The oldest on this weeks list and likely the oldest serial I've yet to watch, this one was technically three different series, each produced for theatres in 1936, '38, and '40 respectively: Flash Gordon, FG's Trip to Mars, and FG Conquers the Universe. Each featured 12 - 15 new thrilling black and white short adventure episodes of Flash's latest escapades on the planet Mongo as he tries to defeat Emperor Ming the Merciless and his goals to conquer the planets and destroy Earth. Originally from a comic strip which basically directly copied Buck Rogers of the time (1934), the Flash Gordon comic became quickly competitive in the market. To capitalize on the brand the three film serials were eventually created. In this time of course televisions in the home were yet to be a thing, and theatres didn't exclusively play "movies" (longer form one-off films), the theatre content could be viewed much more similarly to a large, shared communal television set, with customers paying their quarter to get in, and that ticket would be a pass for the entire day. Reels were played back to back, some certainly containing "movies" as we would currently expect them, but more often playing 10-20 minute news reels, advertisements, and of course many serials, from Looney Tunes to our own Flash Gordon (it wouldn't be until Hitchcock and his 1960 Psycho that "standard movie times" were really a thing, but that's a story for another day perhaps). Produced by Henry MacRae (an early Canadian Hollywood pioneer), each episode features a new adventure of Flash (played by Larry "Buster" Crabbe) and his friends, more often than not ending in some cliff hanger and the classic "return to this theatre next week for the following episode of...". The special effects and costuming were the most enjoyable by far (his costume in the first films supposedly went on to inspire that of Superman in 1938's Action Comics No. 1), though the acting and scripts themselves are pretty dry. However seeing cartoon lightning (animated over the literal film reels themselves), huge rubberized costumes, and rocket ships made of cardboard were most of the fun. Not to mention the "giant dragons" which were literally just footage of iguanas walking around and upscaled next to people screaming to make them look like giant monsters. There was a lot of it, and I certainly didn't pay attention to every second, but it was a joy to have on in the background, so for any fans of serialized film history I would highly recommend an episode or two.
Review of Flash Gordon
