GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Glucedee
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Sabah Hensley
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
max-seitz-1990
Flash Gordon is a historically important science fiction serial, that helped to encourage others in bringing superhero and/or science fiction content to the big screen. It features a vibrant alien planet with great perils for its main protagonist and his friends. The technical aspects are dated, but still work within the context of the narrative. However, the characters are noticeably one-dimensional, which makes the viewing tedious - together with the many repetitions in editing, the score, and plot elements. Aspects like the imaginativeness and the thrilling pacing are very entertaining, but generally this serial does not hold up well, without taking on a nostalgic perspective.Overall 5/10
Full review on movie-discourse.blogspot.de
JLRVancouver
Flash Gordon was the first of the serials based on Alex Raymond's eponymous hero. This 13 part epic has everything a science fiction fan could ask for: strange new worlds, dinosaurs, spaceships, submarines, underwater cities, floating cities, ray-guns, invisibility machines, monsters, atom furnaces, and hunky guys in short shorts or/and hot girls in skimpy halter-tops. Buster Crabbe is all noble, jut-jawed hero and Jean Rogers makes a gorgeous, if somewhat ineffectual, Dale Arden, who spends most of the serial being threatened with a 'fate worse than death' by first Ming, then by a sharkman, then a hawkman (even the good guy Thun the lionman seems to 'cop a feel' while helping her escape in episode 5). The special effects, costly at the time, will seem quaint to modern viewers but that just adds to the charm as Flash makes his way from cliff-hanger to cliff hanger with the help or hindrance of some memorable secondary characters (although Jack Lipson's Prince Vulcan is a pale foreshadowing of Brian Blessed's booming presence in the 1981 version). 1936 saw the release of this serial and of William Cameron Menzies "Shape of Things to Come", archetypes of low-brow and high-brow science fiction: one's a silly, action packed adventure, the other a pedantic, philosophical bore. Probably not a tough choice to audiences of the time (especial the kids at whom Flash was aimed) and while I appreciate Menzies' vision, Flash is a lot more fun, and in the end, about as realistic. An added bonus is that watching this silly, innocent serial is the perfect segue into watching 1974's equally silly but much less innocent, "Flesh Gordon".
museumofdave
OK, lets not carried away and bring all our modern critical caveats to this innocent kiddie-pleaser from sixty or seventy years ago--it ain't Star Wars, folks, but it probably inspired a good deal of it, and in its time Flash Gordon thrilled thousands in actual theatres every Saturday morning.It is amazing that Buster Crabbe maintained a dedicated, non-ironic heroic stance in the face of cardboard fire-breathing dragons, and Dale was able to let out shrieks and screams at outcomes she well knew were preordained, and that Dr. Zarkov could take his left-over props from the Frankenstein films seriously--but they did, and if you let yourself, you will have an action experience unlike any other--funny, simply because time has created effects far superior, mind-boggling, because there was actually a time when we believed this stuff, endearing, because good-hearted men with rubber wings are simply a delight. And Charles Middleton's Ming is pointedly, grimly Merciless, and likely to remain so for several centuries more .Does this film accomplish what it set out to do and does it do it well? Indubitably.
treeline1
I loved "Flash Gordon" as a child and watching the series again on DVD brings back such fond memories. Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of our hero Flash, the lovely Dale Arden, and intrepid Dr. Zarkov on the planet Mongo, with Flash escaping death at every turn: The Shark Men nearly drown him, he faces the Fire Monster in the Tunnel of Terror, and he's in mortal peril in the Static Room! The characters are still fun: Buster Crabbe is every bit the blonde dreamboat hero and Jean Rogers is a delicate and beautiful Dale Arden. Princess Aura still plots to steal Flash for herself, King Vultan of the Hawk Men still has his booming laugh and angel wings, and Ming the Merciless, Emperor of the Universe, is still giving everyone the evil eye and the creeps.This serial probably wouldn't interest children today with its hokey effects - oh, that spaceship! - but it's a fun bit of nostalgia for those who liked it the first time around. The actors play it straight and don't play down to kids. I appreciate that young viewers were expected to read the chapter synopses which had pretty big words in them.I'm glad this came out on DVD. It's a lot of fun to revisit this classic sci-fi serial.
