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| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| {{wikia|flashgordon|Flash Gordon}} | |||
| *{{imdb title|0027623|Flash Gordon}} | *{{imdb title|0027623|Flash Gordon}} | ||
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Revision as of 22:08, 13 July 2007
1936 film| Flash Gordon | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Frederick Stephani Ray Taylor (uncredited) |
| Written by | Basil Dickey Ella O'Neill George H. Plympton Frederick Stephani Alex Raymond (based on the comic strip by) |
| Produced by | Henry MacRae |
| Starring | Buster Crabbe Jean Rogers Charles Middleton Priscilla Lawson Frank Shannon |
| Cinematography | Jerome Ash Richard Fryer |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date | 1936 |
| Running time | 245 min (13 episodes) |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
Flash Gordon is a 1936 film serial which tells the story of three people from Earth who travel to the planet Mongo to fight the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon played the central roles. This serial has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
This first Flash Gordon serial has been called "the American Siegfried", referring directly to Fritz Lang's 1924 silent movie from the personality of its title character, its costumery, intensity, and special effects, as well as many plot similarities; and indirectly to Richard Wagner's Ring cycle because of its (sensational but admittedly lesser and imperfectly cued) music — a collection of the science fiction and mystery theme music from the feature films of the Universal Studios. The archetypal plot points common to both legends include the personality differences of the two main female characters, the monarch's desire for one of them and her magical seduction, and the hero's invisibility and his fight with a giant lizard.
The Flash Gordon serial was the most expensive of them all, the only serial advertised in some theaters above the name of the feature presentations, and probably the serial with the greatest attendance. It was the only sound serial with sexual tension, and it has become the best-remembered serial of them all.
Years later, in a television appearance in his native Oakland, Crabbe told an inteviewer that he was unhappy when Universal insisted on coloring his hair blonde to match the comic strip character.
Flash Gordon was followed by two more serials, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). During the 1950s, the three serials were shown on American television. To avoid confusion with a made-for-TV Flash Gordon series airing around the same time, they were retitled, becoming respectively Space Soldiers, Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars, and Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe. In the mid-1970s, all three serials were shown by PBS stations across the US, bringing Flash Gordon to a new generation, a full two years before Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind re-ignited interest in the science fiction genre. All three serials were later heavily edited and released on home video.
The theme tune is an excerpt from Franz Liszt's Les Preludes.
Cast
- Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon
- Jean Rogers as Dale Arden
- Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless
- Priscilla Lawson as Princess Aura
- Frank Shannon as Dr. Alexis Zarkov
- Richard Alexander as Prince Barin
- Jack 'Tiny' Lipson as King Vultan
- Theodore Lorch as High Priest
- Richard Tucker as Professor Gordon
- George Cleveland as Professor Hensley
- James Pierce as Prince Thun
- Duke York as King Kala
- Muriel Goodspeed as Zona
- Earl Askam as Officer Torch
Episode list
- Planet Of Peril
- Tunnel Of Terror
- Captured By Shark Men
- Battling The Sea Beast
- The Destroying Ray
- Flaming Torture
- Shattering Doom
- Tournament Of Death
- Fighting The Fire Dragon
- The Unseen Peril
- In The Claws Of The Tigron
- Trapped In The Turret
- Rocketing To Earth
See also
References
- Images Journal Flash Gordon article, retrieved 18/03/2007
- Creature Features interview on KTVU, Oakland
External links
Flash Gordon, an external wiki
- Flash Gordon at IMDb
- Flash Gordon web site
- Cast and plot synopsis
- Article about the serial at Images Journal
- In The Balcony
- The Serial Squadron
| Preceded byThe Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936) | Universal Serial Flash Gordon (1936) |
Succeeded byThe Phantom Rider (1936) |
| Space opera serials (1930–1960) | |
|---|---|
| TV series | |
| Movie serials | |
| Radio serials |
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| Related | |