December 21: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940 -- Ford Beebe & Ray Taylor)

★★★

This Flash Gordon serial is at least as engaging as the two earlier and, in some ways, even more so.  Like the two previous, it starts with a threat to the earth, but while the other serials spend some time on discovery of the problem and pulling together a response, by the time this series has told us about the threat, Flash, Dale and Zarkov are already in space and engaged in an air battle.  And just as the episode's opening benefits from the condensed story, the rest of these episodes compress action and race forward.

Art director Harold MacArthur appears to have been given free rein to use any costumes he could find at Universal, and he embraced that freedom with relish.  Flash starts his adventures with his hunky body discretely wrapped in a military uniform, but he’s soon in tights and a Cossack hat, showing his contours.  Queen Fria’s court has an historical drama look that sometimes slips into a beauty pageant, while Ming and those who dance for him suggest an oriental adventure.  The local costume of Prince Barin’s realm appears to be cut from Robin Hood films with caps, sweeping feathers, tights and tunics.  And there are some plucky rock men in papier-mâché costumes perhaps created for the series.  The art design here is a great overview of the look of film of the 30s.

But the US was preparing for war in 1940, and that atmosphere is clear in many elements of this Flash Gordon.  While air battles had been a staple of the series, they’re far more common here than in previous Flash serials.  Ming is occasionally called a “dictator” instead of an emperor here, and there’s a whiff of eugenics in Fria’s condescension to the Rock People who, being dumb and blocky, should die.  Flash’s initial uniform is yet another index of the times, as are the long-range canon and the bombing of the castle.  And the presence of double agents and spies on both sides are new to the Flash serials, too.

And like the other series, Flash 40 lends itself to playing Spot-the-Star-Wars-Elements.  The game can start early as the first narrative titles, which scroll from the bottom of the page and recede into space above, just like they do in all the Star Wars movies.  Cloaking devices render spacecraft invisible to opposing armies, and Ming’s programed robots attack Flash & co.  Of course, there is both an emperor and a princess here, and there’s a particularly strong connection between the Rock People and the Jawa traders in Episode IV.  The Rock People blend in and out of the environment and speak their own language, just as we see the Jawa do on  Tatooine.  It’s a striking connection.

But the most fun in this Flash Gordon is the rush from one noble act to the next and the sincerity that Buster Crabb brings to the hero.  At one point here, Zarkov says of Ming: “We can destroy him and his palace, but that would mean our death as well.”  Undeterred, Flash responds, “It would be worth it if we could save the universe by doing so.”

They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore.