FLASH
GORDON: SPACE SOLDIERS (1936)13 Chapter Universal Serial
Director: Frederick Stephani (and Ray Taylor)
Image Entertainment
FLASH
GORDON: SPACE SOLDIERS (1936)When Universal brought Alex Raymond's comic book hero, Flash Gordon, to the screen as a serial in 1936, "high camp" would take on an all new definition! From the time of its original release, through multiple theatrical re-releases, distribution to television, and finally to home video, this chestnut has literally entertained generations of people inside whom the kid still resides. As purely escapism entertainment and nothing more, it still holds up quite well today!
As a point of history for the uninitiated, serials were adventuresome tales divided into anywhere between 10 and 15 chapters, each chapter running between 15 and 30 minutes. Each chapter would typically end with a cliffhanger, in which the hero faced some dire peril. The next chapter started with a brief recounting of the peril, followed by the sometimes astounding manner in which the hero escaped. Serials typically played as one of the short subjects presented before a feature film, very often on Saturday afternoons in the classic period of the 1930s & 1940s (although serials were produced all the way from the early silent days through the mid 1950s). A new chapter played each week, and in the case of some great serials such as FLASH GORDON, patrons often flocked to the theater just to see the next chapter of the serial alone! (I guess the film double feature, a few cartoons, and a newsreel were just bonuses to those folks!).
FLASH GORDON basically tells the story of a world famous athlete who is thrown into a science fiction adventure when the Earth is mysteriously bombarded by deadly meteors! It is soon discovered that a strange planet called Mongo is hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth. Together with eminent scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, Flash and his friend Dale Arden travel by rocketship to the planet Mongo in an effort to save Earth. There, they find a despotic ruler, Ming The Merciless, who is intent on destroying Earth (apparently for the Hell of it). Ming decides that he's going to marry Dale, take Flash out of the picture, and enslave Dr. Zarkov to his experimental laboratories! From there, the story weaves around to myriad adventures with strange races of aliens and new technologies, but the question remains throughout: will they EVER defeat Ming The Merciless?? Watch all 13 chapters to find out!! Apparently, a lot of people did just that back in '36, as Universal rolled out two "sequel" serials in 1938 and 1940!!
Despite being touted as one of the most expensive serials ever made ($350,000 in 1936, which was no small amount of money), the result is a mixed bag of some great visuals and performances down to stock footage and ridiculous special effects. The rocketships belch and spurt what appear to be sparklers from their backsides, with copious amounts of smoke trailing throughout the vacuum of space. You can hardly see the strings holding the ships in flight in some shots. Of course, many people (such as myself) just see details such as the "special" effects being part of the charm and camp of this production!
The performances are typical serial type acting. No trips to the podium for the 1937 Academy Awards here, but there are a few standouts. Larry (Buster) Crabbe plays Flash Gordon and he's generally not too bad. Universal starlet Jean Rogers is Dale Arden, Priscilla Lawson is a wicked Princess Aura, and the stalwart Frank Shannon is Dr. Hans Zarkov (replete with Irish accent). Perhaps the greatest asset is Charles Middleton as Ming The Merciless. Middleton typically played villains, religious nuts, or general prudes in countless U.S. films through the early 1950s. As Ming, his hamminess and scenery chewing is just right for the character and you end up rooting for HIM instead of Flash Gordon during most of the photoplay!
As to the disc, I must say that Image did a nice job. They've presented the 13 chapters (each one "chapter stopped!") on a single sided dual layered disc. Total running time is about 245 minutes! It is presented in a nice snap case with fold out liner notes. The transfer is quite good considering the source material. Universal and a few other studios did not maintain negatives to their serials once serial production ended in the late 40s/early 50s. Fortunately for us, the negatives in this case reverted to King Features in the early 1950s and they DID somewhat maintain the negatives. In fact, the FLASH GORDON serials were issued to television in the 1950s and that's the genesis of the strange title, SPACE SOLDIERS. A short lived FLASH GORDON TV series was produced in the 1950s and to avoid confusion, this serial was retitled SPACE SOLDIERS. Fortunately for us, we are presented here with the complete unedited and otherwise unaltered 1936 serial. The titles presented are the original Universal FLASH GORDON opening sequences.
Sadly, the prints are far from pristine but not awful. At various times, the screen can be littered with white negative scratches and sometimes print trash. The image is very sharp, however, and frankly the age artifacts take nothing away from enjoyment. The sound is digital mono and its quality also varies wildly, but is always clearly audible. You really won't find another source that looks or sounds any better than this.
If you're a fan of sci-fi, classic cliffhanger serials, Ming The Merciless, or just plain old fun, then this disc for you! Although a classic, I don't consider this the best of the FLASH GORDON serials, but will go into that another time. Look for FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938) and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940) reviews coming soon! (Jason R. Casey)