Flash Gordon (serial)

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Flash Gordon arrived on American screens in 1936 as a 13-chapter science-fiction serial. It was the first film adaptation of a comic-strip character who had existed for just two years. Buster Crabbe played the title role, navigating the planet Mongo and its villain Emperor Ming the Merciless, played by Charles B. Middleton. Jean Rogers portrayed Dale Arden. Two separate accounts of the production budget disagreed by a factor of nearly three. That discrepancy was just the first of several surprises the production had in store.

  4910

• 2. Borrowed From the Vault

  ›

  The exact cost of Flash Gordon was disputed almost from the start. The 1973 reference The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury, by Jim Harmon and Donald Glut, placed the budget at over a million dollars. Stedman's account put it at "reportedly" three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Whatever the true number, Universal drew heavily on materials already in its possession. The watchtower sets from Frankenstein, made in 1931, reappeared as interiors within Emperor Ming's palace. A large Egyptian statue from The Mummy, made in 1932, became the idol of the Great God Tao. Zarkov's rocket ship and footage of dancers surrounding a giant idol were taken from Just Imagine, a 1930 production. The laboratory set and a shot of the Moon passing a returning rocket came from The Invisible Ray, another Universal film from 1936. Some laboratory equipment arrived from Bride of Frankenstein, the 1935 picture. Footage of Ming's attack on Earth was assembled from old silent newsreels. An entire dance segment was lifted from The Midnight Sun, a 1927 film. The music followed the same pattern. The score drew on Bride of Frankenstein. It also borrowed from Bombay Mail and The Black Cat (both 1934), Werewolf of London (1935), and The Invisible Man (1933). Exterior location work was filmed at Bronson Canyon, including shots of Gordon and his crew arriving on alien soil. To complete the serial's look, Universal turned its attention to the performers themselves.

  11124

• 3. Cast and Creature

  ›

  Buster Crabbe had his hair dyed blond before production to match the comic-strip version of Flash Gordon. He was reportedly so self-conscious about the change that he kept his hat on in public at all times, even when women were present. He also disliked men whistling at him. Jean Rogers also had her hair changed to blonde before filming began, a decision made "apparently to capitalize on the popularity of Jean Harlow." Both actors were naturally brunette. Ming's appearance drew on a different source entirely. According to Harmon and Glut, his makeup and costume were designed to resemble Fu Manchu. That villain had appeared in novels first published in England in 1913 and had been popularized through earlier Hollywood films.

  Eddie Parker served as Buster Crabbe's stand-in and stunt double throughout production. Crash Corrigan, who would later appear in other serials, wore a modified gorilla suit to play the "orangopoid" creature in chapters 8 and 9. Glenn Strange wore the "Gocko" costume, a dragon with lobster claws, and also appeared in an uncredited role as one of Ming's soldiers. Richard Alexander, who played Prince Barin, helped design his character's own costume, which included a leather chest plate painted gold.

  Lon Poff played the first of Ming's two high priests. Early film historians long believed he died shortly after production began and was replaced by Theodore Lorch. The truth was different. Only Poff's character died, killed by Ming in an act of fury and cut from the final print. Poff himself lived until 1952. When the completed serial opened, Universal had arranged screenings in "A-level" theaters in large American cities. The studio was making a deliberate bid to attract adult audiences back to the serial format.

  11324

• 4. First Sci-Fi Serial

  ›

  Newspapers in 1936 ran half- and three-quarter-page features about Flash Gordon, including papers that had never carried Alex Raymond's comic strip. The coverage included reproductions of Raymond's drawings and publicity stills highlighting characters and chapter settings.

  Flash Gordon stood apart from its predecessors in a precise way. Earlier serials had included science-fiction elements such as gadgets, but Flash Gordon was the first outright science-fiction serial. Its effect on the format was rapid: six of the fourteen serials released within five years of Flash Gordon were science fiction.

  The Hays Office, responsible for content standards across the Hollywood film industry, raised an objection to the serial's costumes. The outfits worn by Dale Arden, Princess Aura, and the other female characters were judged too revealing. Universal responded by designing more modest costumes for the women in both sequels.

  Critic Alan Jones in the 2015 Radio Times Guide to Films described Flash Gordon as "non-stop thrill-a-minute stuff as Flash battles one adversary after another." He also called it "the best of the Crabbe trilogy of Flash Gordon films," a phrase that pointed to two more serials still ahead.

  8941213

• 5. Sequels and Recognition

  ›

  Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, the first sequel, appeared in 1938 with 15 chapters. Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe followed in 1940 with 12. Both starred Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon. Between those two productions, Crabbe appeared in a separate Universal serial about Buck Rogers. Buck Rogers had been a popular presence in magazines, comic strips, and on radio during the late 1920s and 1930s.

  The original 1936 serial was also edited into condensed feature versions for different audiences. Universal assembled a 72-minute version in 1936 for exhibition outside the United States. That cut did not reach American screens until 1949, when Sherman S. Krellberg's Filmcraft Pictures released it under the title Rocket Ship. A different edit, running 90 minutes, was sold directly to television in 1966 under the title Spaceship to the Unknown.

  For television syndication in the 1950s, the serial was retitled Space Soldiers. The reason was practical: a newly produced Flash Gordon television series was also in syndication at the time.

  In 1996, the Library of Congress selected Flash Gordon for the United States National Film Registry. The serial was cited as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The character Alex Raymond had drawn in 1934 had, by then, traveled to Mars and conquered the universe, at least on screen.

  164911