Directed by Frederick Stephani, Ford Beebe, Robert Hill and Ray Taylor / Screenplays by Frederick Stephani, Ella O’Neill, George Plympton, Basil Dickey, Ray Trampe, Norman Hall, Wyndham Gittens, Herbert Dalmas and Barry Shipman

Between 1936 and 1940, Universal Pictures made three episodic film serials starring the Olympic gold medallist swimmer-turned-actor Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe in the role of Flash Gordon, the all-American comic strip space hero created by Alex Raymond. The Flash Gordon serials were part of a popular tradition of film adventures released in individual instalments of around 20 minutes’ duration, each one concluding on an exciting ‘cliffhanger’ moment, which were syndicated in cinemas as a weekly attraction, in much the same way that soap operas are shown on TV today (Crabbe himself played several other syndicated action heroes, including Tarzan and Buck Rogers). The first serial, simply called Flash Gordon, ran to 13 episodes and was Universal’s second highest-grossing film production of 1936, establishing a new trend for science fiction serials and guaranteeing a return fixture. The 15-part Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars followed in 1938, memorably introducing the sinister Clay People, while 1940 completed the trilogy with the 12-part Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. In all three serials, Flash was pitted against the evil schemes of Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), and assisted by rocket scientist Dr Zarkov (Frank Shannon) and the beautiful Dale Arden (Jean Rogers in the first two serials, Carol Hughes in the third). Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe findsFlash teaming up with Prince Barin of Arboria to thwart Ming’s attack on Earth, a plot closely echoed 40 years later by the most famous Flash Gordon film of all: with its Art Deco designs, flamboyant cast of characters, operatic art direction and pounding Queen soundtrack, Mike Hodges’s 1980 classic pays affectionate homage to those groundbreaking cliffhanger serials of yesteryear.

Framed Dimensions: 330mm x 410mm

Acrylic on 300gsm Arches oil paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.