Flash Gordon (serial)

Flash Gordon
Poster for 1936 serial (note tagline),
reissued as Rocketship in 1949
Directed byFrederick Stephani
Screenplay byFrederick Stephani
Ella O'Neill
George H. Plympton
(as George Plympton)
Basil Dickey
Based onFlash Gordon
by Alex Raymond
Produced byHenry MacRae
StarringBuster Crabbe
Jean Rogers
Charles B. Middleton
Priscilla Lawson
Frank Shannon
CinematographyJerome Ash
Richard Fryer
Edited bySaul A. Goodkind
Louis Sackin
Alvin Todd
Edward Todd
Production
company
Universal Pictures
King Features Syndicate
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • April 6, 1936 (1936-04-06)
Running time
245 minutes
(13 episodes)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$350,000[1]

Flash Gordon is a 1936 superhero serial film. Presented in 13 chapters, it is the first screen adventure for Flash Gordon, the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon's visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon portray the film's central characters. In 1996, Flash Gordon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tracey-ImagesJournal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 29, 2020.