Sci-Fi Classic Review: FLASH GORDON (1936)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- The original Flash Gordon serial is arguably the first successful cinematic example of what would later be called the "space opera." Without exaggeration, it is one of the most influential films ever created.
If you're looking for a "review" in the traditional sense, then let me just say I love this movie. This video, however, is a "review" in the literal sense (using the Miriam-Webster definition "a retrospective view or survey"), in that I'm going over the history of the film and its place in sci-fi cinema history.
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I watched this as a kid and loved every bit of its cheesiness ....
When I was little, my Mom told me how much she loved OG Flash Gordon when she grew up. In the early 90s the PBS station in the town where I lived did a Saturday night movie with hosts and songs, and one Saturday they showed "Enemy From Space", the US title of "Quatermass 2", and then started "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe", one per week as is the way. I loved them both, the Flash Gordon serial was amazing. Buster Crabbe was just perfect, and I loved the actresses playing Dale Arden and Princess Aura. Aura was everything, I had a crush on her, too.
Buster Crabbe was a very likeable personality on screen and he maintained down the years that Charles Middleton was the biggest asset to these serials. The BBC used to show these during school holidays at Easter and Christmas in the 1970's.
It is time for a new Flash Gordon, but I fear they will "reimagine" it (like the 2007 television series), and maybe I'm alone here, but I'm kinda getting tired of pop culture reinventing the wheel.
I took a tour of Universal Studios in 1979 when “Battlestar Galactica” was all the rage, and was delighted to see a “Flash Gordon” set that was still being used as part of the tour. It even demonstrated a spaceship landing, showing how all the special effects of the day worked.
Lets face it... There was BEFORE Flash Gordon & AFTER it! I always had a soft spot for the late 70's animated edition. (RIP Robert Ridgley!)
Ridgley was the hangman in blazing saddle.
@@cpcva724 He sure was... then he reprised the role in 'Men In Tights'!
I liked him as Tarzan, too.
Buster Crabb will always be my Flash Gordon. I was lucky when I saw this serial; I was single digits (5? 6? 7?), it was onky a few decades after it was made so my bar wasnt as high set as nowadays kids would be, it was on TV (and a Black & White one at that) making that bar even lower since Lost in Space, etc, were still impressive to us, it was a guilty treat in that I had to sneak watching it due to how late its rerunning was (the Late late show) and, it was the finalky sewing my Gold Key comic hero and Mongo come to life. Icing on the cake being this Dale was probably my first crush. I can onky imagine how awesome this would've been for that 1st generation of viewers getting to not only see it on the big screen and having this be state of the art Fx but getting to know that it was all brand new and that these actors were still going and potentially going to keep making more.
I always wonder how did it feel to see these serials back in the 1930's. It must've blown so many minds!
Imagine in 90 years when someone is doing a Classic Review of Avengers Endgame when they say it doesn't stand up by modern standards 😁
Change is the only constant! Great video!
Or nobody will remember any of the Marvel/DC movies in 90 years because they're mediocre now 😂😂
this is a fantastic serial as are the two successors.
My wife and I collect serials, when we can find them in decent condition (not easy, given the age of the prints), so this was a fun overview. I love the cheesiness of the Flash Gordons (relatively speaking; it's hardly fair to apply 200+ standards to a 1930s/40s production, no matter how much money was involved), and look forward to seeing a video on the 1980 De Laurentiis production.
Annie Wilkes bit = perfect for a video about serials and their cliffhangers.
I believe that Flash's world could be realized yet again today, in a Netflix or Amazon or Hulu original production. Maybe a limited series would work well. But they'd need to inject more depth into the stories and scripts than what the 1930's did; after all, audiences have become (mostly) so much more sophisticated since then, as has storytelling entertainment. Personally I would prefer more intellectual stuff and power struggles and character exploration (vs. excessive, constant action and battles and chases). Also, they could keep going back and forth between other planets (like Mongo) and Earth circa the 1930's, which would give the studio a chance to show off nifty sets, costumes, cars and props of the American period. I'm a sucker for retro stuff like that.
PS: Your "old timey" announcer narration is always fun, by the way. 👍😃
I like the way you think! I would watch the heck out of that.
I remember this as a little kid no not at the movies I'm not that old .. but on British TV in the 1970s it was shown during the summer holidays.
Thank you for this i might give it a look (:
Just found this channel, really awesome ! Can’t wait to see the rest of these. Hi from the U.K.
Hi from Middle America. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek That’s cool! Love stuff about movie production !
I agree that Aura was by far the better character; she MADE things happen. All Dale was allowed to do in the first serial was be the first to notice when the air was running out. Interestingly, the comics had Dale having a lot more agency, she would often pick up a ray gun and fight alongside Flash, disobey his orders to leave his side for safety, give him into trouble for flirting with other women etc. I wonder if this didn't fit the 'ladylike' behaviour film censors were after?
My dad watched these as a kid, said he’d see them at the cinema on a Saturday morning in Manchester!
I recently saw 1 episode...i really enjoyed it!
I'm more a Buck Rogers guy, but I have to admit the 1980 Flash Gordon just makes me smile. And that's worth something, I think.
In defense of the star, I think he needed to play it perfectly straight, or it wouldn't be funny at all.
Love TUG takes on these Gems. & Robot Monster’s Coming !
good
Fun & enjoyable popcorn sci-fi.
Have you seen Tarzan The Fearless 1933? It can be found on TH-cam. Buster Crabbe starred in it
Also inspired "Captain Proton" within Star Trek Voyager
rad.
Please check out the Gene Autry series Phantom Empire from the preceding year
In the early 80s I became exposed to this series on a PBS weekend show called Matinee at the Bijou. I liked it and thought--like Annie Wilks---HEY that's not what happened last week (yes the show only aired once a week on the PBS broadcast), and We've been ripped off. Then I contemplated the era in which this show was made and realized that no matter how much a kid might dwell on the episode over the week, his REAL lift of farm work and schooling would cloud his memory of all but the major plot points and so tiny details might pass unnoticed. I liked the series much better than the film (QUEEEN) version, and no, I do not care that the 'SJW' aspects of the film are seen, today, as OFFENSIVE. They are not. They were reflections of the time, and who can be offended by a mere reflection? What is the point? After all, we can't time travel back to those days--not the the modern SJWs wouldn't try it if TIME TRAVEL were a thing--and 'educate' those people. If that were possible, I would go myself and tell the people of the day to instantly read Sex and Culture by JD Unwin and ensure that the SJWs are banished by sending them all instantly to Chad in Africa. Also, I would tell them that McCarthy was correct.
Doesn't seem like the original serial has been remastered to modern standards?
But please, dear Lord, spare us another “Flash Gordon“ remake! I just recently saw the one with the soundtrack by Queen, and just could not take more than 30 minutes of it.
I love the 1980 version. It's very cheesy, but also very fun. It's actually surprising that George Lucas didn't make a Flash Gordon movie after the success of Star Wars.
He tried to *before* Star Wars, but Dino Delaurentis owned the film rights and wouldn't let sell. So he said "to heck with it I'll create my own version," and *that* became Star Wars.
@@jasontoddman7265but after Star Wars he probably could have done it
@@BackupChannel-nq6fg Maybe, but after Star Wars - and after the Flash Gordon movie that did come out for that matter -what would have been the point? At least for the next few years?
Like 100👍 you deserve so many more my guy Haha
Saw this on TV in the 60s Thought Jean Rogers was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen I was 13
Funny I have a bit of a crush on Dale Arden
I enjoy Flash Gordon
But it's past time for someone to create a new original Sci Fi story
Buster Crabbe
I just don't see how a modern Flash Gordon could co-exist with Star Wars. Even if Wars was technically the rip-off, at this point, it's done everything Flash Gordon did and then some.
Fair point