Purple Death from Outer Space (1966 TV Movie) User Reviews

An old Flash Gordon serial chopped down to full-length picture size.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 4 October 2016]

In the 1920s up to the early 50s, a staple of Saturday movie theaters were the movie serials. Each week, you'd see a different chunk of a very long movie--usually 4-5 hours long broken into about a dozen pieces. Folks loved them and they were entertaining...provided you weren't very demanding! The acting usually was adequate at best and the films were filled with one crazy death-defying stunt after another. As for the stories, they usually involved some goofy super-villain as well as a handsome, rugged star.

One of the weirdest genres within the serials were the sci-fi pictures--such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Both starred the same handsome hero (Buster Crabbe) and it was pretty easy to mix them both up...though the Flash Gordon was so popular it actually ended up being made into three series--"Flash Gordon", "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe". "Purple Death from Outer Space" is actually this third series pared down to normal movie length--pared down from 220 minutes to only 88!

The Purple Death from the title refers to the sudden deaths of many humans on Earth...and in each case a weird purple mark appeared on the corpse's forehead. Dr. Zarkov thinks this might be the work of the Evil Ming the Merciless, so he and Flash blast off to investigate. His hunch turns out to be true and what follows are a series of adventures and near-death experiences as well as Flash and his friends looking for an antidote for the Purple Death.

If you've seen any of the old Flash Gordon serials, this is pretty much the same thing all over again--Mind trying to capture Dale to make her his bride and the Doctor to make him do his evil bidding. And, like the other serials, the trio of good folks are seemingly indestructible. Silly kids' stuff but entertaining despite the silly writing and costumes (many of which look like recycled clothes from "The Prisoner of Zenda" as well as "The Adventures of Robin Hood"--which is pretty odd considering it's sci-fi! Dopey fun.

By the way, during the mountain climbing portion of the film set in Frigia, keep count of the good guys. There are four but in several of the bits of stock footage they use, there are five!

Hey, It's Flash Gordon!

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 10 April 2007]

I have affection for this just because of a childhood experience watching these old serials. There was a fellow who used to show a fifteen minute episode as he sat at the control panel of his space ship. I loved those old rockets hanging on strings as they floated through space with their electric sparks shooting off to the side. The aliens with the angel wings.Ming the Merciless. Flash and Dale. Everything was so cheap and, yet, even as a child, I thought this was some artifact from simpler time. I was actually concerned for Flash and what Charles Middleton was going to do to him. Dr. Zarkoff seemed a bit of a putz, but he was also brilliant. Anyway, this is pretty bad, but I can't judge it too harshly. It wouldn't be right.

Dale at the mercy of Ming

[Cristi_Ciopron · 6/10 · 23 February 2010]

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE, with Larry Crabbe, Carol Hughes (--the Dale Arden--) and Anne Gwynne (--as Sonja--), directed by Beebe and Taylor, shows the search for Polarite, the attack of the robots (mechanical men, says Zarkov), a blizzard on Frigia, Will Flash Gordon ever defeat the purple plague? This disease is caused by the death—dust, another diabolical invention used by the deluded Ming.

Daddy Ming goes on with his nonsense about conquering the Universe, being perhaps the most funny involuntarily absurd movie villain.

Ming's sinister soldiers are faceless masks, mindless automates, reduced to a brainless obeying. Apart from the not so strikingly original structure of the group of protagonists and the use of a few planets, this look of the imperial soldiers is the most obvious resemblance to Lucas' universe.

The setting is on the famous planet Mongo, then on a deadly cold planet—in another Ruritanian state, Frigia; in Frigia's north, Gordon and his pals, wearing clothes treated with Calorite, search for the Polarite, the only known antidote to the very useful death—dust, the ultimate invention from Ming's top laboratories; Gordon makes the avoidable mistake of taking some geezers (yes, I even count Barin as one of those …) with him, which kind of slow him down, but this only enhances the quality of the suspense.

My favorite scenes are those in Ming's temple—the vast hall serving as Ming's throne room, adorned with oriental decorations, with the hideous idol, the belly dancers and the Asian music.

This serial has the singularity of featuring the most absurd disguise ever—see Zarkov's disguise, offered him by another geek.

After 70 yrs, the Gordon serials remain interesting, a nice testimony to the imperishable interest an exciting movie can raise.

The movie is not complete.

[stuff_1004 · 1/10 · 15 September 2008]

According to the synopsis, this is an edited down version of FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE.

That is right and wrong. It is right with the "edited down" part.

If my copy on the 50-movie pack "Nightmare Worlds" is correct, It fails to note that it is only the edited down version of the first 6 chapters.

You don't see what happens to Ming.

In other comments on the internet it says that the title of the serial is only explained in the final chapter, which, of course is not a part of this movie.

This movie doesn't solve any problems. It just....ENDS.

Antiquated sci-fi that is pretty hard going nowadays

[Red-Barracuda · 1/10 · 17 October 2015]

Flash Gordon battles Ming the Merciless over a new plague devised by the latter called the Purple Death which is presently causing perturbation and despair on the planet Earth.

A film edited from several instalments of the 40's serial 'Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe', these were then played on television in the 60's as standalone movies. They are I suppose moderately amusing in that they were made at a time when we knew so much less about outer space, meaning this kind of nonsense could be passed off as vaguely plausible. But on the whole these TV movies edited from ancient sci-fi serials are interminably bad to watch now. The constant stirring music was also fairly hard going to my ears as well. This one may not be quite as painful as its lower budget 50's 'Rocky Jones' equivalent but it is still very much off its time and even though it gives me about as much pleasure as kicking a puppy to say so, I have to say that I thoroughly disliked it more or less from start to finish.

Absolute corn

[Paul_Jay · 7/10 · 30 April 2004]

Wonderful corn

When good guys were good and bad guys were bad and there was never any doubt as to which was which.

Imagine yourself as a kid in a time when we didn't know a great deal about space travel and were willing to suspend what little we did know for the sake of adventure.

Forgive the costumes and sets that appear to be left overs from old war movies and Robin Hood films. Allow yourself to believe that there are clouds in space, rocket ships that sort of float about sounding like vacuum cleaners and ray guns that discharge lighting bolts that look like they are scratched into the film.

In short, quit being a grownup for an hour or two and enjoy this grandfather of "Star Wars"

Eye candy

[rubiesanddust · 8/10 · 4 February 2011]

Steampunk meets art deco meets fairy tale, but it works. I'm not sure the greater realism possible in science fiction films today make them any more enjoyable, after all it's a purely imaginative genre why not make it pretty and fantastic? The story may not be much since it is a mishmash of the serial but the sets and the energy the actors bring to whatever story there is make it all somehow wonderful. I happened to watch a late 50s sci fi film right before I watched this and was surprised at how much better the production values are here. Loved the mountain climbing scenes, I could feel the cold and the dizzying heights. And Buster Crabbe is just so darn beautiful!

A memory

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 16 November 2022]

Directed by Ford Beebe - who also made a Buck Rodgers serial - and Ray Taylor - who was the director of The Spider's Web - is the first part of the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and Perils from the Planet Mongo completes the storyline. While most movie serials were made for children, the Flash Gordon series connected with adults and became these actual films. This is the third of the serials and was also adapted into three syndicated films called Space Soldiers, Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars and Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe, given that title as there was a Flash Gordon TV series at the time and they didn't want to take away from it. There's also another version released in the 70s called Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe.

The Purple Death is killing people, leaving behind a purple spot on the victims' foreheads. Flash Gordon discovers that Ming the Merciless is behind the plague when he finds one of Ming's spaceships spreading "Death Dust." Our hero goes off to save every one of us along with Dale Arden, Dr. Alexis Zarkov and Prince Barin.

Taking sets and ideas from Buck Rodgers as well as footage from the German movie White Hell of Pitz Palu, this is still a great looking movie even eighty years later. As a kid, I would stay awake until four in the morning on Sundays, as WTAE in Pittsburgh would show thirty minutes of these old serials. It was just when my grandfather would get home from the mill and I was always so excited to watch these with him, then sleep in his bed while he told me about seeing then in the theater. A magical memory I'll forever cherish.

More unbelievable and compromised production values of most theatrical serials

[oscar-35 · 11 August 2020]

*Spoiler/plot- Purple Death from Outer Space, 1940. Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov must go to the planet Mongo and fight the evil emperor Ming when a deadly 'Purple Death' plague breaks out on Earth. Victims only have a purple spot on their foreheads. Tracing the source, our heroes find out that Emperor Ming is still alive after their last battle. Ming wants to take Earth with his 'Death Dust' spread by his spaceships that will eventually destroy everyone on earth.

*Special Stars- Larry 'Buster' Crabbe, Carol Hughes, Charles Middleton, Frank Shannon, Anne Gwynne, John Hamilton.

*Theme- Evil always loses in life.

*Trivia/location/goofs- Black & White. Re-edited theatrical serial episodes into for feature length film, Now public domain intellectual property.

*Emotion- Just more of the unbelievable and compromised production values of most theatrical serials of that era. It might be charming for unsophisticated for Saturday matinee kiddie crowd of the WW2 era.

*Based On- 30's pulp sci-fi magazines and comics.