Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938)

Not once, but twice in FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS he ends up being paralyzed pretty much BY HIMSELF: once, when the villains are literally knocking down the doors to get at him (when he urges Zarkov to test the "freeze-ray" on him) and, not long thereafter, when he turns the weapon on AND RUNS DIRECTLY INTO ITS BEAM. Punchy, perhaps, from his bout in SPACE SOLDIERS with the orangopoid, he seems less capable this time around. The sets are as spectacular as in the first serial, and the creepy Clay People are my favorite creatures in any of the FLASH GORDON serials, but his trip to the Angry Red Planet just doesn't measure up to his initial outing. Crabbe seemed to grow more relaxed on camera with each successive serial, but the writing was against him this time around.

The overwhelming success of the 1936 Flash Gordon Serial demanded that a sequel be made. With out any change in the main cast of characters, the New Universal plunged head first int the second film, retaining Buster Crabbe,Jean Rogers,Charles Middleton and Richard Alexander from the cast of the original.What they came up with was FLASH GORDON's TRIP TO MARS (1938). In many ways, this may have been the overall best of the Trilogy. We open up with "the Stratosphere Party" returning to Planet Earth, and landing in some farmer's vegetable patch. Ironically in the conversation leading up to re-entry, Flash states that the'll be okay as long as wherever they land, it should be "anywhere but the ocean!", which is directly opposite to what NASA projects have always desired.Well, they no sooner get back and Dr. 'Alexis' Zarkov* addresses the scientific community, then a mysterious beam of a light ray coming to earth from space sends them off to Mongo again. A now brunette** Dale quips, "I'm getting to feel like a regular commuter!" Obsevation from space leads Zarkov to discover that the culprit planet is Mars, not Mongo. After course correction, and being shot down by martian ray, they are off to a great number of encounters with several different races of Martians. The Clay People, the Forest People and those reg'lar Martians at the Court of the Great Azura (Beatrice Roberts),Queen of Magic all seem to have it in for the 4 of them.Yes, 4 (four) people were now in the party, as they were joined by one 'Happy' Hapgood, star reporter of The Dispatch,who had stowed away. Hapgood (played by Donald Kerr) is there to provide a comic relief,the one element that the first serial lacked.Well needless to say after all is said and done, Flash and company are victorious in winning the any for Earth and destroying the Nitron Lamp that was causing the problem.This film had a much brighter look to it, overall. I mean the actual daylight, not the mood. There was plenty of peril and the action was superbly maintained through out.Great special effects,with the Clay Peoples' transformation scenes being at the top of the list! So, where is my criticism? It may seem trivial to say, but once again, alas, Hollywood took some really unnecessary liberties with the story. Basing their screenplay on the continuity in the Sunday Newspaper Comic Strip by Mr. Alex Raymond, it was truly a subject matter that was already familiar to most of the movie going audience. This adventure in the original comic strip form, was entitled THE WITCH QUEEN of MONGO. That's right the whole adventure was set on the fictional Mongo, not Mars.One can only speculate as to the why of this change, so I will.Mars has long been hot copy in the sci-fi world. People like Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P.Lovecraft and H.G. Wells have used its mysterious, cloudy reddish appearance as a springboard to exciting, fantastic adventures in the still unknown space. Mars was still a good venue to have such a story to take place-even in the late 1930's.But perhaps it was Welles, Orson not H.G. who caused the moving decision. Remember this was the year of the famous and infamous War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast. It was done by Mr. Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre of the Air, broadcast right around Halloween. One could reason that this was an attempt by Universal to cash in on the Mars Craze. But, that could only be true if it was released very late that year. However, there was a Feature version of this F.G. adventure, entitled MARS ATTACKS, that was definitely marketed in this manner.One should mention a few other elements, lest we sound too critical. FLASH GORDON's TRIP to MARS had an opening to each chapter showing a uniformed Martian viewing a telescreen, which capsulized the previous chapters' action, leading up to this weeks 'cliff hanger'. The images on the screen are like the illustrations from the comic strip, with summarizing written text. They are still, not animated. This same gimmick was used in at least 2 other of Universal's comic strip adaptations, JUNGLE JIM (also by Alex Raymond) and for RADIO PATROL. It was a very effective and interesting way of story telling.The film was loaded with a lot of pseudo scientific gadgetry. The great Nitron Lamp, the Martian aircraft (dubbed 'Strato-sleds'), a Jet Rail Car (through a tunnel of poison gas, no less) and a Paralyzer Ray Gun (another gadget cooked up by Zarkov). My favourite gimmick was the Light Bridge.A beam of light becomes to a solid state,allowing pedestrian crossing on it. (Whata ya wanna bet there were kids all over the country mimicking the Light Bridge at the painted lines in the crossings. I know, we did.The music in any Flash Gordon always should get a mention. This was certainly no different, what with a previously used opening theme, name unknown to me. The sound track features incidental music culled from previous Universal features such as THE INVISIBLE MAN, THE WEREWOLF OF London and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, all expertly woven into what we all knew as 'Flash Gordon Music.' NOTE * Zarkov's given name was Hans. Was there already some anti German sentiment in Hollywood? It was 1938, World War II was on the horizon and the 1st World War hardly forgotten.NOTE** Dale was always a Brunette in the Newspaper Strip.There has been some speculation that she was made Blonde in the earlier adventure because of Jean Harlow's popularity on the screen.

This is perhaps the best of the three Flash Gordon serials due to the fact that it not only was action packed, but that it also included some humorous moments provided by the character of "Happy" Hapgood. The first one was exciting, but really wasn't as action packed as this one. The third serial was good, but they had different characters playing the characters of Dale, Barin and Aura (give me Jean Rogers as Dale anytime). Also, this is the first one in which Dale takes part in the action, especially in the scene where she bombs the Forest People's temple. If you want thrills, just look at this serial.

Some of my reactions to Flash Gordon serials (such as this one) are similar to my feelings about the original Star Trek series. I revel in the swashbuckling fun and the intensity of the experience. I marvel at the ingenious and original sci-fi elements, while chuckling at some of the increasingly dated technology and special effects. I roll my eyes at some of the overacting while secretly cherishing it. I question the plausibility of some of the plot elements, and wince at some of the social commentary that hasn't aged particularly well.In Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, many of the actors from the first serial return in their memorable roles. In particular, Buster Crabbe (Flash) and Charles Middleton (Ming) portray their characters with a great deal of flair. Jean Rogers (Dale Arden) seems more subdued and less memorable than in her previous outing. (This may reflect my disapproval of her transformation from a blonde to a short-haired brunette and her censor-demanded, conservative garb!) The new comic-relief journalist character (not present in the original comic strip), "Happy" Hapgood, seems to be a bit of a miscalculation, but his role falls far short of "Jar-Jar" level distraction.The storyline is interesting, although things do drag a bit during the second half of the serial. The plot is primarily action-driven; the romantic story angles that percolated through the first series are virtually absent here. Although the world of Mars is not as diverse as Mongo's (Lionmen, Sharkmen, Hawkmen), the Clay People are a sad and interesting race. The acting and special effects both seem somewhat more polished than in the first serial. Although in one sense this is an improvement, it also removes some of the quirky fun. Overall, this is an enjoyable and memorable serial that fans of old sci-fi will want to seek out.