Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 
Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor
Written by George H. Plympton, Basil Dickey, and Barry Shipman from the newspaper feature “Flash Gordon” by Alex Raymond
USA/1940
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

Tagline: NEW THRILLS! NEW MARVELS! NEW WONDERS! in 12 NEW Dynamic Episodes

This is for everyone who loves cheesy special effects, ridiculous costumes, and campy over-acting as much as I do.

Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) , formerly Emperor but now in 1940 Dictator of Planet Mongo,  has unleashed the Purple Death upon the Earth as a prelude to his ultimate goal of conquering the Universe.  Dr. Zarkov presciently discovered its source on Mongo and takes off with Flash Gordon (Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe) and Dale Arden on their rocket ship to obtain the antidote and defeat the bad guys.   After countless adventures and constant peril, Flash is said to have “conquered the universe” instead.

These things are easier for me to watch in a condensed form but this was better than most serials as each episode was not too padded with excerpts from previous outings. “Flash Gordon” has an overdose of the Bond-villain syndrome in which the villain always finds an excuse for not polishing off the hero even after the hero has demonstrated many times that he can and will escape. But that is only part of the fun along with the kitschy vision of life in outer space.  I wonder if these things seemed campy even in the 1940s?

I love Charles Middleton’s Ming.  In the commentary to Virginia City, in which he played Jefferson Davis, it was pointed out that Middleton’s regular gig was portraying Abraham Lincoln.  Go figure.

Fan “trailer”/clips