DVD
Review | Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Written by: Kage
Alan
Despite films like "2001", "Star
Wars" and other Science Fiction
extravaganzas, they might never have found a way to the screen had the
early
serials never existed or achieved popularity. While I'm not old
enough to
have seen these (the serials) in an actual theatre, I have seen many
of them
on TV and on VHS. Heck, one of my fondest memories of growing up
is watching Flash Gordon on TV with my mother after she'd come home
from work on a Saturday night. It was just our time together and
I loved wondering how Flash would get out of each situation the show
presented us with. Now,
instead of waiting for one episode a week, I got to watch them all in
one go!
Emperor Ming (Charles Middleton) hasn't forgotten that his first two
efforts
to destroy planet Earth failed, so he's devised a brand new scheme.
A deadly
dust is leaving citizens of our planet quite dead and oddly purple.
Since
neither condition is preferred, it's up to Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe),
Dale
Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) to head back to
Mongo and stop Ming's madness once again. Will it be easy?
Of course not, otherwise the studio would never be able to get 12
chapters out of it. Personally, I'd have given the guy some
Prozac.
As with other serials of the era, there's often little time wasted on
excessive character development and the screen is instead filled with
as much
action as possible, all ending in a major cliffhanger. There's
peril at
every turn in this serial as Flash must contend with avalanches on an
ice
planet, robot bombs, ship battles, rock men and other deadly traps
Ming sets
for him. The special effects certainly don't stand up to ones
used today,
but they marveled audiences back then and inspired imaginations.
What more
could one ask for? The acting and dialogue are all fairly campy,
but damn if
"Flash Gordon" isn't fun!
I've seen more than one DVD release of "Flash Gordon Conquers the
Universe", but this one comes from Marathon Music & Video and
is available at www.timeless-video.com.
The B&W episodes are split up between 2 discs and while the video
quality is quite good considering the series is from 1940, the audio
quality is a bit sporadic as far as loudness and softness.
That's
really a minor problem, though. As for extras, we're given a
real treat
here. First up is a 45-minute documentary titled "History
of the Serials"
that covers the phenomena from its early beginnings to its peak of
popularity
and features a huge number of clips from the various shows.
The other extra included in the box set is a third disc featuring 6
episodes
of the 1954 "Flash Gordon" television series. Instead
of fighting anybody
from Mongo, Flash (Steve Holland), Dale (Irene Champlin) and Dr.
Zarkov
(Joseph Nash) fight an assortment of gangsters and other assorted
villains in
an effort to save Earth and themselves. Unfortunately, the TV
show doesn't
have nearly the same energy as the serial and the actors tend to look
far
more bored than they should. Perhaps that's the reason it only
lasted 39
episodes. Still, I enjoyed seeing how the show evolved into the
television
show.
"Flash Gordon" was truly one of the greatest serials ever
produced and it
kept audiences coming back week after week just to see how the hero
would
avoid the previous week's deadly finale. I may not be able to go
back in
time to when I watched the show with mom while eating Mac &
Cheese, but I can relive the memories with her now and share the show
with someone else special to me. And hey, better yet, so can
you!
Film Rating:
A-
DVD Special Features: A-
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