Flash Gordon Serial
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Flash Gordon Serial
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1996.
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Flash Gordon is a 1936 superhero serial film. Presented in 13 chapters, it is the first screen adventure for Flash Gordon, the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon's visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon portray the film's central characters.
Why It Rocks
- Serials have been around since the early 1910s, initially featuring a series of plucky heroines, but men would soon take over the genre. Serials were an early attempt to deal with long-form narratives in film. Competition from Columbia, Republic and other studios, meant Universal had to step up its game to stand out as superior, and when a 1934 serial based on a comic strip proved to be extremely lucrative, Universal decided to develop other serials based on comic strips. Flash Gordon (a comic strip created by Alex Raymond in 1934, to compete with sci-fi strip Buck Rogers, and quickly became the more popular of the two) was eventually turned in a serial, and had a budget three times the normal cost of one to differentiate it from others. Plus, it was one of the first serials to generate broader audience appeal.
- It's extremely faithfully to the first year of Alex Raymond's strip, down to the costume designs.
- The plot starts with an expedition by Flash Gordon, his girlfriend Dale Arden, and mentor Dr. Zarkov to fly an untested spaceship to the planet Mongo, where they would battle the emperor Ming’s plan to destroy humanity through deadly rays.
- Decent acting for nearly all the major actors
- Buster Crabbe already had experience with the serial Tarzan the Fearless, and was perfect in the titular role of Flash Gordon. Although he would later complain that the role typecast him for the rest of his career.
- Playing Emperor Ming was Charles Middleton, a villain in scores of Westerns, and here, crowned by a bald cap, delightfully imperious.
- Similar to the strip the serial's based on, the serial's meant to appeal to kids, but there's enough content within it to make it appeal to adults just as much. This includes romantic subplots that veered into provocative areas, and casting 19-year-old Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, and Priscilla Lawson as Princess Aura.
- While there are several aspects of the serial that haven't aged well (as mentioned below), the Flash Gordon serial has had a lasting impact in movies, as even in subliminal ways, bits and pieces of the serial emerge in unlikely places.
- For instance, the appearance of Ming on his throne, the positioning of his guards, even the style of rocket ships all influenced bits of the original Star Wars film.
- The special effects, though crude and obvious by today's standards, certainly worked at the time (and still do) within the comic-strip framework of the material, and 1936 audiences were enchanted by the imagery of rocket ships, ray guns, and cities floating in the clouds.
The Only Bad Quality
- Nowadays, the serial practically defines camp, with its uneven acting, preposterous cliff-hanging situations, absurd sets, and thin plotting. (sets and props were reused from Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy, as well as music from The Invisible Man and Werewolf of London)
- There's also the fact the cost-cutting led to using stock footage when possible, and even repeating scenes from previous episodes.