to Visit 'Sin City'
(From Comicmix. 24 October 2008, 9:03 AM, PDT)
(From Dread Central. 30 March 2009, 1:02 AM, PDT)
Buck Rogers to Visit 'Sin City'
(From Comicmix. 24 October 2008, 9:03 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Not-so-guilty pleasure
more (25 total)
Cast
(Complete credited 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] |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
245 min (13 episodes)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Recording)
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The characters and storyline of this first of 3 Flash Gordon serials are the ones that most adhered to in the theatrical remake of Flash Gordon (1980), starring Sam J. Jones as Flash.
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Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: When some of the characters speak, the voice on the soundtrack doesn't match the person speaking.
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Quotes:
Princess Aura:
[observing Flash wrestling with the Orangupoid] He fights well, the Earth man.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "The Girls Next Door: Baby Talk (#2.10)" (2006)
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (25 total)
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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.