''Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'' is a 1938

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

15–chapter

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

movie serial based on the syndicated newspaper comic strip ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established '' Buck Rogers'' adv ...

''. It is the second of the three Flash Gordon serials made by Universal between 1936 and 1940. The main cast from the first serial reprise their roles:

Buster Crabbe Clarence Linden Crabbe II (; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimmi ...

as Flash Gordon, Jean Rogers as

Dale Arden Dale Arden is a fictional character, the fellow adventurer and love interest of Flash Gordon and a prototypic heroine for later female characters, including Princess Leia and Padme Amidala in '' Star Wars''. Flash, Dale and Dr. Hans Zarkov fi ...

Frank Shannon Francis Connolly Shannon (27 July 1874 – 1 February 1959) was an Irish actor and writer. Career A stage actor and silent film pioneer, Shannon made his screen debut in 1913's '' The Artist's Joke''. He later appeared in dozens of film ...

as Dr. Alexis Zarkov,

Charles B. Middleton Charles Brown Middleton (October 3, 1874 – April 22, 1949) was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well as numerous plays. Sometimes credi ...

Ming the Merciless Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, television series and film adaptation. Ming is depicted as ...

, and Richard Alexander as Prince Barin. Also in the principal cast are Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura, Donald Kerr as Happy Hapgood, Montague Shaw as the Clay King, and

Wheeler Oakman Wheeler Oakman (born Vivian Eichelberger; February 21, 1890 – March 19, 1949) was an American film actor. Early years Oakman was born as Vivian Eichelberger in Washington, D.C., and educated in that city's schools. He grew up in Fairfax, Vir ...

as Ming's chief henchman. The serial was followed by '' Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe'' (1940).

Plot

When a mysterious beam of light starts disrupting and destroying the Earth's atmosphere, Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon), and Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) - accidentally accompanied by wisecracking reporter Happy Hapgood (Donald Kerr) - swing into action in Zarkov's rocketship, believing that it could be coming from the planet Mongo. Once in space, however, they discover that the ray is originating from Mars. Journeying to the fourth planet, they discover that their old enemy from Mongo, Ming the Merciless (Charles B. Middleton), whom they had believed dead, is still alive, and has formed an alliance with Azura (Beatrice Roberts), the Witch Queen of Mars. From Azura's planet, and under her protection, he is operating a gigantic Nitron ray that is destroying Earth's atmosphere. Azura's powers include the ability to transmute people into figures of living clay, condemned to live in darkened caves, and she is hated and feared by most of the population. Conversely, the Clay People, led by their King (C. Montague Shaw), know the secret of how to eliminate Azura's power, but lack the means of escaping the caves to which their ruined bodies restrict them, to battle her. Gordon and his party seem to hold the answer to their problem, except that the Clay People do not trust them at first, and end up holding Dale Arden hostage. Ultimately, the Earth visitors and the Clay People become allies in the tandem quest to defeat Azura and stop Ming from destroying the Earth. Flash, Dale, Zarkov, and Hapgood do battle against Azura's magic and her Martian space force, Ming's super-scientific weaponry, the treacherous Forest People, and other dangers on the Red Planet. Finally, they win by the classic strategy of divide-and-conquer, showing Azura that Ming has been plotting behind her back to take power from her. Azura's alliance with Ming is broken, at the cost of the Queen's own life, but the Clay People are freed from their curse. The evil emperor of Mongo, his Nitron ray destroyed and his escape cut off on all sides by the now hostile Martian forces, is finally destroyed by the accidental result of his own machinations and treachery.

Cast

* Jean Rogers as

as Dr. Alexis Zarkov * Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura * Donald Kerr as Happy Hapgood * Richard Alexander as Prince Barin *

C. Montague Shaw Charles Montague Shaw (23 March 1882 – 6 February 1968) was an Australian character actor, often appearing in small supporting parts in more than 150 films. Shaw was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He began his acting car ...

as Clay King *

as Tarnak *

Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan (February 17, 1903 – February 5, 1972) was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, bu ...

as Airdrome captain *

Warner Richmond Warner Richmond (born Werner Paul Otto Raetzmann; January 11, 1886 – June 19, 1948) was an American stage and film actor. He began his career as a stock theatre actor and appeared in films in both the silent film and sound eras. His career spa ...

as Zandar Cast notes: * Charles Middleton's portrayal of Ming is more reminiscent of the Devil in this serial, as opposed his

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, co ...

-like performance in the first serial.

Production

This serial, the first sequel to the ''Flash Gordon'' serial, was based on the 1936 "

Big Little Book The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted t ...

" adaptation of the strip "Flash Gordon and the Witch Queen of Mongo". According to Harmon and Glut, the location was changed to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

to capitalize on

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

' famous '' War of the Worlds'' broadcast. According to Stedman, this serial preceded that broadcast, which made Universal hastily release a feature version of the serial as ''Mars Attacks the World'' to capitalize on the publicity. The film was a box-office success. ''Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'' was less expensive to make than the first Flash Gordon serial.

''Mars Attacks the World''

also prepared a feature-length version of this serial, which was already ready for release in October 1938 when Orson Welles astounded the country with his ''

Mercury Theatre on the Air ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with mus ...

'' radio production of H. G. Wells's ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

''. Universal then quickly had the feature's title changed to ''Mars Attacks the World'', and a week after the Welles broadcast, opened it at a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

theater as a major premiere event. The original title for this feature had been ''Rocket Ship'', which was subsequently used for reissues of the first Flash Gordon serial's feature version, which had been originally released under its source serial's title in 1936 in the United Kingdom. - New York State Archives Script Collection

Critical reception

''Time'' in 1938 declared the serial to be "a Grade A cinemedition of the famed

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial ...

strip".

Television broadcasting

In the 1950s, the three serials were broadcast on American television. To avoid confusion with a made-for-TV Flash Gordon series airing at the same time, they were retitled, becoming respectively ''Space Soldiers'', ''Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars'', and ''Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe''. They were shown by PBS U.S. stations, and by the BBC in the United Kingdom – where they aired as ''Flash Gordon'' serials, under their original titles.

Chapters

*01 "New Worlds to Conquer" *02 "The Living Dead" *03 "Queen of Magic" *04 "Ancient Enemies" *05 "The Boomerang" *06 "Tree-men of Mars" *07 "The Prisoner of Mongo" *08 "The Black Sapphire of Kalu" *09 "Symbol of Death" *10 "Incense of Forgetfulness" *11 "Human Bait" *12 "Ming the Merciless" *13 "The Miracle of Magic" *14 "A Beast at Bay" *15 "An Eye for an Eye" Source:

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1938 films 1930s science fiction action films 1930s science fiction adventure films American black-and-white films American science fiction action films American space adventure films American sequel films 1930s English-language films Films about extraterrestrial life Films based on comic strips Films directed by Ford Beebe Films directed by Robert F. Hill Flash Gordon films Live-action films based on comics Mars in film Films set in New York City Films set in Washington, D.C. Universal Pictures film serials 1930s American films