Buck Rogers (1939)

A pilot and his young passenger crash-land on a mountaintop and are put into suspended animation by a strange gas. They awake 500 years later to discover that the Earth is now ruled by a ... See full summary »

Directors:

Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind

Writers:

Norman S. Hall (screenplay), Ray Trampe (screenplay),

Stars:

Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran

Cast

Cast overview:
Buster Crabbe	...	Buck Rogers (as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
Constance Moore	...	Wilma Deering
Jackie Moran	...	George 'Buddy' Wade
Jack Mulhall	...	Capt. Rankin
Anthony Warde	...	Killer Kane
C. Montague Shaw	...	Prof. Huer
Guy Usher	...	Aldar
William Gould	...	Air Marshal Kragg
Philson Ahn	...	Prince Tallen
Henry Brandon	...	Capt. Laska
Wheeler Oakman	...	Lt. Patten
Kenne Duncan	...	Lt. Lacy (as Kenneth Duncan)
Carleton Young	...	Scott
Reed Howes	...	Capt. Roberts

Storyline

A pilot and his young passenger crash-land on a mountaintop and are put into suspended animation by a strange gas. They awake 500 years later to discover that the Earth is now ruled by a tyrannical despot called Killer Kane, and they lead a fight to overthrow him.

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Plot Keywords:

suspended animation | outlaw | blizzard | b movie | good versus evil | 

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Taglines:

BUCK ROGERS BATTLES INVASION FROM FOREIGN PLANETS!...Space ships exploded by giant ray machines! Mountains crumbled by disintegrating machines!

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 April 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Buck Rogers Conquers the Universe

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

237 min 237 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After the serial came out, a second origin appeared in the comic strip in which Buck fell into a crater while looking for a meteor made from impervium, an indestructible metal used in the making of spaceships. Due to having hit the meteor when he fell in, Buck released the gas from inside and it put him to sleep for 500 years, only to be found by scientists and awakened. Again, this origin took place on Earth and not in space. There was a character in the strip who was in stasis in a satellite for 500 years, but his name was Dr. Laika; the story was inspired by the launch of Sputnik II. This is the origin given to Buck for the TV series.

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Goofs

When Buck and Buddy infiltrate the council on Saturn, the second soldier reacts to being shot by Buck's laser gun before he is shot.

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Quotes

Voiceover: From somewhere in the skies above us come, from time to time, flaming discs and weird phenomena. What are they? Whence have they come?

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Connections

Referenced in The Old Grey Hare (1944)

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Soundtracks

Some of the music cues originally were composed for the following films:
The Bride of Frankenstein music composed by Franz Waxman
Mystery of Edwin Drood composed by Edward Ward
Werewolf of London composed by Karl Hajos
Dracula's Daughter composed by Heinz Roemheld
Great Expectations composed by Edward Ward
The Invisible Man composed by Heinz Roemheld
Bombay Mail composed by Heinz Roemheld

User Reviews

Entertaining but weaker than the "Flash Gordon" franchise

I can't help comparing this 1939 serial to "Flash Gordon" (1936) and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940). Although some of the special effects (the ray guns and fleets of spaceships) are superior, "Buck Rogers" is less fun. It's not the fault of Buster Crabbe, who invests Rogers with the same heroic energy he gave to Gordon. And Jackie Moran shines as sidekick Buddy Wade (in the newspaper strip he was Buddy Deering, Wilma's younger brother). But the other actors fall short. So does the story and pacing.

Anthony Wade's Killer Kane is a colorless villain, lacking the panache of Charles Middleton's gleefully evil Ming the Merciless. He badly needs a slinky, sinister Ardala Valmar to spice things up. Constance Moore is a competent Wilma Deering but there's no chemistry between her and Crabbe. Moore lacks the passion Jean Rogers exhibited as Dale Arden in the "Flash" series or the breezy camaraderie Erin Gray displayed as Wilma Deering in the 1980s "Buck Rogers" television show. C. Montague Shaw is OK as Doctor Huer but doesn't have nearly as much to do as Frank Shannon's Doctor Zarkov (again, from the "Flash" serials).

After an exciting start, the serial falls down in the latter six episodes. It is typical of the genre to have a late episode replay scenes from earlier in the series to pad things out. But "Buck Rogers" does this twice. Serial plots also tend to have a lot of captures, escapes, and re-captures. "Flash Gordon" broke the monotony by having these occur in a variety of ways in a variety of locations. "Buck Rogers" has only two destinations: Earth and Saturn. Both planets apparently share the same rocky desert terrain. Doctor Huer has only one technological gimmick to help Buck. The heroes get stranded by crashed spaceships seemingly every other episode. And Kane's goons never tumble to the fact that it's Rogers driving that rocket cruiser reported missing from their hangar.

Given it's charismatic hero and quality special effects, "Buck Rogers" could have equaled or surpassed "Flash Gordon" if it had had stronger writing or more energetic secondary characters. Unfortunately, it has neither.