Flash Gordon (1936)
(Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers)
Country: US
Technical: bw 245m
Director: Frederick Stephani
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Priscilla Lawson, Charles Middleton
Synopsis:
Sporting hero Flash Gordon, together with Dale Arden, finds himself an unwilling passenger on Dr Zarkov's rocket ship, bound for the planet Mongo, whose emperor Ming the Merciless is bombarding the Earth and means to destroy it. Thanks to the concupiscent assistance of Princess Aura, Flash evades repeated imprisonment and attempts on his life, saves his friends and brings peace to Mongo.
Review:
The original Universal serial, each episode a couple of reels of which about a quarter consisted of top and tail and an update on the end of last week's, this energetic and endearingly naïve storytelling provided countless boys with hours of Saturday morning pleasure, as it did when the BBC put it on years later, and remains the height of bargain-basement Hollywood kitsch for those nostalgic enough to give it three or so hours of their time. From the poorly made costumes and plastic swords to the endlessly recycled chunks of Liszt and Brahms on the soundtrack, not to mention the orangupoid, tiger and fire-breathing monster that provide the much-needed dramatic spectacle, there is much to delight, but nothing so much as the space rockets' wonderfully explosive electric crackle and the earthily appealing Miss Lawson in a succession of bumpily upholstered corsages.
(Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers)
Country: US
Technical: bw 245m
Director: Frederick Stephani
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Priscilla Lawson, Charles Middleton
Synopsis:
Sporting hero Flash Gordon, together with Dale Arden, finds himself an unwilling passenger on Dr Zarkov's rocket ship, bound for the planet Mongo, whose emperor Ming the Merciless is bombarding the Earth and means to destroy it. Thanks to the concupiscent assistance of Princess Aura, Flash evades repeated imprisonment and attempts on his life, saves his friends and brings peace to Mongo.
Review:
The original Universal serial, each episode a couple of reels of which about a quarter consisted of top and tail and an update on the end of last week's, this energetic and endearingly naïve storytelling provided countless boys with hours of Saturday morning pleasure, as it did when the BBC put it on years later, and remains the height of bargain-basement Hollywood kitsch for those nostalgic enough to give it three or so hours of their time. From the poorly made costumes and plastic swords to the endlessly recycled chunks of Liszt and Brahms on the soundtrack, not to mention the orangupoid, tiger and fire-breathing monster that provide the much-needed dramatic spectacle, there is much to delight, but nothing so much as the space rockets' wonderfully explosive electric crackle and the earthily appealing Miss Lawson in a succession of bumpily upholstered corsages.
(Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers)
Country: US
Technical: bw 245m
Director: Frederick Stephani
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Priscilla Lawson, Charles Middleton
Synopsis:
Sporting hero Flash Gordon, together with Dale Arden, finds himself an unwilling passenger on Dr Zarkov's rocket ship, bound for the planet Mongo, whose emperor Ming the Merciless is bombarding the Earth and means to destroy it. Thanks to the concupiscent assistance of Princess Aura, Flash evades repeated imprisonment and attempts on his life, saves his friends and brings peace to Mongo.
Review:
The original Universal serial, each episode a couple of reels of which about a quarter consisted of top and tail and an update on the end of last week's, this energetic and endearingly naïve storytelling provided countless boys with hours of Saturday morning pleasure, as it did when the BBC put it on years later, and remains the height of bargain-basement Hollywood kitsch for those nostalgic enough to give it three or so hours of their time. From the poorly made costumes and plastic swords to the endlessly recycled chunks of Liszt and Brahms on the soundtrack, not to mention the orangupoid, tiger and fire-breathing monster that provide the much-needed dramatic spectacle, there is much to delight, but nothing so much as the space rockets' wonderfully explosive electric crackle and the earthily appealing Miss Lawson in a succession of bumpily upholstered corsages.