Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.8/10   

Directors:

Ford Beebe
Ray Taylor

Escritores:

Alex Raymond (comic strip)
George H. Plympton (screenplay) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

3 marzo 1940 (USA)

Género:

Acción | Ciencia-Ficción | Aventura

Frase comercial:

From the ALEX RAYMOND newspaper feature owned and copyrighted by King Features Syndicate (all of the original posters and cards)

Plot:

Flash and his friends return to planet Mongo for an antidote to the Purple Death. But Ming the Merciless has other plans for them...

Plot Keywords:

Antidote | Spaceship | Rocket Ship | Rocket | Superhero

Comentarios de los usuarios:

The Last Shall Be First

Reparto

Buster Crabbe	...	Flash Gordon (as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
Carol Hughes	...	Dale Arden
Charles Middleton	...	Emperor Ming
Anne Gwynne	...	Sonja [Chs. 2, 6-12]
Frank Shannon	...	Dr. Zarkov
John Hamilton	...	Prof. Gordon [Chs. 1, 4]
Herbert Rawlinson	...	Dr. Frohmann [Chs. 1, 4]
Tom Chatterton	...	Prof. Arden [Chs. 1, 4]
Shirley Deane	...	Princess Aura
Lee Powell	...	Capt. Roka
Roland Drew	...	Prince Barin
Don Rowan	...	Capt. Torch
Victor Zimmerman	...	Lt. Thong
Edgar Edwards	...	Capt. Turan
Ben Taggart	...	Gen. Lupi [Chs. 1-2]

También conocida como:

Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe (USA) (TV title)
Flash Gordon conquista el Universo (Spain) [es]

Duración:

(12 episodes) | Brazil:220 min | UK:195 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Clasificación:

USA:Approved (PCA #5874) | UK:U | Australia:G | Australia:PG (2008)

Compañía:

Universal Pictures

Trivialidades:

This serial was based on a Flash Gordon comic strip continuity involving Prince Barin and his Tree People, of "Frigia".

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Watching the Detectives (2007)

Banda de Sonido:

Les Preludes

The Last Shall Be First

We have seen (and have) all three (3) of the Flash Gordon serials and Buck Rodgers and have always felt this one (1) was the best of the lot. This is the one (1) I enjoy the most, aware of its short-comings starting with the special effects. You would think that a studio with the great John Fulton as head of the Special Effects Dept. would have aced that part easily. From that standpoint Universal is never going to compete with the product of Republic Studios with the Lydecker Brothers. Universal is still way ahead of them (and Colombia and the independents) in star power and plot line.

I do not like to read to much into these films. Example KING KONG and its alleged racial overtones. I see it as Merian C. Cooper did "I made it to thrill myself". There are some allusions though to the conflict of WWII in F.G.C.T.U. The 'EMPEROR MING' in now also 'DICTATOR MING' this coming with the rise in the early 20th Century of Dictator's large, Hitler, Stalin, Tojo and small, Franco, Mussolini and various minor ones scattered throughout Asia and Latin America.

Looking at it that way Auboria=England, Earth=U.S.A., Frigia=Russia and MONGO=Nazi Germany and its Allies. The Purple Death fore tells the coming genocide in Western Europe based on racial selection in reverse, keep the stupid and get rid of the smart. More like what the Communists did under STALIN. Other similarities the development of SUPER-WEAPONS. The Flame Projectles and SOLORITE (ThermoNuclear Weapons), Concentration Camps for slave labor (Gulags).

Conjecture, yes, but it makes this serial more interesting to watch then the first two (2) which were basically like the comic strips, Dr. Fu Manchu in space. The "YELLOW PERIL"! That's what makes it more viewable. We love them all of course. Was their a better serial star hero then Buster Crabbe or a more convincing villain the Charles Middleton's MING. The most telling sign of this was in Chapter One 'The Purple Death'. With his own men battling Flash in his laboratory his 'Death Dust' chamber is broken. MING's solution. "They have broken the glass chamber, I'll release the death dust and kill them all". Now thats 20th Century ruthlessness!