FLASH GORDON SERIAL SET

THE THREE FLASH GORDON SERIALS FROM THE 30'S AND 40'S STARRING BUSTER CRABBE:

FLASH GORDON: SPACE SOLDIERS(1936):

The first of the three serials about the King Feature's
Flash Gordon, this was a great start to the series!!
Flash, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov go off on an adventure
to save the Earth from a runaway planet headed toward
Earth and certain distruction for both! They meet up with
several other-worldly beings that are either great
friends, or great enimies! Much fun!! A-

(An aside here: The disc only played through chapter
6, after that I had to watch it on the laptop!!)

From IMDb.com:

Universal created a real fun winner here. Buster
Crabbe's popularity soared as he went on to more
serials both as Flash and as Buck Rogers. He also made
a Tarzan or two and some westerns.

But the character actors in Flash Gordon are tops:
Charles Middleton as Ming was brilliant casting;
chubby Richard Alexander as the would-be hero
Prince Barin looks like he stepped right out of the
comics, as do the Sharkmen, Lionmen and Hawkmen.

"Tiny" Lipson as Vultan the Hawkman is hilarious;
he is also seen in some Marx Brothers and Three
Stooges films. Of course the actors portraying the
sexy (for 1936) Dale and Princess Aura are perfect.
Even Zarkov is convincing as can be expected in this
dark adventure series.

The music is constantly moving things along, much
of it now available on CD as the same music used in
Universal's "The Bride of Frankenstein".

The challenge is to find a good print. It would be
great if Universal could "restore" some their classic
serials. - anonymous

This second serial finds all the particulars from the
first serial, plus a sorceress to aid the ever evil Ming
the Merciless! With just about everyone against the
foursome from Earth(a reporter stows away on board
of the spaceship, much to the chagrin of Flash and
co.), they must overcome all odds to stop Ming from
depleting the supply of "nitron" from the Earth's
atmosphere! Not quite as great as the first, but still
very good! A-

From IMDb.com:

The Clay People! Who can forget that sequence in
Chapter 2 when they first appear. And all to that
great Waxman music. Still a good serial to watch,
even in these days. Good photography, OK acting,
polished script but somehow the original 1936 serial
was superior. And kudos again to that great tracked
musical score. - anonymous

There are a few problems I have with this, the least
not being that several of the previous stars of the
other two serials are not in this!!! There is a new Dale
(I thought was terrible for the part!), Barin(played ok
by Roland Drew but certainly not as good as Richard
Alexander), & Princess Aura(again, not nearly as
good)! The story is ok, and the film quality is
lightyears ahead of the others but it's just not
quite as good as the first or second! And this
one also played with no problems! B

From IMDb.com:

This was a pretty good serial. Buster Crabbe was
made to play the heroic Flash Gordon and Charles
Middleton is the perfect Ming. However, it is the
action sequences that carry this film. The special
effects for this time period are also pretty good,
even for the 1940's. The only flaw I find with this,
though, is that Jean Rogers is not playing Dale or
that Richard Alexander is not playing Barin. The
two actors that replace them are okay, but the
originals defined the roles. Also, there is no
reference to the second serial. Maybe its because
if they were to show any footage from the first
two, the audience would definitely see that
there are different actors playing Dale, Barin
and Aura. However, despite these flaws, it is
still a great Saturday afternoon serial. - Brian Washington

COMPLETE LIST OF DVDs
LIST OF MOVIE DVDs
LIST OF ANIME/ANIMATION DVDs
LIST OF BOND DVDs
LIST OF DISNEY DVDs
LIST OF ELVIS DVDs
LIST OF MUSIC DVDs
LIST OF STAR TREK/STAR WARS DVDs
LIST OF SUPERHERO DVDs
LIST OF TELEVISION DVDs

TO PHOTO PAGES OF MOVIES:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J-K
L
M
N
O
P-Q
R
S
T
U-V
W
X-Z

ANIME/ANIMATION
ANIME SUPERHERO
BOND
DISNEY
ELVIS
HOLIDAY
MUSIC
MUSICALS
OTHER
SETS #-M
SETS N-Z
STAR TREK/STAR WARS
SUPERHERO
TELEVISION A-B
TELEVISION C-D
TELEVISION E-F
TELEVISION G-H
TELEVISION I-K
TELEVISION L
TELEVISION M
TELEVISION N-O
TELEVISION P-Q
TELEVISION R
TELEVISION Gene Roddenberry
TELEVISION S
TELEVISION T
TELEVISION U-W
TELEVISION X-Z
TELEVISION STAR TREK/STAR WARS
TELEVISION SUPERHERO