There were many very fine heroes and villains of the serials, but clearly, Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, and Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless were the tops in their respective fields. These fine performers, plus the return of our old friend Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkhov, help make this an entertaining and appealing serial.This is the most polished and opulent of the Flash Gordon serials, although it lacks the passion and visceral excitement of the 1st serial. Also, it lacks the performers who originated the roles of Dale Arden, Prince Barrin, and Princess Aura. The actors who replaced Barrin and Aura are at least adequate, although they lack the physical charisma of the originals, and we feel especially the loss of Priscilla Lawson's raw sensuality. However, the gal who replaced the wonderful Jean Rogers as Dale is not sufficient to the role, and in one chapter when she was pleading for Flash to save her, I kind of wished Flash had just left her.This serial is not as sexy as the 1st Flash Gordon (which somehow seemed to have been sneaked completely past the Hayes Office), but while the actresses all appear to be wearing bras, there are thankfully a few bare midriffs here and there, and we have the welcome addition of a genuine femme fetalle, in the person of the wicked Sonia, played by Anne Gwynne.While the 1st serials were characterized to a large extent by activities involving the various diverse peoples and monsters of Planet Mongo and Mars, the Lion Men, the Shark Men, the Hawk Men, the Clay People, Azura Queen of Magic, the Forest People, dragons, octosacs, beast men, etc., this serial is more preoccupied with technology and warfare. There are chapters wholly concerned with strategic materials, incendiary bombs, robot bombs, torture of political prisoners, poison gas, and there are more aerial dogfights than in the previous Flash Gordons.Also, Ming is referred to as Dictator Ming, rather than Emperor Ming. Others have already mentioned this, but I agree with the hypothesis that this serial reflects the fact that by 1940 much of the world was at war and that many in the US had the idea that the US would inevitably be drawn into the conflict. In 1939, the Germans invaded Poland, and by the time this serial drew to a close on its first run, the Nazis had also invaded France. There is perhaps a bit of unconscious insight into the geopolitical future in the fact that Flash, whose initial mission was to stop Ming from becoming Conqueror of the Universe, ends his mission when he is declared to be the Conqueror of the Universe.This is entertaining to fans of serials, of B-Movies, of old comic strips, and other aficionados of old school and low budget cinema. It is not as powerful as the 1st Flash serial, and suffers from being a little longer than it should be, and having a little too much back and forth. Also, the directors seemed to have no concept of how to insert a few close-ups into a fight scene to juice up the action. Nonetheless, many viewers would, like me, find it pleasurable to waste 20 minutes here and there with these old friends.

This is the last and least of the three Universal Flash Gordon serials staring Buster Crabbe. Less in the way of interesting races & peoples (rock people, oooh), less excitement, even cheaper (if possible) and more-often-reused special effects, and a promise of slightly more interesting female characters (a new Dale who seems at first a little less girlish) that largely is unfulfilled make this interesting mostly for Flash/serial completists. The last 4 episodes or so in particular are pretty dull. And as to the serial as a whole -- Ming (Charles Middleton, whose hamminess is probably the most fun element in the series) is still into Flash's love, Dale Arden, and still (for no apparent reason) wants to destroy the earth. And rule the universe. Or something. Hey, I liked it, but I can't say I'd recommend it to most people under, say, 80 years of age. It can be a tough slog if your idea of space opera is post-Star Wars; but it's also the one film that SW is most based on -- watch the crawl at the beginning of each episode, and listen to the use of Wagner -- so you'd do well to watch it, kiddies. Watched on DVD, part of the excellently transferred Image collection of all 3 serials.

Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Zarkov go to the planet Mongo and fight the evil emperor Ming (Charles Middleton) who is shooting "death rays" at the Earth.I haven't seen the previous two serials so I have nothing to compare it to--but this was pretty good. It moves quickly and there's lots of action: Flash is thrown into a fiery pit; he's trapped in an avalanche; fights silly-looking robots that explode when hit; is zapped by the "Destroying Ray"; has aerial battles with Ming's warships; is caught in a fierce explosion (twice); falls down a huge mountain AND is almost drowned! WHEW! But he (logically) escapes being killed each time. Also he's joined by Prince Barin, the Forest Men and even some Rock Men.I also found this pretty progressive (for its time). Dale isn't just a timid female waiting for Flash to save her--she holds her own in fights and takes over the spaceship a few times when he's wounded. The acting is just OK--but it IS just a serial--they weren't trying to win Academy Awards. Hughes is actually the best out of all of them--Middleton is (easily) the worst. Crabbe looks tired a lot--but he was probably sick of playing Flash again and again. The special effects are primitive but I've always liked those silly little spaceships--they're a guilty favorite! Some of the sets are VERY elaborate (probably used from another movie) and the score is wonderful--until you realize you're hearing the same thing over and over.The best way to see this is one a day or (like I did) three a day. No way can you watch the whole 4 hours in one sitting!

This was by far the weakest of the three Flash Gordon serials. It's too long and the action slows down considerably. With that said, there are many good moments throughout. This time, we get a brunette Dale and some nice scenes in Frigia, the snow kingdom.Each episode features a title crawl, recapping events from the previous episode. The idea was so good it was "borrowed" for a later sci-fi series by some guy named Lucas.The whole Purple Death thing is pretty hokey and the villains don't quite rise to the occasion, but Queen Fria is a nice addition.Personally, I would look for the feature version of this one and skip the serial. Otherwise, get your fast-forward button ready for the slow parts.