Flash Gordon (serial)
| Flash Gordon | |
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Rare poster for 1936 feature version of the serial (note tagline), reissued as "Rocketship" in 1949.
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| 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 B. Middleton Priscilla Lawson Frank Shannon |
| Cinematography |
Jerome Ash Richard Fryer |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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245 minutes (13 episodes) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
Flash Gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. Shown in 13 chapters, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character Flash Gordon that was invented by Alex Raymond only two years earlier in 1934. It tells the story of Flash Gordon's first visit to the planet Mongo and his encounter with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon played the central roles. In 1996, Flash Gordon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Early film fan historians have claimed that actor Lon Poff, playing the first of Ming's two high priests, died shortly after production began and so was replaced by Theodore Lorch. In fact, however, only Poff's *character* died, or rather was killed off by Ming in an act of fury and replaced by Lorch's High Priest; but the scene was cut from the final print.
According to Harmon and Glut, Flash Gordon had a budget of over a million dollars. Stedman, however, writes that it was "reportedly" $350,000.
A lot of props and other elements were recycled from earlier Universal productions. The watchtower sets from Frankenstein (1931) appeared as several interiors within Ming's palace. The Egyptian statue from The Mummy (1932) became the idol of the Great God Tao. The laboratory set and a shot of the Moon rushing past Zarkov's returning rocket ship from space came from The Invisible Ray (1936). Zarkov's rocket ship and scenes of dancers swarming over a gigantic idol were reused from Just Imagine (1930). Ming's attack on Earth used footage from old silent newsreels. An entire dance segment from The Midnight Sun (1927) was used. and much laboratory equipment came from Bride of Frankenstein (1935). The music was recycled from several other films, notably Bride of Frankenstein,Bombay Mail, The Black Cat (both 1934), and The Invisible Man (1933).
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