Customer Reviews

Flash Gordon [VHS]

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

All three Flash Gordon serials with all the episodes intact. Well-transferred to DVD. Buster Crabbe is handsome, even with the bleached blond hair, earnest, strong and unflappable: all you'd expect in a comic strip hero. To be honest, all the actors seem to take their work seriously, even if there was an occasional lapse of continuity in the story. No serial villain comes up to the level of Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless (although I feel Henry Brandon as Fu Manchu comes close), and he is ably supported by numerous lackeys. Middleton and Beatrice Roberts, as Queen Azura of Mars, manage to pull off a tandem villain performance that works, in the middle film of the trilogy, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, my favorite. Flash too is helped by a strong supporting cast of comic book-like characters. Most of the special effects are very hokey, making the films all the more fun, though. There is plenty of suspense, both from the cliffhanger endings of the episodes and the evolution of the relationships between the characters. Several villains turn fairly plausibly into good guys by the end. The second and third serials have good music too, including Liszt's Les Preludes, if I remember the title of the piece correctly. The first serial is in the National Registry of Film, along with Citizen Kane, Maltese Falcon and The Godfather. I enjoy other sci-fi serials like Undersea Kingdom and Crabbe's Buck Rogers, but these are real classics.

If you are looking for high quality transfers of the Flash Gordon series, Image Entertainment is the best. Sound is clear, images are crisp and focused. The box set is by Image.

Bridgestone Multimedia Group is a premier packager of nostalgic television shows and family-friendly movies for the home and community library video market. Their combination of highly quality programming and budget friendly pricing make their videos a "must" for collectors, fans, and patrons of public library video entertainment collections. One of their very best is the Flash Gordon Trilogy that starred Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov, and Charles Middleton as the unforgettable galactic villain, Ming The Merciless. The original Universal Studios Saturday afternoon movie serial was based on a Hollywood adaptation of the popular newspaper comics science fiction adventurer, his steadfast friends and colorful foes. Volume One (Flash Gordon, 1936, 246 minutes) is the complete serial and takes place on Planet Mongo, introducing the Hawkmen, Sharkmen, and Lionmen. Volume Two (Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars, 1938, 280 minutes) finds Ming allied with Azura, Queen of Magic and a colorful storyline involving the Clay People, the forest savages, and nothing short of the survival of earth is at stake! Volume Three (Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe, 1940, 235 minutes) finds Ming once more back on Mongo and introduces the kingdoms of Aboria and Frigia with earth about to be destroyed if Flash and his allies fail. For the movie buff it is very interesting to see how the quality of sound, photography, and set designs improved so rapidly every two years. The cliff hanger nature of each serial episode was edge-of-your-chair thrilling to their original audiences, and are works of pure nostalgia for we who are old enough to remember them still! Highly recommended!!

Universal was the "black sheep" of the major studios in the 1930s, with 'horror' classics like "Frankenstein", "Dracula", and "The Mummy" as their major claim to fame, but with the "Flash Gordon" trilogy, they turned low-budget serials into campy 'high art'!

Who can forget blond Buster Crabbe, forever wide-eyed and stalwart, Charles Middleton's eminently hissable Ming the Merciless, bullet-shaped rockets on strings doing endless circles as smoke trailed behind them, the clunky costumes, Art Deco-inspired Imperial Palace, and a musical score frequently 'lifted' from Lizst's "Les Preludes" and Franz Waxman's "Bride of Frankenstein"? Creaky, to be sure, but great fun, if you don't take things seriously!

While "Space Soldiers" has gotten the most attention over the years, as the first of the serials, the second and third, "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars", and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe", offer better production values, and more confident performances by Crabbe. Universal, while surprised and pleased by the popularity of the serials, never utilized the actor to his fullest potential, but as Gordon, he achieved a kind of immortality many higher-paid stars could only dream of.

I was first introduced to the series in the 1950s by a local TV station, airing chapters each Saturday morning, as a kid's show. What a joy it is, to finally see each episode, without commercial interruptions!

If you are a fan of the 1980, Queen-scored big-screen version of "Flash Gordon", and HAVEN'T seen this collection, what a treat you have in store! Max von Sydow's Ming is a campy homage to Middleton, and even the rockets keep the quaint, 1930s 'look'. Sadly, the producers couldn't find a lead with Crabbe's stature and charisma, but he was one of a kind, to be sure.

Do yourself a favor...buy the collection, pop one in your DVD, and let the kid in you come out to play!

All three films appear to be from 35mm prints.
FCGTU has the best picture and sound quality of the three. Pict quality of good+ to outstanding. Sound quality is nearly very good. The sound is recorded in Dolby Digital 1.0. On many systems, it will come out of the center speaker with bass coming out of your sub. Some receivers and surround sound pre-amps may have a special mono movie mode which can drastically improve the sound. Many Pioneer receivers have TV MONO and this mode works very well.


FGTTM has a mildly warbly sound track. The fidelity is good and is listenable. Hearst should have found a better print, even 16mm prints have better sound than this and would have made a better audio transfer with good picture quality. I have better sound on my tapes from recording off of a tv station many years ago that showed the series from a 16mm print. There is about a 4 minute segment missing from one of the chapters, so therefore this series is incomplete. The picture quality is good to very good.

FG has a listenable but warbly sound track. The same comments that I made above applies to this series.

For those who have never seen these films, at the $17 price tag it is worth the purchase because it is the only decent print game in town.


I would have given this a 5 star review if the first two series had the picture and particular the audio quality of the 1940 series. So my review is in essence for the quality of the presentation. As for the movies themselves, this is the finest example of a film presentation on a low studio budget that has ever been delivered. The special effects are nifty considering when these films were made, but they are so beautiful surreal.
The firing of ray guns in the whole series is every bit as good as what has been done over the years and set the stage for other science fiction pictures. The sound effects are first rate and memorable. All three of the series are set to a classical music theme from various symphonic masters and movie score composers at that time. I think Franz Listz would have marveled at the way his Les Preludes were used In FGCTU.

FGCTU was the inspirational movie to George Lucas. Because of this film, he made STAR WARS. He realized the importance of a classical musical score as well as nifty visual and sound effects. That makes the Flash Gordon series a extememly major contribution to the art of movie making.

Where would science fiction films be today if there had been no Flash Gordon comic strip or movie serial. Yeah, those rocket ships and "Strato-Sleds" look pretty comical shooting out sparks and sounding like over strained electric orange squeezers. But those who remember seeing Flash Gordon in the movie theaters will tell you, these serials had kids sitting on the edge of their chairs and bursting to see what was "to be continued" next week. I first saw my first Flash Gordon serial on T.V. in the early 1950's and I'll tell you, I found it exiting then. Now we can laugh about much of the bad acting and the "odd" mistakes now and then, but this is real film history folks. Check out the titles on the intro of "Space Soldiers" and see if you notice where George Lucas got the idea for the intro titles for his "Star Wars" films. I give this collection four stars for it's worth to any collection! RAM.

When I was younger (I won't say "a kid" 'cos I still am at heart) and these serials were a feature of late Saturday night Public Broadcasting (along with Betty Boop and Popeye by the Fleischer studio), my dad would wake my brother and I up, tell us to be reeeeally quiet and sit and watch with cups of hot cocoa and Oreos. I've always been a fan of black and white popular entertainment and I can tell you it was pure magic, especially the later at night the better, when the mind struggles to differentiate between dreams and sight.

So it was with wide eyes and suspended disbelief that I viewed these on dvd recently, late one Saturday night - (when else?!) and, y'know - the magic is still there! And I don't think I've been quite as excited over a film since I was nine.

These films are as fun now as then - sometimes more-so because one can see the love and attention that went into creating them, even (and especially) when it's noteable the production team was working with what they had. Being familiar with Alex Raymond's actual comic strip I can tell you that his monsters etc. weren't much better or worse! So it all stays true to form - and fun!

For my fellow fans who came of age to Star Wars, well - Lucas saw "Flash Conquers the Universe" too, and incorporated more than just a little into his initial trilogy. Noticing this, it sure enhanced my enjoyment of both "Flash" and Star Wars!

I know a thing or two, not as much as my fellow reviewers, but I think this dvd set stands on it's own magic without the need for detailed examination.

If "Flash" has been on your mind and you've been writing it off as some kind of childhood sillyness best left to memory, take the plunge, spend the money and find out how wrong you've been - it's truly worth it!!

Flash Gordon is a superhero in his own right. Created for Alex Raymond's 1934-1945 Sunday comic strip, Gordon is an all-American hero, who travels to the alien planet Mongo with the lovely Dale Arden and brilliant scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov. On the strange planet, the three Earthlings encounter savage monsters, and Ming the Merciless--the most cruel dictator in the Universe.

The first of the serials--"Flash Gordon" (1936)--is the best. This continuity does Raymond's original vision a great justice. The first two years of the strip are roughly chronicled here, with innovations (what they are I won't tell you, because they occur at the end). If read Checker Books' first Flash Gordon volume, then you basically have a novelization of this serial. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Frank Shannon, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and John Lipson star.

"Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" (1938) pick up right where the first serial left off. In order to save Earth from the diabolical plans of Ming and witch-queen, Azura, Flash and company must ally themselves with the Clay People of Mars. Crabbe, Rogers, Shannon and Middleton.

Buster Crabbe, Frank Shannon and Charles Middleton were reunited in the final chapter of the Flash trilogy, "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940). Though this is the weakest of the series (barely any monsters, weak acting, and overused plot), there is a note of finality as the ruthless Ming defiantly declares, "I am the Universe!"

Of all the serials I have seen, Universal's Flash Gordons are the best. One of the things I admire the most about all of the Gordon serials are that you never see any strings or anything in all the rocket ship scenes. Even in "Batman," (1943) strings were evident in the plane used in one of the chapters. B-movie serials, yet great period quality invested in them.

I would never have believed the high quality of these old masterworks of the 30's. Great picture and sound quality propel Flash Gordon into space to fight Ming (and fight off his daughter, the foxy Princess Aura) and save the earth. They will never again make movies like these. If you like this type of entertainment you will not be dissapointed in the quality.

Compilation of all 3 Flash Gordon serials from the late 30s and early 40s is well done on this DVD. Picture and sound quality are vastly improved over VHS which was released several years ago. If you like Flash, Ming, Dale & Zarkov, get this DVD.