Customer Reviews

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Opening to the memorable strains of Franz Liszt, "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" gets down to intergalactic business. In this 1940 Universal production, Buster Crabbe's legendary space hero combats Emperor Ming and his "Purple Death" for 12 chapters of cliffhanging nostalgia. Less elaborate than the original 1936 serial, but an improvement over "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" and "Buck Rogers." The Image DVD authorized by King Features (which owns the Flash Gordon copyright) boasts excellent print quality - far superior to the numerous public-domain releases flooding the market.

The first and the third Flash Gordon serials represented, to me, the very best serials made. This one is the third. There are quite a few cast changes between the original and this serial. Notable switches are Carol Hughes replacing Jean Rogers as Dale Arden, Shirley Deane replacing Priscilla Lawson as Princess Aura, and Roland Drew replacing Richard Alexander as Prince Baran. This last change is really noticeable because Drew gives the character a definite Errol Flynn twist. This was made two years after Flynn's ROBIN HOOD, and it shows. Carol Hughes portrays Dale Arden as a much more self sufficient woman than Jean Rogers did.

The character of Flash, himself, is a bit mellower maybe. In the first chapter, he's often restrained by Zarkov from impetuous action, and there's less of that this time around. And Emporer Ming while still intent on destroying the Earth seems to, when things are going his way, be much more interested in watching his favorite dancing girl perform than in anything else. Unfortunately for him, our hero Flash keeps distracting him from his fun.

Another key figure this time around is Sonja, the ice princess, and is she ever the ultimate ice princess!

Also notable is the use of Liszt's "Les Preludes" as background music. Combined with the noisy rocketships, the music adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the action.

The Flash Gordon serials are absolute fun to watch, and better watched one chapter at a time.

Are you among those who sat and watched the matinee series like `Flash Gordon' or `Buck Rogers' on television growing up. Well I remember quite clearly sitting with my friends watching the faded, cheesy 1930s and `40s fare on British television and other instances when I would be home sick from school that I would find, flipping through the channels, some classic Saturday matinee fare playing on BBC2.
It's with the clouded judgement of long ago nostalgia that has me loving every minute of the `Flash Gordon' DVDs, they are a true guilty pleasure with their yogurt-carton-with-fins spaceships, actors hamming it up with terrible line delivery and preposterous plots.
Yet for all their faults, these shows are nicely packaged slices of fun that will still imbue wonder in kids for generations to come. Their appeal is timeless to the young and young at heart. It's revealing to their appeal that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg both envisioned the Indiana Jones franchise as a modern version of the Saturday matinee serials.
Of all the Flash Gordon serials this one - the third - is the one I remember the most from my childhood with Buster Crabbe being joined by Carol Hughes as Dale Arden (replacing Jean Rogers) and Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless.
The serial begins with a spaceship from the planet Mongo spreading a lethal purple dust into the atmosphere of Earth. Its up to Buck Rogers along with Dale and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) along with friend and ally Prince Barin of Arboria (Roland Drew) to travel to the frozen land of Frigia to recover the antidote for the Purple Death.
Coming short on the heels of Errol Flynn's `Adventures of Robin Hood' the influences of the successful classic are clearly evident in this serial. We have Drew portraying Barin with a Flynn-type air and the Mongo population wearing outfits that would not have looked out of place in the Sherwood Forest of Flynn's production.
This two-disc set also includes an interview with Buster Crabbe, Olympic footage of Crabbe winning the 1932 Gold Medal in the 400 meter swim, a photo gallery and three television commercials featuring the actor.
For such a low price it really is a steal, it's a lot cheaper to relive your childhood this way than to take a trip to DisneyWorld and to get the entire 12-episodes for under $20 is better value than the more current series also coming out on DVD.
The quality of the picture is middling at best, (no doubt as a result of age) but this strangely just enhances the nostalgic value of the set. For those who remember the serials from television presentations years ago the simple fact was that the serials were already old when we were young.

"Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" was the third and best of the serials starring Buster Grabbe. This 12-part serial finds Alex Raymond's science-fiction hero battling Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton). Flash has to save the earth from a mysterious plague known as the Purple Death. When Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) finds one a spaceship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere it is clear that Ming the Merciless is back to his old tricks. Flash is aided by old friend Prince Barin of Arboria (Roland Drew) as they head to Frigia, where our heroes will find polarite, the antidote to the plague, and some really interesting locking rock people. Of course, Ming is going to go out of his way to stop Flash and his friends. My only real complaints are that the costumes look like leftovers from "Robin Hood" and that Carol Hughes replaced Jean Rogers as Dale Arden. Oh, well, life is full of disappointments. This DVD not only includes an interview with Crabbe, but footage of him winning the 1932 Olympic Gold Medal in the 400 meter swim event and three of his later TV commercials. Ideally you want to watch the three Flash Gordon serials in order, but if you start with this one you will certainly be able to follow the fun without any problems.

At the time of writing there are two versions of 'Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe' available on DVD. This review concerns Image Entertainment's version - a single sided, no frills DVD. I purchased Image Entertainment's version because I'd been very impressed by their previous two Flash Gordon serials and didn't want the hassle of this serial spread over two discs. Having bought the other two Image Entertainment DVDs, this one also nicely completes the set. Like 'Space Soldiers' and 'Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars' the sound and picture quality are superb. Whilst the storyline had taken a dip for 'Trip to Mars', Universal Pictures bounced right back to form with this serial and it certainly gives 'Space Soldiers' a run for its money for being the best of the trio. The story is full of good old-fashioned excitement and you can easily sit down to watch 4 or 5 episodes at a time. I was sorry to see Jean Rogers relinquish the part of Dale Arden, but her role is expertly filled by Carol Hughes and the rest of the cast are also on good form. Like I said, you have the choice of two DVDs for this serial. I am very happy with this version, but like they say, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

i am a HUGE fan of the old time heroes and have been collecting Flash Gordon for some time so when i found out about this collection with bonus material on DVD i was thrilled! I was less than thrilled when it arrived tho. It has two discs (one double sided) and you have to constantly change or flip the discs in order to watch continueously. This would not be so bad but it is not broken up normally with the serial being on one disc and the extras on the other. Instead everything is spread across all three sides of the discs and really breaks up the flow. Added to this is the really cheesy 3D intro on each disc that runs WAY too long and you can't fast forward past it. If you love Flash Gordon, i heartily recommend this, but bring your patience with you.

Perhaps the best known of Hollywood serial characters, Flash Gordon is the iconographic 1930s American male: athletic, courageous, smart, blond with a handsome face and winning smile. As played by Olympic athlet Buster Crabbe, he would be the focus of three serials: SPACE SOLIDERS (1936), FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938), and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940.)

Although all three are available to the homemarket, the latter is perhaps the most readily so, and there are numerous VHS and DVD editions. Most of these are "budget"--and in most cases the term is indicative; you will find that fuzzy pictures, poor sound, and zero bonuses are the norm. At present, the VCI edition is probably the best available; although it shows the ravages of time, the picture is fairly stable, the sound is at least reasonable, and it does offer a few bonuses.

Like most serials, the story is very basic. A strange plauge has visited the earth--an illness that leaves a single purple dot on the foreheads of its victims. Flash, Dale Arden (Carol Hughes), and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) take to their space ship to investigate the matter and discover that the disease is being spread by a spaceship sent by Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) from the planet Mongo. Needless to say, they rush off to Mongo to put a stop to it.

The great thing about the Flash Gordon serials is their look, which is very, very strange indeed. The special effects are very much 1930s science-fiction pulp, with sputtering spacecraft shaped rather like outsized hypodermic needles, peculiar-looking robots with angular faces, and all the rest. The sets and costumes add a great deal more to the film's truly bizarre look; apparently Mongo is a strange cross between Sherwood forrest, Imperial Russia, and some sort of Asian Art Deco Hell; all the men wear tights (whether they look good in them or not) and they are as handy with bow and arrow and sword as they are with ray guns.

Although a seminal figure in Hollywood serials, the Flash Gordon films were bested by a number of other serials, most notably by THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, SPY SMASHER, and THE CRIMSON GHOST, to name but a few. But in their strange mishmash of American gung-ho, pulp science fiction, and bizarre Hollywood conceptualization, they remain entertaining--and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE is really the best of the three. It is also, incidently, the installment upon which the cult satire FLESH GORDON was largely based. Recommended, but primarily for hardcore serial fans.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The most obvious question posed by this serial is how the actors ever got through filming a single scene without breaking up with laughter. And yet they manage to look very, very serious. That's two verys.

Let's start with the rocket ships, the sine qua non of this science fiction sub-category. They look like fat Faygo bottles with exhaust pipes that have sparklers in them and send out puffs of smoke. They chug along at, oh, ten or fifteen miles per hour, it would appear, and yet they go from one planet to another in no time flat. And before they land they circle like a dog finding a place to lie. If that's not enough, they can turn at sharp angles with ease. There is no such thing as weightlessness or lack of oxygen. Moreover, it is possible to open a door, while in space, and go from one rocket ship to another without freezing or gasping. In short, there is nothing realistic, nothing that conforms to any of the laws of physics. Either the movie makers didn't know about the physics--or decided to ignore reality. Or perhaps viewers today know too much about the hazards of space and how long it takes to get from here to there.

Next, we have the costumes. Most of the time, the good guys wear Robin Hood caps topped with rakish feathers. They also wear tights and what appear to be leather jackets or doublets with strange stud-work and designs. The bad guys from Mongo wear steel helmets with visors; a rod sticks up about 12 inches from the top of the helmet, and there is a feather at the tip. The rest of their costumes appear to be comic opera military uniforms. Many of the characters have long capes that almost touch the floor and frequently get in the way of piloting a rocket ship. Perhaps the silliest outfit is worn by Ming the Merciless. He has high heeled boots, tights, a floor length cape and a cloche, and on occasion there are long white plumes trailing atop his head. The stone men wear silly headgears that make their heads look like chunks of limestone.

There are many fistfights in each episode, a staple of all serials, and no one ever gets a cut lip, a black eye or a skinned knuckle. Add to this the fact that the good guys smite the bad guys right in their steel visors and don't even say ouch. Of course, Ming himself never gets into the fray, chief villains never do, but the women have a couple of fights with each other, but they don't appear to put much heart into it.

The plot is that Ming plans to conquer the universe, and Flash et al. must stop him. The latter get into all sorts of predicaments that seem to spell disaster, but they always get out of them somehow. Suffice it to say that it all turns out OK for our side.

The dialogue is stilted and frequently amusing without intending to be. The sets and filming loci are pretty good, except for the rocket ships, as noted. The women are attractive and submissive, just the way they should be--in 1940. The characters are all one-dimensional as was the fashion: Ming is evil from top to bottom, and Flash is goodness and light.

Despite all this, the serial is a great deal of fun to watch. There is the nostalgia factor, of course, but viewing this as an adult, some 67 years after it was made, generally causes more laughter than angst for the characters.

The 1930's & 40's Hollywood produced many action packed, cliff hanger Serials for the Movie crowds. Universal Studios was one of the top Chapter serial movie producers. These multi-chapter adventures provided weekly enterainment with 18 min startling installments!! The Flash Gordon series (3 Serials starring "The King of Serials", Buster Crabbe the 1932 Olympic gold medalist Swimmer)was the most popular series with; "Flash Gordon" (1936), "Flash Gordon Trip to Mars" (1938) & "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940) - considered to be the best of the series.

VCI Home video has provided us an OUTSTANDING remastered 2 DVD set with the 12 chapter "Falsh Gordon Conquers the Universe" Serial. Plus an abundance of extra features to include; 1932 Olympic gold medal film of Buster Crabbe, background interviews & TV commercials with Buster Crabbe, Flash Gordon photo gallery, & old movie trailers. Over 240 minutes of entertainment!!!

Summary: The entire earth is threatened with the "Purple Death". The evil-nemisis of Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), "Ming-the-Merciless" (brilliantly played villian, Charles Middleton-an encore performance) from the planet of Mongo! Flash & his trusted friend, scientist genius Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) & fellow space traveler Dale Arden (Carol Hughes - who replaced Jean Rogers does a good job!). Their job is to go to Mongo, rid the earth & Universe from the "Purple Death" & "Ming the Merciless"! 12 Chapters of spine tingling adventure, with titles Chapter 4 "The Destroying Ray" & Chapter 10 The Death Mist" fills our curiousities. Will Flash, Zarkov & Arden defeat the Merciless Ming? The audiences of the 30's & 40's couldn't wait.

Experience this wonderful 2 DVD package & escape to the magic of Hollywood before TV & space travel. These were the visions of the writers & the imagination of Hollywood special effects!! Enjoy.

WE GOT OUR FIRST TELEVISION AROUND 1950. I WAS 8 YEARS OLD. TO ME, THIS FLASH GORDON SERIAL WAS SOMETHING FANTASTIC. I BELIEVE IT WAS ON DAILY ON THE DUMONT CHANNEL. MY FRIENDS AND I WOULD IMAGINE OURSELVES INVOLVED IN THE ACTION. WHAT ELSE WAS THERE? I HAVEN'T SEEN THE SERIES NOW IN 50 YEARS. FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT, IT REALLY SEEMS STILTED AND CONTRIVED. HOWEVER, IT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES OF A MORE INNOCENT TIME WHEN THE VIDEO AND SOUND EFFECTS WERE REALLY THRILLING AND THE ACTING JUST THE BEST! I REALLY, REALLY HATE THAT MING!!!