Flash Gordon (serial)

Flash Gordon
Poster for 1936 serial (note tagline), reissued as Rocketship in 1949
Directed by	Frederick Stephani
Screenplay by	Frederick Stephani Ella O'Neill George H. Plympton (as George Plympton) Basil Dickey
Based on	Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond
Produced by	Henry MacRae
Starring	Buster Crabbe Jean Rogers Charles B. Middleton Priscilla Lawson Frank Shannon
Cinematography	Jerome Ash Richard Fryer
Edited by	Saul A. Goodkind Louis Sackin Alvin Todd Edward Todd
Production company	Universal Pictures King Features Syndicate
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 6, 1936 (1936-04-06)
Running time	245 minutes (13 episodes)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$350,000[1]

Flash Gordon is a 1936 superhero serial film. Presented in 13 chapters, it is the first screen adventure for Flash Gordon, the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon's visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon portray the film's central characters. 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".^[2]