FLASH GORDON (1936)

Commentary by Judy Harris

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Screenplay: Frederick Stephani, George Plympton, Basil Dicker, Ella O'Neill

Directed by: Frederick Stephani

The Flash Gordon serials were already 20 years old when I first saw them as a child on TV. Seeing them now with adult eyes, it's easy to laugh at their innocence, political incorrectness and many scientific flaws (not to mention their toylike props and primitive special effects). But even looking at them from the vantage point of the 21st century, with all the special effects expertise squandered on lackluster plots in today's films, FLASH GORDON is still exciting and fast paced.

So much material is jammed into each 20 minute episode; so much plot is advanced with each line of dialogue, you can forgive the awkwardness of some of these lines because there's so much to feast your eyes on.

I never read the Alex Raymond "cartoon strip" but certainly 1932 Olympic medalist Buster Crabbe was born to play the title role. His Flash is a man of action, willing to face any danger, and loyal to every friend, no matter how recent the friendship. Crabbe also is in superb physical shape and up to doing the many fights and stunts required. Although it's obvious when a stunt double stood in for him occasionally, it's equally clear he did most of the athletic stunts himself, including the underwater sequences.

Jean Rogers is likewise the perfect damsel in distress as Dale Arden, blonde and gorgeous and needing rescue at every turn. (Although Dale was dark haired in the Alex Raymond comic strip and in the 2nd and 3rd serials, it is clear nowadays that she bleached her hair in this one because of the popularity of Jean Harlow.) Provoking lust in alien men and jealousy in alien women, she is forever screaming and fainting; this certainly is no role model for any of today's females since she takes no positive action at any time but only serves as a pawn. Although Princess Aura is clearly a villain, she is the female who repeatedly takes decisive action, frequently rescues Flash and moves the action along.

When I first saw these serials, Frank Shannon didn't seem incongruous to play Doctor Zarkov, but with his thick Irish accent, he now strikes the adult me as an odd choice for a Russian scientist. It must have been the beard that made him look both sinister and intellectual, although looking at him now, he reminds me more of Jim Henson. As an adult I had been annoyed at Zarkov's great facility with science (or at least his amazing luck in discovering new "rays"); he is able to summon up a newly discovered ray for almost every contingency: one replaces the power source holding up Vultan's Sky City; one restores Flash's memory which had been lost due to the "drops of forgetfulness"; one makes Flash invisible in time to escape execution; and one communicates the great distance between Earth and Mongo. All this and he designed and built his own rocketship as well (although at the end it couldn't land until all power on Earth was turned off!).  But then I realized that to "meld" properly with the serial, a suspension of disbelief was equally required for the good doctor as for the rest of the cast.  Among the trio of Zarkov, Flash and Dale is everything you need in an adventure film: brains, brawn, bravery, and beauty.

Charles Middleton, long a baddie in Westerns, makes an indelible impression as the bald headed, high collared Ming, every inch the villain par excellence; his occasional hamminess is just part of his overall appeal. Ming does disappear for more of the running time, being replaced by his lesser minions, than for typical serials.

All of the heroes and some of the villains show a lot of thigh in this serial in an apparent attempt to give director Stephani the greater "sexual" look that no other cliffhanger can claim. No costume designer is credited on screen, but I feel for Frank Shannon and Richard Alexander who had to parade around in pretty scanty outfits; they didn't have the athletic build of Buster Crabbe to bring it off. Crabbe, I understand, was embarrassed about having his hair dyed blond, but this is how I first saw him and always think of him, so it's when he's dark haired that he looks odd to me.

Although no credit is given on screen for music, I have subsequently learned Universal recycled music from earlier feature films (perhaps most prominent being Franz Waxman's score for THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN - 1935 for the second and third serials in the trilogy, but others used as well in the first one include THE BLACK CAT - 1934, BOMBAY MAIL - 1934, DESTINATION UNKNOWN - 1933, THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON - 1935, and THE INVISIBLE MAN - 1933) and classical sources (Liszt's LES PRELUDES, for example, dominated FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE).  There's no doubt music plays an important part in making FLASH GORDON a watchable and exciting event.  Interestingly, Waxman's BRIDE music is heard to better effect in the FLASH GORDON serials than in its feature source where it was used under dialogue sequences or drowned out by special effects noises. The militaristic passages, in particular, seem incongruous for BRIDE's villagers and perfectly appropriate for FLASH (in TRIP TO MARS); the creepy themes for Dr. Pretorius and the Monster are heard only fleetingly in BRIDE, but are used repeatedly in the FLASH sequels, fitting especially perfectly to the eerie Clay People sequences in TRIP TO MARS and the corresponding Rock Men episode in CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE.  The "mad scientist" music is from the "creation" sequence of BRIDE.

One of the things that gives me a lot of pleasure in these serials (and in older movies in general) is that the leading actors would be showcased at the beginning or end of the films, with a short silent clip from the film with their name and character's name superimposed. Very occasionally nowadays a film will still do this but, apparently, it is considered very old fashioned and thus extremely rare, but it is something I wish EVERY film did. For the Universal serials of that era, the convention was to showcase the leading actors in each of the FIRST THREE CHAPTERS' credits, then merely list them for the remainder.  (During the 40s and 50s all the serial producers dropped the showcasing practice.)

A word about the cliffhangers I always enjoyed: when I was a kid, there was a Batman serial circulating at kiddie matinees I attended, and it was always interesting to speculate on how the heroes would escape from certain death. Many serials did not play fair and when the action "wound back" at the beginning of each new episode to show the tail end of the previous chapter. Occasionally something would occur to rescue the hero before the doom that awaited him. However, FLASH GORDON, with maybe two or three exceptions, played fair with its cliffhangers, although not all of them were equally nail-biting.

Contrary to today's political correctness, Flash's protective ardor for Dale prompts him to strangle several of Ming's guards. While it's Aura who causes the destruction of the Underwater Shark City, it is Zarkov who nearly destroys the floating Sky City--but of course he had a "saver" ray in his hip pocket. In addition, three animals sacred to Mongo are killed: the orangapoid and the tigron by Flash, Gocko the "huge beast" by Thun and the Fire Dragon by Zarkov--all, of course, to preserve Flash and Dale's life--and therefore justified.  Dale is treated like chattel throughout the 13 chapters, to be married off as a prize like the princesses in Grimm's Fairy Tales--to Ming and Vultan at any rate.  This would be better accepted in today's culture if she had been more assertive.

George Lucas tried to obtain the rights to remake FLASH GORDON and, because he was unsuccessful, the world instead received STAR WARS which went on to be amazingly successful, spawning two sequels (and the three prequels which have since arrived), and having a profound impact on merchandising and special effects for decades. It's easy to see FLASH GORDON's impact on the STAR WARS films in the use of the chapter headings, the text summary of the story background (in FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE at any rate) as well as the overall swashbuckling flavor and larger than life villains and creatures.

I can't help wishing, for all the pleasure this serial has given me over the years and its impact on people like George Lucas, that Universal had enough faith to spend the money to do it properly. There are a couple of sequences that are repeated from earlier chapters; and clearly the soundtrack has been augmented with voices after the fact, not using the original actors. An occasional chapter is dull and padded. Finally, director Frederick Stephani continually uses uninspired shots, framing things poorly or repeating the same camera setups. But perhaps "faith" didn't play a role in the serial's production so much as the studio producers' allocated funds; after all, those were the Depression years.

Despite all of this, FLASH GORDON was a success and went on to spawn two additional serials, the often derided FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940) which for various reasons replaced Jean Rogers, Richard Alexander and Priscilla Lawson as Dale, Barin and Aura; and the truly great FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (1938), which didn't.

Earth is on the verge of destruction, according to "Professor" Gordon and his associate in an observatory, because of the Planet Mongo's being on a collision course. Then we have stock footage of panicking crowds from societies around the world. Flash Gordon is on a transatlantic flight, having left his "polo game" to be with his father . . . at the end. The pilot announces that atmospheric conditions are such that they don't know what might happen, and suggests that the passengers may wish to bail out--a parachute having been placed with each seat. Even the sight of this "transatlantic flight" is amusingly naive; the seats aren't attached to the floor and there are no seat belts. Dale Arden happens to be on this flight. She meets Flash for the first time--being practically thrown in his lap during some turbulence, and the two share a parachute as they leap to safety. They land (in an amazingly fortuitous coincidence) right next to the rocketship of Dr. Zarkov, whom they run into immediately (I told you this was fast paced). Zarkov and Flash both know of each other through Flash's father. Flash introduces Dale after she gives him her name which Flash thinks is a "nice" one.

Zarkov explains his theory that Mongo is inhabited and intensely radioactive. His assistant has turned coward and he asks Flash to help him fly to Mongo in his rocketship. Dale begs to go along and, because Flash says all bets are off unless he agrees to take her, Zarkov is finally persuaded. The ship is just a wonderful design (its outside appearance was "borrowed" unchanged from Fox's feature JUST IMAGINE [1930]), very streamlined and toylike. Its interior is realistically cramped with a sparkler in the middle and no seats or straps of any kind. When Flash asks Zarkov about arriving safely at their destination, Zarkov casually mentions he's made tests with models but they never returned! He then added: "They weren't supposed to." In his excitement at actually taking off, Zarkov forgets to turn on the oxygen, causing Dale nearly to faint. This will prove the beginning of many fainting spells for Dale, as stress seemingly deprives her all-too-quickly of enough oxygen.

Using a "countermagnet" to brake their speed, the rocketship lands on Mongo, doing a belly flop amid a wonderful mountainous miniature with a great matte painting in the background of Ming's Palace atop the mountain. (Every time the rocketship takes off or lands, it seems to have to circle a couple of times, like a dog making itself comfortable before settling down.) Immediately, the ship is menaced by reptilian monsters, really iguana lizards with extra flaps stuck on their backs, made to look the size of dinosaurs against a miniature of the rocketship. (They are not named in this serial, whereas in FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE, Lady Sonja calls these monsters "iguantians," though all shots of them therein are footage from this 1936 serial. All animals encountered herein have names resembling their Earth counterparts--but with enough of a change to make them sound "exotic.")

Shortly thereafter, one of Ming's ships passes by and kills two of the monsters in the heat of battle with "rays" shot from the needle nose of the ship (the ship itself is a similarly wonderful design with a sort of smiley face when viewed straight on). A man in tight fitting armor (Officer Torch) followed by two of his underlings emerge from this ship and take Flash, Dale and Zarkov prisoner.

When they confront Ming in his spacious throne room (which has a handy arena nearby; it's gone in later chapters), Zarkov learns that there will BE no collision, that Ming controls absolutely the movement of "this planet" and plans to destroy the Earth in his own way. Thinking quickly, Zarkov suggests why not conquer it; Ming reflects and says: "Why not?" Ming offers Zarkov the use of his laboratory, realizing he's a remarkable man. Thinking he can be of help in Flash and Dale's cause, Zarkov allows himself meekly to acquiesce. Thereafter he plays up to Ming, but we know where his true allegiance remains.

Then Ming comes on to Dale like an old lecher. Flash rushes to her defense, and engages in a sword fight with Ming's guards. This catches the interest of Ming's daughter, the Princess Aura, who has just appeared on the scene. She bargains to win Flash for her own if he survives a fight in the arena. This turns out to be a wrestling match against 3 fanged (and "older") men wearing only loin cloths. When Flash overcomes them (as expected because he IS so much younger), Aura rushes into the arena and the first cliffhanger brings chapter 1 to an end: Flash and Aura falling through a trap door into a pit, which is the lair of the "dragon of death."

Seeing his daughter fall with Flash, Ming orders a net to save them--just in time. Aura and Flash escape through a secret door into a cavern which figures largely throughout many of the subsequent episodes. At one point she scrunches up to him lustily, asking with a whisper if he "likes" the earth woman.

Aura stashes Flash in one of Ming's rocketships. As soon as he's out of hearing, she vows he will never see Dale again.

When Dale refuses to change her clothes into Mongo's latest wedding gown to marry Ming, he orders his high priest to subject her to the "dehumanizer" for as long as it takes to perform the marriage ceremony. This puts Dale into a trance wherein she can object to nothing. If you pay close attention, you notice that this high priest is a different actor than later in the serial, where he has a more sinister role.

Inside the ship where Aura left him, Flash notices a pair of shorts and a tunic with a white sunburst in front; he then makes them his attire for the rest of the serial. (They are certainly an improvement over his rumpled and torn Earth clothing.) He then amazingly proceeds to start up and fly the rocketship without any previous knowledge, having noticed that Ming's Palace is being attacked by the gyroships of the Lionmen. He takes off to battle them. The gyroships spin like tops and, even more than the rocketships, look like little toys. The Lionmen (of whom we see only one, Thun, their Prince, until Chapter 13), are long haired and bearded.

Flash somewhat ineptly (he's clearly still learning to fly the thing) smashes into Thun's gyroship and both vessels crash. On the ground, they miraculously emerge completely unharmed (the first of many such incidents throughout the three serials) and fight hand to hand. Of course, Flash defeats Thun but gallantly spares his life, saying he fought only to save his friends. This forges an instant friendship between them. Thun then shows Flash a secret passage ("secret" appears to be the only kind of passage that exists throughout the series. Secret from whom?: one wonders) to the Palace, where they overcome the single guard minding the entrance and force him to take them to Zarkov in the lab. Without explaining the means, Zarkov tells Flash that Mongo no longer will collide with Earth--to which Flash heartily replies," Aha! That's fine!"

Dale is hypnotized by a flashing light (the dehumanizer) and dressed up like a harem girl in a tight fitting bra and flowing skirt, her midriff bare (above her navel, hardly the traditional Earth wedding outfit). Her hair, which previously had been pinned up, is now loose and flowing.

The high priest consults the oracle to see if the god Tao approves of the marriage (stock footage of dancing girls writhing before a huge idol, also from Fox's JUST IMAGINE). Flash sees this also on the spaceograph (sort of a TV monitor-sized picturephone) in Zarkov's lab and learns of the impending marriage between Ming and Dale. Quite beside himself, he forces the guard to take him to the tunnel leading to the secret chamber where the marriage is to take place. Zarkov butters up Ming and manages to be invited as well.

The marriage takes place before a completely different idol, which also is Tao (the original viewers weren't expected to contemplate the difference from the JUST IMAGINE footage), and is more lifesize and Egyptian in appearance, flanked by two small Sphinxes (this one is a prop left over from THE MUMMY [1932]). The ceremony seems to consist of nothing more than a gong being struck 13 times. On the 13th stroke of the sacred gong, the ceremony will be completed. No words uttered; no vows taken. As a wedding ceremony, it's a piece of cake for Ming (without any subsequent "cake," by the way).

Flash hurries to Dale's rescue, slowed down first by a contingent of Ming's guards, and then by a huge creature called Gocko everywhere but in this serial's dialogue.  The Fire Dragon in Chapter 9 appears to be the same creature, but there breathes fire while "Gocko" doesn't.  It walks upright and has lobster-like claws. I had not read JABBERWOCKY when I first saw this as a child, but even now that's what I think of when I read that Lewis Carroll poem. (In a 1971 interview, Buster Crabbe, then in his 60s, revealed inside this costume was Glenn Strange, who also had a bit part as one of Ming's guards.) This dragon is the second cliffhanger, as Flash is caught up in one of its claws and loses consciousness.

Thun overcomes the last of Ming's guards and with one of their rifle sized ray guns, he shoots Gocko dead (proving the later-seen Fire Dragon is a different monster) and rescues Flash. Flash strangles the "musician" before he can strike the gong for the 13th time. When Flash and Thun--hidden from the rear--push against the idol, it causes the idol's arm to move in an ominous way, such that the high priest decides Tao is displeased. Flash and Thun push over the idol entirely as the wedding guests sound--strangely enough--as though they are clucking chickens in a henhouse (yes, that's exactly what they sound like). Flash and Thun grab Dale and bolt.

Dale's memory returns just before Flash and she fall through yet another trap door into an underground river, where Flash fights with Shark Men (ordinary men wearing bathing caps, even out of the water). Our heroes are taken prisoner and placed in a hydrocycle (from the outside, this looks like a submarine with side fins; from the inside it is indistinguishable from the rocketships). En route we are shown some stock footage of an octopus fighting with a moray eel and a shark; the Sharkmen call the octopus an "octosac".

In Kala's underwater palace, Flash and Kala fight and when Flash overcomes him, Kala "salutes" Flash and pretends he's going to let him and Dale go "in the morning." However, he merely separates them and locks Flash in a tank which he then starts filling with water, saying venomously (obviously he's a poor loser): "No man can pit his strength against Kala and live!" Then he releases an octosac, one tentacle of which keeps grabbing Flash by one of his legs and pulling him underwater--as the third cliffhanger.

Dale is forced to watch Flash's underwater struggles and faints from the sight of them. Aura and Thun arrive and, using a ray gun, Aura forces Kala to drain the tank. Though this takes a while, Aura finally rescues Flash and tries to get him to leave with her, but Flash insists on going back for Dale (no concern is shown here for Thun, who wouldn't be in this situation if he hadn't offered Flash his friendship). Spitefully, Aura destroys the controls which keep the water out of the underwater city and the sea starts to ooze its way in with the bulkheads creaking--slowly at first. Once again, Dale passes out from lack of air. Back in Ming's palace, Zarkov attempts a radio message to Earth's Professor Gordon, who believes "they are signals from that strange planet whose wild rush toward the earth ended so mysteriously and abruptly."  Kala tries to contact Ming on the spaceograph but the sea breaks through and swamps everyone, for this episode's cliffhanger. (These events in short description still manage to take 15 plus minutes.)

Using a ray to counteract the magnetic power that holds Kala's Shark Palace underwater, Ming raises the underwater city to the surface. Our heroes are, however, sopping wet from the experience. Flash declaims that its too late to "worry" about Kala and his Shark People, who are already gone and will never be seen again.

Prince Barin, appearing for the first time in Ming's lab, initiates a conversation with Zarkov, claiming to be the "real" ruler of Mongo, dethroned when a child by Ming the Merciless, who killed his father. Barin wears body armor, a cape and a helmet like a Roman centurion. He promises to rescue Flash in return for Zarkov's allegiance. They head off in Barin's rocketship which takes off from a hole in the rocks (did it have to be "backed" in?).

Flash, Dale, Aura and Thun emerge from a wet cave, their clothes rapidly drying, into a valley and see some winged men flying about in the distance; these are some of the best miniatures of the entire series. They are the Hawkmen of King Vultan, an "ally" of Ming. The Hawkmen have huge wings, even when they aren't flying, and helmets which also have wings on the side; they wear short skirts like more Roman centurions. A fight ensues; Dale and Thun are captured and shown being flown upward in the arms of the Hawkmen, but Flash takes on other Hawkmen in fine fashion as Barin's ship lands. Barin encounters Aura and they locate Flash in time to scare away the Hawkmen he was fighting. A new friendship is forged with Barin as he offers to fly Zarkov, Flash and Aura up to Vultan's Sky City. Aura asks to be taken back to her father first, but Flash says she's caused enough trouble already, adding that he'll take her back after "we've gotten them"--referring of course to Dale and Thun. Barin's ship takes off, with a lot of rocking inside the cabin, presaging a rough trip.

In Vultan's Sky City, which is a Swiftian island in the sky, held aloft by 3 visible beams of light, Thun has been sent to the atom furnaces. A guard whips all the prisoners as they manually shovel radium (!) into the furnaces.

King Vultan is a boorishly jolly, fat monarch with a beard and a husky laugh that never seems to stop. Like Ming, he lusts after Dale and torments her with a bear with stripes painted on it. When he learns Barin's ship is approaching, he orders the melting ray be used against it. This looks very much like an ordinary search light. Fortunately, Barin's ship is equipped with resisto-force (always handy in a situation like this) which neutralizes the melting ray. However, eventually this resisto-force is "exhausted by the power of those melting rays," and Barin's ship plummets for the latest cliffhanger.

Barin's ship is saved by falling into the gravity-defying rays which support Vultan's Sky City. Aura, Barin, Flash and Zarkov are brought before Vultan who, like Ming before him, allows Zarkov the freedom of his laboratory and sends Flash and Barin to the furnace room where he had already put Thun.

There, a Hawkman regulates the furnace using a ludicrously oversized control, like something out of METROPOLIS (1927). Flash and Barin, stripped to the waist, join the other prisoners.

In Vultan's lab, which looks suspiciously like Ming's, Zarkov learns the Sky City is supported by the gravity resisting rays thrown off by the atom furnace. Vultan requires that he find a substitute ray and Zarkov has extra incentive because he knows that long term exposure to the radium in the furnace room will kill Flash and his friends--even though Vultan assures him: "It's a pleasant death."

Just then Aura catches up with Dale and warns her that she should play up to Vultan if she wants to save Flash. Otherwise, she'll pay for her "selfishness" with his life. Dale, who is kind of wimpish, says, forlornly, that she will. Then we have a banquet, with Vultan feeding his face gluttonously while we see stock footage of dancers on a large staired platform (this time, from the silent movie MIDNIGHT SUN [1926]). Dale, looking almost anorexic, is not hungry--obviously worrying about Flash. Vultan offers her a huge, hand-selected drumstick; she pushes it away. Aura tells Vultan that Dale likes him which Dale, obviously lying, backs up.

When a guard whips a prisoner who has collapsed, Flash comes to his rescue, fomenting a mutiny which is overcome. Dale sees Flash being whipped in the Furnace Room and faints again.

As punishment for starting the mutiny, Flash is taken to the Static Room. Strapped to an apparatus suspended above a machine giving off sparks, he is nearly electrocuted in this chapter's cliffhanger.

Dale faints yet again to see Flash tortured in the Static Room. Aura threatens Vultan with a ray gun, who then realizes that Flash is the object of Aura's desires, and (under duress) orders that Flash be cut down.  He is brought to Zarkov to be revived in an electro-stimulator.

Dale gets a more demure outfit to wear from Vultan, who tries to win her by performing shadow puppets and giving her jewels, but it's no use; she's forlorn and keeps saying no to every one of his ploys. Alternatively, Aura declares to Flash that she loves him--and can make him "a king"--but he makes it clear he intends to return to Earth eventually with Dale. Enraged with jealousy, Aura threatens him with a blowtorch but can't bring herself to harm him. Flash, who obviously reads women like a book, does nothing to stop her.

Flash tries to rescue Dale from Vultan but gets sent to the Furnace Room yet again, where Zarkov is forced to hook up a high voltage wire to a shackle on Flash's wrist. If he tries to escape again, he'll be electrocuted.

Ming arrives with his phalanx of guards and demands the return of his daughter and all the prisoners, but Vultan has his Hawkmen standing by brandishing their weapons and negotiates from a position of power.

During Flash's break from shoveling radium, Zarkov sneaks back and reattaches the shackle to the handle of a shovel--telling Flash what he needs to do. Flash throws the shovel into the furnace, yelling, "Run for the wall, men," (in a very un-Crabbe-like voice) which results in this episode's cliffhanging explosion.

Escaping from the Furnace Room after the explosion, Flash dashes to the throne room and threatens Ming with a sword but is overcome (inadvertantly made possible by Dale's grabbing Flash) and taken to the Execution Room. He escapes as the Sky City becomes unstable now that the furnace has been destroyed, no longer producing the rays which kept it aloft.

Zarkov agrees to save the city with a new ray he has discovered provided Vultan frees his friends. Vultan agrees--swearing it "by the great god Tao." Zarkov turns on the ray, which appears nothing more than an electric arc sliding up between two electrodes. Amazingly this simple device does everything that the radium and the atom furnaces did before, and the badly tipping city at once rights itself. Vultan now changes to the good, having sworn by Tao, and is prepared to free the prisoners. But Ming--remaining evil to the end--states that that promise shall not be kept, and calls for a Tournament of Death. If Flash survives, he wins his liberty, a kingdom of his own and the bride of his choice.

Wearing a new outfit, Flash crosses swords with his opponent, the Mighty Masked Swordsman of Mongo. After a prolonged bout, Flash unmasks the swordsman as Barin, who says he was forced into it. Barin apologizes to Flash and reveals he is in love with Princess Aura and hoped to win her as the bride of his choice during the tournament.

Ming has now decreed Flash must fight "the mighty beast of Mongo" which is an orangapoid (actually a man in a pretty decent gorilla suit with a single horn in the middle of its forehead, like a unicorn). Armed only with a knife, which he soon loses, Flash engages in a protracted but losing battle with this creature as this episode's cliffhanger.

Aura once again rescues Flash by grabbing a spear from a guard and giving it to Flash who uses it to kill the orangapoid (at the "white spot" at the base of his throat). Highly displeased at the way things have turned out, Ming nevertheless agrees to reward the champion(s) in three days hence, on Feast Day, at his Palace.

Back in Ming's Palace, Aura spots Flash kissing Dale. Infuriated, she, in turn, is seen observing the lovers' behavior by the high priest. He offers to help her win Flash for herself. With his help, she has Flash and Barin drugged to a deathlike sleep and Flash spirited away. Zarkov finds Barin drugged and Flash missing, with a scarf carelessly left by Aura nearby. Upon interrogating Aura's guard, Barin (who's now wide awake), Vultan, Zarkov and Dale discover where Aura has taken Flash and set off after him.

Flash awakens briefly and is given a second drug by Aura which causes complete amnesia, as they enter the Tunnel of Terror guarded by the Fire Dragon (the same creature, but now breathing fire, from Chapter 2's cliffhanger). The monster presently sleeps but can be quickly awakened by a gong. Betraying Aura, the crafty high priest (who knows where his bread is buttered) strikes the gong, quickly summoning the dragon as Dale, Barin, Vultan and Zarkov arrive. Flash is unconscious on a gurney, at the mercy of the fire breathing dragon as this chapter's cliffhanger.

Zarkov destroys the dragon with a grenade he luckily happens to be carrying. He recognizes Flash has been given a powerful drug, but is unable (then) to counteract his memory loss.

At the ceremony to reward Flash for surviving the tournament, Flash is unable to remember anything and refuses to choose a bride. Aura leads Flash away, over Vultan's protest, so Ming has Vultan imprisoned.

Misled by Aura, Flash repudiates his friends. Aura comes on to him with Dale present, telling Flash that Dale is one of the Emperor's wives and perhaps she "will leave us" if she knows "we" don't want her. The action here is very slow paced--for a serial. With Zarkov holding Flash's arms from behind him, he has Barin knock him out in order to get him to Zarkov's lab. Belatedly, Zarkov now has a ray which restores Flash's memory. Dale waxes ecstatic that Flash remembers her again.

Ming's guards break into Zarkov's lab and just as they are about to execute Flash, he becomes invisible, scaring the guards away, in this chapter's cliffhanger.

Zarkov has made Flash invisible by yet another ray he has discovered, produced by his newly assembled invisibility machine. Flash uses his new invisibility to choke Ming in his own throne room, but spares his life at the request of Prince Barin, who loves his daughter. Flash then frees Vultan from his cell, making a fool of the cell guard in the bargain.

Aura spies on the lab and discovers the plans of Flash and his friends. Vultan, Zarkov and the invisible Flash carry power magazines to Zarkov's rocketship (Zarkov can barely lift his, while the unseen Flash teasingly eggs him on). Dale and Barin remain in the lab to guard the invisibility machine. Then Barin notices Aura's listening device and, acting quickly, takes Dale to a cave in the catacombs under the palace for her safety.

Aura and another longhaired female servant set out to find Dale using the sacred Tigron (a tiger on a leash). Flash spontaneously becomes visible during a struggle with Officer Torch, as Barin returns. Flash and Barin set off to retrieve Dale, as the Tigron attacks her in this chapter's cliffhanger.

Flash strangles the Tigron with his bare hands, rescuing Dale, who is none the worse for her presumed mauling. Flash non-chalantly remarks that he guessed he got there just in time. Barin convinces Aura to win Flash's friendship by helping him (Aura had earlier used this argument on Vultan about Dale). Aura brings Flash, Dale and Barin to the throne room, where their sheer bravado allows them to get the best of Ming's guards before they know what's happened. Barin declares his love for Aura while holding a sword over Ming's head.

Seeing the "reasonableness" of our heroes' position, Ming grants everyone's freedom, but it's just another ploy and he sets spies on Flash and his friends. Although he's eager to be rid of Flash, Ming still lusts after Dale and wants to retain that scientific genius, Dr. Zarkov to help him conquer the universe.

Zarkov contacts Thun on the spaceograph and asks him to meet at Vultan's Palace. Barin arranges to meet Flash at the turret house by the Lake of Rocks, but is overheard by Ming's spies. Ming captures Barin and uses Barin's ship to fire on Flash and his friends--now including Vultan, trapping them in the turret house in a fiery explosion which is this chapter's cliffhanger.

Flash finds a trap door through which everyone escapes before the turret house is destroyed in the explosion. As they make their way through yet another underground tunnel, they see Barin being led to prison and rescue him. Barin yells "Flash!" in an obviously different voice from Richard Alexander's, yet another of many voice substitutions.

They return to Ming's lab where Zarkov has electrified the door to prevent Ming's guards attacking them, but Ming has the power turned off. (Zarkov was foiled too easily on that one.) Just as his guards are about to nab Flash and his friends, Thun leads an air attack in his gyroships and the Lionmen break (quickly) into the throne room. In the general melee, Ming escapes to and enters the Sacred Palace of the Great God Tao "from which no man returns" according to the hardly reliable high priest. After a few steps inside, Ming disappears in a puff of steam. The high priest announces Ming's death to Flash and Aura. They appear to believe him.

Aura now rules Mongo with Barin as her consort. Barin, Aura, Thun and Vultan see their Earth friends off as they board their rocketship for the return trip to Earth. Once airborne, however, the high priest can't resist gloating to Aura that they are doomed because he has planted a bomb in Zarkov's rocketship. Barin quickly heads to the lab to contact Flash via Zarkov's radio. Flash finds the bomb and opens the door of the rocketship--against the "full atmosphere" of "outer space" and chucks it out seconds before it explodes.

En route to Earth, flash communicates with his father, requesting that all power on Earth be turned off (!), all power that might "counteract ours." There is a brief montage of stock footage of newspaper headlines, excited crowds and the charming old New York skyline, but Flash and Dale are oblivious, giving each other perhaps the most passionate kiss in serialdom.

A version of this serial was severely but successfully cut and re-released as a feature film later in 1936, retitled ROCKETSHIP. Years later a different cutting and editing of the serial resulted in SPACESHIP TO THE UNKNOWN. For TV distribution in the 50s, the serial itself was renamed SPACE SOLDIERS to avoid confusion with an unsuccessful FLASH GORDON TV series.

FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS  (1938)-----claycaves & posterposterFlash & Aura

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE   (1940)

Cast's other credits