Flash Gordon - The Deadly Ray from Mars
Call it high camp, middlebrow, or simply low rent, but this entry in the  Flash Gordon series is at least reasonably entertaining. An edited version of  the 1938 serialFlash Gordon's Trip to Mars, it finds Flash (Buster  Crabbe) and friends traveling to Mars to battle archenemy Ming the Merciless  (and arch is certainly the word for Charles Middleton's performance) and the  death ray he's using to suck the very life out of Earth. Sure, the action is  silly, the effects for the most part laughable, the "science" absurd, and the  acting consistently over-the-top; and tedium will likely set in halfway through  the feature's 96 minutes. But how can you not chuckle along with (or perhaps at)  such deathless dialogue as "Kneel, Earth man" and "Gee whiz, King"? And so what  if there are no DVD bonus features? Flash Gordon has no need for cheap frills to  keep us the edge of our seats!--Sam Graham