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Title: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Buster Crabbe | ... |
Flash Gordon
(as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
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Carol Hughes | ... | |
| Charles Middleton | ... | ||
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Anne Gwynne | ... |
Sonja [Chs. 2, 6-12]
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Frank Shannon | ... | |
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John Hamilton | ... |
Prof. Gordon [Chs. 1, 4]
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Herbert Rawlinson | ... |
Dr. Frohmann [Chs. 1, 4]
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Tom Chatterton | ... |
Prof. Arden [Chs. 1, 4]
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Shirley Deane | ... | |
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Lee Powell | ... | |
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Roland Drew | ... | |
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Don Rowan | ... | |
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Victor Zimmerman | ... | |
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Edgar Edwards | ... | |
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Ben Taggart | ... |
Gen. Lupi [Chs. 1-2]
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Storyline
A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov, this time with ready-made allies waiting: Prince Barin of Arboria and Queen Fria of the frozen northern land of Frigia; where, it so happens, is found polarite, antidote to the plague. But Ming will use all his forces to keep our heroes from thwarting his plans of conquest... Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Taglines:
From the ALEX RAYMOND newspaper feature owned and copyrighted by King Features Syndicate (all of the original posters and cards) See more »Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
9 April 1940 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe See more »Company Credits
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1Did You Know?
Trivia
John Hamilton, who plays Flash's father Professor Gordon, is best known to 1950s TV fans as editor Perry White of Adventures of Superman. See more »Soundtracks
Some of the music cues came from the following films:The Sun Never Sets music composed by Frank Skinner
Bombay Mail by Heinz Roemheld
White Hell of Pitz Palu by Heinz Roemheld
The Bride of Frankenstein by Franz Waxman
The Invisible Man by Heinz Roemheld
See more »
Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Zarkov go to the planet Mongo and fight the evil emperor Ming (Charles Middleton) who is shooting "death rays" at the Earth.
I haven't seen the previous two serials so I have nothing to compare it to--but this was pretty good. It moves quickly and there's lots of action: Flash is thrown into a fiery pit; he's trapped in an avalanche; fights silly-looking robots that explode when hit; is zapped by the "Destroying Ray"; has aerial battles with Ming's warships; is caught in a fierce explosion (twice); falls down a huge mountain AND is almost drowned! WHEW!
But he (logically) escapes being killed each time. Also he's joined by Prince Barin, the Forest Men and even some Rock Men.
I also found this pretty progressive (for its time). Dale isn't just a timid female waiting for Flash to save her--she holds her own in fights and takes over the spaceship a few times when he's wounded. The acting is just OK--but it IS just a serial--they weren't trying to win Academy Awards. Hughes is actually the best out of all of them--Middleton is (easily) the worst. Crabbe looks tired a lot--but he was probably sick of playing Flash again and again. The special effects are primitive but I've always liked those silly little spaceships--they're a guilty favorite! Some of the sets are VERY elaborate (probably used from another movie) and the score is wonderful--until you realize you're hearing the same thing over and over.
The best way to see this is one a day or (like I did) three a day. No way can you watch the whole 4 hours in one sitting!