CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Flash Gordon, 1954. 'Flash' Gordon, Dale Arden and science adviser Doctor Zarkof are members of the Galactic Bureau of Investigation. This group has become the law enforcement arm of the universal government.*Special Stars- Steve Holland, Irene Champlin, Joseph Nash. *Theme- Planets and their inhabitants can work together in harmony to make things great for all.*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W, German, post WW2 early 60's TV show made from previous theatrical serials released in Europe.*Emotion- A sophisticated science fiction show based on the Flash Gorndon comic book serials. A wonderful 'time capsule' for the post WW2 era and during the Cold War since it was made in Europe. The film is hugely operatic in plot lines and production elements, but top-notch in production values for it's era. Wonderfully fun and campy. Very enjoyable to watch. I find it superior to the Buster Crabb serials of the '30's.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) I recently inherited a massive television set with a blown color tube and have been availing myself of the opportunity to watch exclusively B&W productions on it, which inevitably led me to watch the classic "Flash Gordon" serials again. Which in turn led me to watch these marvelous old "Flash Gordon" TV shows as well. Sure, they don't come anywheres near the epic art deco masterpieces of the Buster Crabbe era, but by golly there's something going on here that's pretty darn interesting.The show was apparently a co-production between US, West German and French studios filmed on & around the rubble heaps of a still partially demolished West Berlin in 1953. The series aired in syndication on the old DuMont Television Network, a fascinating chapter of American pop consumerism eating itself. The series doesn't have Ming or Mongo or the Tree Men, but what it does have is an abundance of US issue Cold War era military industrial complex effect going on, crossed with German neo-expressionism and even some good old Sartre inspired French existentialism.It's easy to laugh at the low budget sets, costumes, space helmets, ray guns and cheap model rocketry spaceship effects, but it's always easy to poke fun at past forms that now seem quaint or silly. Dig up some old pictures of yourself & the crew from the early 1980s and you'll see what I mean. Either you guys deliberately dressed like jerks, or you were enmeshed in the times and unable to see how ridiculous you looked because you & I both didn't know any better. Same thing goes for old science fiction props, production design, costuming, and applied science.The only genuine criticism I can find for the series is the awful theme music, but once you get beyond that what you're left with is a deceptively creepy little television show that, as others point out, make the Captain Video type American made SF efforts of the era seem completely vapid by comparison. There is a sophistication to the execution of the show that belies it's cheapness, and the action scenes set amongst the rubble strewn streets of an actual bombed out city have a kind of eerie pathos to them that is at odds with the space opera scripts. I hesitate to say it creates a profound juxtaposition of pop culture semantics set against the actual ravages of dystopian angst, but that's exactly what it amounts to.7/10: Several episodes have turned up on bargain bin public domain DVD sets out at the dollar stores. Buy a couple, they are worth it.

TVPowers The Flash Gordon 1950's TV series is interesting, mostly due to it's being one of the first science fiction series to be shot on film. The fact that it was made in the still recovering post WWII Germany, and the later episodes in France gives it different look and feel than comparable American lensed shows, such as Rocky Jones, Spacer Ranger.Some of the German episodes are rather dark and grim, with an almost expressionistic look. The budgets are quite low, and while there are a number of model shots of the space craft (such as Gordon & Co.'s Skyflash) many of the effects in the German episodes are largely photo and cel animation. The French episodes feature the Skyflash II, a very shiny rocket model, which seemed to complicate matters for the slightly more ambitious FX in the later episodes.Male model Steve Holland played Flash, which is intriguing, as Holland was the artist model used by James Bama for the Doc Savage novel reprints that were highly successful in the 60's and early 70's. Holland turned up on the cover of many action hero paperbacks. For someone with no real acting experience, he's not too bad -- but he's certainly no match for Buster Crabbe's portrayal.Joe Nash is generally quite good as Zarkov. Irene Champlin seemed to have some trouble (as did many of the actors) in getting her lines out and try to make an actual performance gel in the rushed looking -- possibly single take -- scenes.Producer Ed Gruskin was known for his work in radio (including a Doc Savage series) and writer Bruce Elliot wrote for the pulps, notably a number of Shadow novels under the house name of Maxwell Grant.Some of the music by Roger Roger (yep, that's his name) in the French produced episodes will be very familiar to viewers of low budget horror and Sci-fi films of the 50s,60s, and 70's. The tracks became part of a music library, and are still licensed for use today.

paul meienberg Tala Birell's role is indicated in the credits (not "uncredited" as heretofore indicated). The episode was filmed in Berlin and was the only episode in which Tala appeared. She looked all of her 45 years and would die several years later from cancer. Tala's commanding presence as a vicious queen determined to rule the universe expands the range of camp performances, unfortunately her last role in a 30 years career on stage and in film.