Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Flash Gordon was the first of the serials based on Alex Raymond's eponymous hero. This 13 part epic has everything a science fiction fan could ask for: strange new worlds, dinosaurs, spaceships, submarines, underwater cities, floating cities, ray-guns, invisibility machines, monsters, atom furnaces, and hunky guys in short shorts or/and hot girls in skimpy halter-tops. Buster Crabbe is all noble, jut-jawed hero and Jean Rogers makes a gorgeous, if somewhat ineffectual, Dale Arden, who spends most of the serial being threatened with a 'fate worse than death' by first Ming, then by a sharkman, then a hawkman (even the good guy Thun the lionman seems to 'cop a feel' while helping her escape in episode 5). The special effects, costly at the time, will seem quaint to modern viewers but that just adds to the charm as Flash makes his way from cliff-hanger to cliff hanger with the help or hindrance of some memorable secondary characters (although Jack Lipson's Prince Vulcan is a pale foreshadowing of Brian Blessed's booming presence in the 1981 version). 1936 saw the release of this serial and of William Cameron Menzies "Shape of Things to Come", archetypes of low-brow and high-brow science fiction: one's a silly, action packed adventure, the other a pedantic, philosophical bore. Probably not a tough choice to audiences of the time (especial the kids at whom Flash was aimed) and while I appreciate Menzies' vision, Flash is a lot more fun, and in the end, about as realistic. An added bonus is that watching this silly, innocent serial is the perfect segue into watching 1974's equally silly but much less innocent, "Flesh Gordon".

With another planet hurtling towards Earth, "Flash Gordon" (Buster Crabbe) decides to board an airplane in order to be with his father when the end finally comes. Sitting in the next aisle is an attractive young woman named "Dale Arden" (Jean Rogers) who becomes visibly shaken when the airplane runs into turbulence and the pilot advises everyone to bail out. Flash escorts her out of the airplane and they descend together safely in the pitch black night. Upon a landing they are greeted by a scientist named "Dr. Hans Zarkoff" (Frank Shannon) who tells them he has built a rocket ship which he intends to fly to the oncoming planet and try to divert it from its collision course. Figuring that they have nothing to lose, Flash and Dale volunteer to go with him. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this film was initially broken down into three or more pieces with each played separately for a short period of time in conjunction with the featured presentation. It was only later that these pieces were put back together to form a complete movie. At least, that is what I understand. In any case, as one might expect from a movie produced in 1936 it was filmed in black and white and the special effects were extremely basic. Both of those are to be expected and I can't really fault the movie for either of these. However, what I didn't particularly care for was the dialogue which was about as elementary as anything I have ever seen. Likewise, the acting was rather poor and a number of the scenes could have used a bit more depth. But other than that this was an adequate movie for the most part and I rate it as about average.

Flash Gordon was a first rate serial. I know there were a few goofs, however, i didn't watch it for the flaws. Buster Crabbe is Flash Gordon. He was not a trained actor but he gave a very good, convincing performance. Jean Rogers is pretty and at 20 yrs. old did, in my opinion, a pretty good job. Charles Middleton as Emperor Ming, is superb. He was in a lot of other movies, quite versatile, he could sing and dance. His portrayal of "Ming The Merciless", in all 3 Flash Gordon serials, was top notch. The rest of the cast also did a very good job. Well, boys and girls, get some popcorn, settle back and enjoy. John R. Tracy.

The Standard bearer of all movie serials, the definite good guy - Flash Gordon - versus Bad Guy - Ming the Merciless. Though the special effects seem awful by today's standards, for 1936 they were top notch. But the essence of the story is the battle between Earthman Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) versus Emporer Ming of Mongo (Charles Middleton). Crabbe and Middleton are terrific in their parts. And the supporting characters playing Dale Arden, Dr. Zarkov, Princess Aura, Prince Barin, Vulcan, and the rest are all very good. This serial is far superior to the 1980 movie, basically because Crabbe is much much superior to Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon.This serial is the standard bearer for all movie serials. No question about it.