Flash Gordon. 1936. USA. Directed by Frederick Stephani, Ray Taylor. Screenplay by Stephani, Ella O’Neill, George Plympton, Basil Dickey. With Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton. New York premiere. 245 min.
Presented on newly struck 35mm in a nonstop, thrill-a-minute Saturday matinee marathon—one fell swoop!!—Universal Pictures’ Flash Gordon serial of 1936 is still one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. “Channeled most famously by George Lucas into the Star Wars franchise, the 13-chapter Flash Gordon serial from 1936—with its mashup of ancient religion and advanced technology, cliffhanger endings, an artificial planet, and episode titles such as ‘The Destroying Ray’ —is the urtext of the contemporary science fiction blockbuster. For every charmingly (and not-so-charmingly) dated moment—the menacing iguanas shot in slow-motion, the spaceships with smoking tailpipes, a galaxy pre-colonized by Earth-bound Orientalism—Flash exudes a modern sensibility, from Buster Crabbe’s quotable quips to the rip-roaring pace of its 20-minute narrative chunks” (UCLA).
35mm restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, with funding provided by the Packard Humanities Institute.
Presented with a ten-minute intermission following episode seven.