Starring Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson, Frank Shannon
Directed by Frederick Stephani
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Young hero Flash Gordon and beauteous Dale Arden travel aboard Dr. Zarkov's experimental rocket ship to the planet Mongo, where they encounter Mongo's tyrannical leader, Ming the Merciless.
The first screen adaptation of Alex Raymond's popular comic strip, a 13-chapter movie serial, the production can't come close to matching Raymond's fantastic visuals, but director Stephani sure gives it one heck of a try, with rear-projected giant lizards, subterranean monsters, cities underneath the sea and suspended in the sky, and flying hawk-men and rocketships. He's aided by a cast that fits the material well, with Crabbe a strong man of action, looking great engaging in swordplay and wrestling his opponents. Rogers has strong chemistry with Crabbe, and is probably Arden's most beautiful portrayer on film, although her screams and faints and dependence on Crabbe to rescue her would not go over well with modern feminists. Middleton is a masterfully evil Ming, and Lawson has a meaty role as Ming's attractive but conniving daughter, lying and scheming to win Flash for herself. There's also good turns by Shannon as the brilliant Dr. Zarkov and Jack Lipson as the boisterous King Vultan. The music score, mostly assembled from stock cues from the Universal library, is a fun and spirited one, which also well-describes the serial itself, one of the most entertaining in the genre.
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