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Flash Gordon
Directed by	Frederick Stephani Ray Taylor (uncredited)
Produced by	Henry MacRae
Written by	Basil Dickey Ella O'Neill George H. Plympton Frederick Stephani Alex Raymond (based on the comic strip by)
Starring	Buster Crabbe Jean Rogers Charles Middleton Priscilla Lawson Frank Shannon
Cinematography	Jerome Ash Richard Fryer
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	1936
Running time	245 min (13 episodes)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$350,000[1]
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

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.^[2]

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.

1. The Planet of Peril: The planet Mongo is on a collision course with Earth. Dr. Hans Zarkov takes off in a rocket ship to Mongo, with Flash Gordon and Dale Arden as his assistants. They find that the planet is ruled by the cruel Emperor Ming, who lusts after Dale and sends Flash to fight in the arena. Ming's daughter, Princess Aura, tries to spare Flash's life.
2. The Tunnel of Terror: Aura helps Flash to escape as Zarkov is put to work in Ming's laboratory and Dale is prepared for her wedding to Ming. Flash meets Prince Thun, leader of the Lion Men, and the pair return to the palace to rescue Dale.
3. Captured by Shark Men: Flash stops the wedding ceremony, but he and Dale are captured by King Kala, ruler of the Shark Men and a loyal follower of Ming. At Ming's order, Kala forces Flash to fight with a giant octosak.
4. Battling the Sea Beast: Aura and Thun rescue Flash from the octosak. Trying to keep Flash away from Dale, Aura destroys the mechanisms that regulate the underwater city.
5. The Destroying Ray: Flash, Dale, Aura and Thun escape from the underwater city, but are captured by King Vultan and the Hawkmen. Dr. Zarkov befriends Prince Barin, and they race to the rescue.
6. Flaming Torture: Dale pretends to fall in love with King Vultan in order to save Flash, Barin and Thun, who are put to work in the Hawkmen's Atom Furnaces.
7. Shattering Doom: Flash, Barin, Thun and Zarkov create an explosion in the atomic furnaces.
8. Tournament of Death: Dr. Zarkov saves the Hawkmen's city from falling, earning Flash and his friends King Vultan's gratitude. Ming insists that Flash fight a Tournament of Death against a masked opponent, and then a vicious orangopoid.
9. Fighting the Fire Dragon: Flash survives the tournament. Still determined to win Flash, Aura has him drugged to make him lose his memory.
10. The Unseen Peril: Flash recovers his memory. Ming is determined to have Flash executed.
11. In the Claws of the Tigron: Zarkov invents a machine that makes Flash invisible. Flash torments Ming and his guards. Barin hides Dale in the catacombs, but Aura has her tracked by a tigron.
12. Trapped in the Turret: Aura realizes the error of her ways, and falls in love with Barin. She tries to help Flash and his friends to return to Earth — but Ming plots to kill them.
13. Rocketing to Earth: Ming orders that the Earth people be caught and killed, but Flash and his friends escape from the emperor's clutches. Flash, Dale and Zarkov make a triumphant return to Earth.^[3]

• 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 Prince Vultan
• Theodore Lorch as Second High Priest
• James Pierce as Prince Thun
• Duke York as King Kala
• Earl Askam as Officer Torch
• Lon Poff as First High Priest
• Richard Tucker as Professor Gordon
• George Cleveland as Professor Hensley
• Muriel Goodspeed as Zona

1. The Planet of Peril
2. The Tunnel of Terror
3. Captured by Shark Men
4. Battling the Sea Beast
5. The Destroying Ray
6. Flaming Torture
7. Shattering Doom
8. Tournament of Death
9. Fighting the Fire Dragon
10. The Unseen Peril
11. In the Claws of the Tigron
12. Trapped in the Turret
13. Rocketing to Earth

• Flash Gordon
• Science fiction film

• Gordon/ Flash Gordon (serial) at the Internet Movie Database

• Flash Gordon at the Internet Movie Database
• Flash Gordon web site
• Cast and plot synopsis
• Article about the serial at Images Journal