Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
The music cue information is provided for the 12-chapter movie serial, inclusive for every chapter in the film. The film source the music was recorded from, along with the name and time of the music cues and composers is listed. In some cases, if the music was public domain, the arranger is listed after the composer name. Example; Liszt/Roemheld. It is not clear if some of the classical music used in the films was actually recorded for them, so "classical" denotes these cues instead a film source name.
Chapter 1: The Purple Death
Chapter 2: Freezing Torture
Chapter 3: Walking Bombs
Chapter 4: The Destroying Ray
Chapter 5: The Palace of Terror
Chapter 6: Flaming Death
Chapter 7: The Land of the Dead
Chapter 8: The Fiery Abyss
Chapter 9: The Pool of Peril
Chapter 10: The Death Mist
Chapter 11: Stark Treachery
Chapter 12: Doom of the Dictator
Author's Notes:
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
After two successful Flash Gordon serials, Universal decided to broaden their science-fiction serial franchise and licensed the screenrights to the granddaddy of all science-fiction comic strips, Buck Rogers. Despite the casting of Flash Gordon himself, Larry "Buster" Crabbe in the title role and a script by Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars screenwriters Norman Hall and Ray Trampe, Buck Rogers never quite took off.
Released on April 11, 1939, jaded audiences perceived the 12-chapter serial as much as they did the strip, a second-rate Flash Gordon. Universal, who had hoped for a better reception, cancelled its plans for a sequel and instead, began development of the third serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
As 1939 began, the comic strip Flash Gordon was reaching its zenith in terms of Alex Raymond's artwork. In a mere five years, he had gone from a competent cartoonist to a world-class commercial illustrator. Raymond's heroes were the noblest-looking in comics, his heroines the most beautiful. Using artists' models, Raymond drew his characters in the most dynamic poses imaginable, panels that budding cartoonists clipped and saved. These images could be seen throughout the 1940's as fledging comic book artists copied Raymond's work, hoping to add a little of the "master's" class to their own.
In March 1939, Raymond began his celebrated "Ice Kingdom" sequence. Introduced in this year-long adventure was Queen Fria and Frigia, an ultra-modern kingdom situated in frozen northern Mongo. Fria was regal, blonde exqusitely drawn (even for Raymond) and mad about Flash. At the sequence's conclusion, Fria announced her plans to abdicate and marry Flash. Luckily for Fria, Flash refused her generous offer. Screenwriters George H. Plympton and Basil Dickey (each a veteran of the fist serial) and Barry Shipman adapted both Fria and Frigia to their Conquers the Universe storyline. They also appropriated Sonja, an earlier Raymond creation, as the serial's requisite bad girl. An exiled teenaged countess, Sonja appeared in a 1938 adventure and like all of Raymond's female characters, threw herself at Flash. Rebuffed, Sonja formed an alliance with Ming who, at the time, was Flash's prisoner. In exchange for a promise to become Mongo's Empress, Sonja helped the wily Emperor to escape. True to his word, Ming married Sonja, only to have her executed moments after the ceremony. Sonja would be played by Anne Gwynne in the serial.
Returning to Conquers the Universe were "Buster" Crabbe as Flash, Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov, and Charles Middleton as Ming. By 1939, Jean Rogers had been dropped from the Universal star roster and had signed at 20th Century Fox. Replacing her as Dale Arden was Carol Hughes, whose resemblance to her comic strip counterpart was so uncanny, she looked as if Raymond had drawn her. Also returning was Prince Barin, this time in the person of Roland Drew. Princess Aura, not heard from since Flash Gordon was also back, portrayed by Shirley Deane. In the tradition of the popular Clay People from Trip to Mars, the screenwriters created another strange race of creatures, the Rock People, whose screen dialogue was played backwards on the soundtrack. Behind the camera were producer Henry MacRae (Flash Gordon) and directors Ford Beebe (Trip to Mars) and Ray Taylor. Location filming was done at Red Rock Canyon for the outdoor segments in the film.
Filming of the 12-chapter serial began on November 27 and wrapped on December 22, 1939. The final budget of the serial was at $177,000. To reduce costs, music was again recycled from The Invisible Man (1933), Bombay Mail (1934), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Great Impersonation (1935), Tower of London (1939), The Sun Never Sets (1939), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1930), and Tarzan the Tiger (1929). Classical music pieces that date back to the 1929-30 era of silent films, including Les Preludes, were recycled for the 1940 serial.
Coincidentally, stock footage from The White Hell of Pitz Palu, that starred future director, Leni Riefenstahl, was used as the background for the Frigia sequences in the serial. The original silent film was made in 1929 by Sokal Productions in Germany. In 1930, Universal acquired the film, gave it some modifications and condensed the running time to 79 minutes. They added sound effects and a classically-styled music score by Heinz Roemheld.
Released on April 9, 1940, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, while successful, was also the last hurrah. A fourth serial was discussed but never materialized. For Alex Raymond, it was also the beginning of the end. As America's involvement in World War II became more and more inevitable, King Features did its part by having its comic characters fight the Axis powers. Thus, in spring 1941, Raymond was ordered to bring Flash Gordon back to Earth. In one of the fastest wrap-ups in comic strip history, Flash defeated Ming with a solid right hook, leaving the Emperor "crushed and paralyzed". Fortunately for his fans, however, Flash's stay on Earth was brief, and he returned to Mongo six months later. Raymond continued to draw the strip until 1944 when he was enlisted in the Marines; he would never return to Mongo. Discharged in 1946, Raymond created a detective strip, Rip Kirby, which he drew with consummate skill and taste until his death in an automobile accident in 1956. Alex Raymond's ultimate creation, Flash Gordon would live on, however, in comic strips, comic books, radio, television, toys, novelizations, a mega-budget film adaptation and an animated cartoon series.
Yet, even after 60 years of adventures in every medium possible, there are still only two images that come to mind when mentioning Flash Gordon. The first is Alex Raymond's 1934-44 comic strip original, reprinted in its entirety by Kitchen Sink Press. The other, of course, "Buster" Crabbe, whose three serials have forever linked him with the character. And happily, thanks to these DVD collections, "Buster" Crabbe's Flash Gordon will continue to fight for justice and freedom, a hero's hero, now and forever.
Conquers makes excellent use of Heinz Roemheld's score from The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1930). The silent German film's rights were purchased by Universal Pictures and it was improved with sound effects and Roemheld's classical music score. Some of the most memorable themes include "March of the Torches" and "Snowstorm Theme" heard in the Frigia scenes. Coincidentally, footage from the film was taken and used to depict Frigia scenes, as well as when Flash flies over Mount McKinley in Conquers the Universe.
Buster Crabbe remarked about the final serial years later in an article printed in Filmfax #79:
"In the early spring of 1939, Universal was faced
with the decision of whether to make a second
Buck Rogers serial or a third Flash
Gordon. Once they compared the revenues
of the two serials, the choice became an easy one: I
was contracted to star in my sixth career serial, and
third Flash Gordon, at a flat fee of $25,000 for the one
serial. I was well on my way to becoming the king of
the serials, with virtually no one in Hollywood coming
close to that number as a leading man. Many actors
shunned working in the action episodes, thinking such
roles belonged to second-rate actors. Most "name"
stars at Paramount, RKO, and even Universal thought
serials were for the birds, just "kiddie" stuff, and wouldn't
be caught dead in one. But I was making a better living
than most corporate executives and, while it was true
the roles didn't call for exceptional acting, I was glad
my independent status was sustaining itself.
I didn't like the final Flash Gordon serial. We used a lot of scenes that we'd done before, the uniforms were the same, the scenery was the same. Universal had a library full of old clips. Flash running from here to there, Ming goes from one place to the other, exterior shots of flying rocket ships and milling crowds. It saved a lot of production time, but I thought it was a poor product that was nothing more than a doctored-up script from earlier days.
There were other differences, too. Dick Alexander who played Prince Barin in the first two serials was replaced by Roland Drew; Priscilla Lawson was replaced by Shirley Deane as Aura; and Jean dropped out for other acting roles, leaving Dale Arden in the hands of Carol Hughes.
Flash didn't seem much like Flash anymore, surrounded by strangers, cheated out of original scenes and deviating from Alex Raymond's original concept. Being a perfectionist, I regretted that we couldn't remain true to the creator's intentions or the prototype series that had been so successful. I guess that my instincts were borne out, because that was the last Flash Gordon movie made, not what Universal would call successful at the box office."
The cast changes in Conquers the Universe of Prince Barin and Princess Aura were made because of the continuity of the comic strip in 1939. Richard Alexander, who played Prince Barin in the previous serial films was replaced by actor Roland Drew. Priscilla Lawson, who appeared in the 1936 film as Princess Aura, was under contract at Fox, so actress Shirley Deane was hired to portray the character of Aura. As for Jean Rogers being replaced by Carol Hughes as Dale Arden, there is more in detail below.
Jean Rogers was not happy being a serial queen and wanted a higher salary, so she she left Universal in 1938. She signed at 20th Century Fox that year in hopes of getting better parts, as she was a highly competent actress. She tried to get the executives in charge at Fox to borrow her out, that way Universal could have Dale Arden return in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, but they wouldn't let her go, so that's how Carol Hughes got the part as Dale in the film. When her career at 20th Century Fox didn't materialize, she signed at MGM in 1941, with the same hopes she had when she left Universal in 1938.
Jean had married her agent, Dan Winkler, back in 1939 and than divorced from him for a few years. In 1943, MGM's studio boss, Louis B. Mayer intervened and told Jean she'd be better off not being married in order to be more successful as a single and appealing actress in film. He wanted to groom her for stardom, but this was just Mayer's way of womanizing with young starlets at the studio lot. She refused to accept this ultimatum of Mayer's and walked out of the studio in 1943. She remarried Dan Winkler and raised a family over the 40's and beyond. She infrequently got roles in Hollywood films, as she was taking care of her bed-ridden mother and enjoying her post-movie lifestyle. Her last film was as support actress in The Second Woman, released in 1951 by United Artists.
She was born as Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren on March 25, 1916 in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her nationality was Swedish, German, and French descent. She'd later change her name to Jean Rogers when she arrived in Hollywood. The first name she took from her friend Jean, who lived down the street and second name was that of her first agent, Charles Rogers. That's how Jean Rogers was born. Jean began suffering strokes in 1991 and surgery was performed in Sherman Oaks on February 24th. After the surgery, Jean suffered another stroke and quietly passed away in her sleep. She was 74.
Click the film titles on to read a comprehensive listing of the musical
contributions heard in the serials:
Flash Gordon | Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars | Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Buck Rogers
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