 flash gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. told in 13 installments, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character flash gordon, and tells the story of his first visit to the planet mongo and his encounter with the evil emperor ming the merciless. buster crabbe, jean rogers, charles b. middleton, priscilla lawson and frank shannon played the central roles. 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". ==synopsis== # the planet of peril #: the planet mongo is on a collision course with earth. dr. alexis zarkov takes off in a rocket ship to mongo, with flash gordon and dale arden as his assistants. they find that the planet is ruled by the cruel emperor ming, who lusts after dale and sends flash to fight in the arena. ming's daughter, princess aura, tries to spare flash's life. # the tunnel of terror #: aura helps flash to escape as zarkov is put to work in ming's laboratory and dale is prepared for her wedding to ming. flash meets prince thun, leader of the lion men, and the pair return to the palace to rescue dale. # captured by shark men #: flash stops the wedding ceremony, but he and dale are captured by king kala, ruler of the shark men and a loyal follower of ming. at ming's order, kala forces flash to fight with a giant octosak in a chamber filling with water. # battling the sea beast #: aura and thun rescue flash from the octosak. trying to keep flash away from dale, aura destroys the mechanisms that regulate the underwater city. # the destroying ray #: flash, dale, aura and thun escape from the underwater city, but are captured by king vultan and the hawkmen. dr. zarkov befriends prince barin, and they race to the rescue. # flaming torture #: dale pretends to fall in love with king vultan in order to save flash, barin and thun, who are put to work in the hawkmen's atom furnaces. # shattering doom #: flash, barin, thun and zarkov create an explosion in the atomic furnaces. # tournament of death #: dr. zarkov saves the hawkmen's city from falling, earning flash and his friends
1930s_adventure_films 1936_films American_science_fiction_action_films Black-and-white_films English-language_films Films_directed_by_Ray_Taylor Flash_Gordon_films Pre-1950_science_fiction_films Space_adventure_films United_States_National_Film_Registry_films Universal_Pictures_film_serials