Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

I'm sure that even when this came out a lot of the stuff in this serial seemed pretty silly. But if you watch it, especially if you watch it as it was meant to be watched, one chapter at a time with a break in between, you'll probably find yourself getting into the cliff hangers, and occasionally dazzled by the occasionally sumptuous production values (huge pile of writhing dancing girls, snow mountain photography) and the sometimes ingenious special effects (those mud men always make me jump). The rest of the time, sit back & laugh. They must have known that they were stretching the premise when they made this, the third and last Flash Gordon serial, but the plot pretty much hangs together if you choose to pay attention to it (which can be hard, a lot of explanations are pretty rushed), and the performances are mostly good.

It's a toss-up, if you ask me, between FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE. This one starts off well enough, with some solid scene-staging- but then degenerates quickly into the almost mind-numbing sameness that was the bane of chapter plays. Not doubt the pace of production played an integral part in this: I read somewhere that on one of these serials there were 80 setups in a single day. If THAT doesn't make for some uneven edges, nothing will. Costumes and extensive stock footage seem to have been cobbled together in an almost random manner befitting an Ed Wood epic (though not nearly as bad, to be honest), but it's the lack of the youthful enthusiasm that made the original so much fun that is most deeply felt (or not felt). By this time, they were going through the motions- although Crabbe really did seem to be getting more comfortable in the role. Pity.

This was by far the weakest of the three Flash Gordon serials. It's too long and the action slows down considerably. With that said, there are many good moments throughout. This time, we get a brunette Dale and some nice scenes in Frigia, the snow kingdom. Each episode features a title crawl, recapping events from the previous episode. The idea was so good it was "borrowed" for a later sci-fi series by some guy named Lucas. The whole Purple Death thing is pretty hokey and the villains don't quite rise to the occasion, but Queen Fria is a nice addition. Personally, I would look for the feature version of this one and skip the serial. Otherwise, get your fast-forward button ready for the slow parts.

It's better than a lot of the dreck produced today. It is best not to watch it all at once, but watch one episode a day. When I consider how low the budget was, and how long ago this was made, it adds to the appreciation of this. For example, making a cliff face look like a plausible ice wall by opening the iris wide to let in more light. It's full of cliches - sort of. But remember, they weren't cliche at the time. It is interesting that Ming seems rather reasonable in this - not the over-the-top monster we have come to know and loath - and love!

This was a pretty good serial. Buster Crabbe was made to play the heroic Flash Gordon and Charles Middleton is the perfect Ming. However, it is the action sequences that carry this film. The special effects for this time period are also pretty good, even for the 1940's. The only flaw I find with this, though, is that Jean Rogers is not playing Dale or that Richard Alexander is not playing Barin. The two actors that replace them are okay, but the originals defined the roles. Also, there is no reference to the second serial. Maybe its because if they were to show any footage from the first two, the audience would definitely see that there are different actors playing Dale, Barin and Aura. However, despite these flaws, it is still a great Saturday afternoon serial