The Flash Gordon Serials, 1936-1940: A Heavily Illustrated Guide

If you were watching the Flash Gordon weekly episodes with the cliffhanger endings on TV in the 1950s, this book will give you a lot of fun information, including what the production crew and actors thought about the various scenes. Each episode is summarized. It also delves into how the actors/actresses were recruited for the show. There are a lot of good photos. Other information in the book describes how some scenery was used from other productions that took place in the same studio. Of course, Bronson Cave is mentioned.

Perfect for fans of the movie industry's most successful chapter plays; the three Flash Gordon Serials. There are details in abundance of the filming, special effects techniques and bios of the series writers, producer, and director. Anecdotes and interviews of the filming by the actors, etc. Included is a bonus Buck Rogers serial and all with photos galore. A must for movie, Sci-Fi, and Flash Gordon (and Ming the Merciless) fans.

I was planning on ordering this book but the price made me pause so I checked out a copy from my library first. It's a good thing I did since this book overpriced -- however, I did succeed in ultimately buying it at a nice discount. The book is small with 204 pages and only 6 X 9 inch pages. Of those 204 pages, there are only 72 pages of text in the Flash Gordon portion of the book. Of these 72 pages, about 56 pages are synopsis of the various episodes and 16 pages are commentary. Some of the commentary consists of observations one could gleen from watching the movie and a few pages from an interview with Buster Crabbe. There are three appendices. The first appendix has seven pages of text on the Buck Rogers serial. The second appendix is a 13 page filmography on most of the actors in the Flash Gordon serials. It consists of each actor's date of birth and death and a list of his/her films -- this is far less than is available about each actor on Wikipedia. Finally, there is a four page appendix on Flash Gordon remakes. The remainder of the book is stills from the serials, some blank pages at the ends of chapters and an index. The book lacks footnotes, specific sources or even a bibliography.The book has many nice photos although there could have been more behind-the-scenes photos rather than just stills from the movies. Content about how the serials were casted, how the props were made, visual effects, budgeting or about cast member personalities or production mishaps could have also been better. The problem cannot be a lack of sources since there are many excellent and detailed books on similar subjects from the same time period and on similar topics. So the bottom line is -- the book is long on visuals and plot summaries but short on behind the scenes information.

I excitedly opened "The Flash Gordon Serials" and leafed through the pages, growing increasingly disappointed: while there were great photos of the principal characters, there were NO photos of Mongo's landscape, monsters, cities, interiors (such as Ming's palace), or spaceships of any kind! Photos of Mars' cities, forests, etc., were also missing. So I can only rate this volume with three stars. "Heavily illustrated guide" - yes. Well or comprehensively illustrated - in my humble opinion - definitely no! I hope this observation is helpful to potential buyers.

The book covered all the Flash Gordon serials and the Buck Rogers serial. Each chapter had a synopsis and the selected black and white photos are sharp and clear. The comments by some of the cast members and technical staff are both informative and entertaining. I would recommend the book if you are a serious Flash Gordon or Buster Crabbe fan.

Rather fun and certainly for the completist, this suffers from odd organization in parts and miscues as to who plays who. Too, photos don't match subject matter in many places.

This book is one of my absolute favorites; extrememly well written and a great companion piece while going through the classic serials. Expensive, but worth it. I noticed they have a paperback version now, which should help bring price down to a more affordable level. If you're a fan of these films or a STAR WARS fan who wants to see one of Lucas' prime influences, this is the book to own.

Good account of the serial itself and the period when serials were so popular.

Having done several podcasts on the Flash Gordon serials this book quickly became my bible on the subject. It has sections talking about the start of the serials in general and how this series came to be made. Each episode has a detailed summary with high quality stills from the set and finish off with behind the scenes details about the filming process, the actors or which stock footage/music was used in the episode. It shows that the book draws on many different sources and gives you a great knowledge about the Flash Gordon serials and their importance for the film business we know today.

As a historic reference book to the Flash Gordon serials, this publication has no equals I suspect. Was expecting more in the way of photographs, perhaps some behind the scenes stuff. But still a worthwhile read if you're a fan.

non exempt de défauts.Il se lit facilement. Il est intéressant mais...Deux étoiles en moins car :- L'analyse n'est pas très poussée (les résumés des épisodes prennent trop de place).- Le livre est en noir et blanc (dommage pour les photos, qui auraient mérité d'être en couleurs).- Il n'y a pas de bibliographie (c'est impoli de ne pas citer ses sources).- La qualité du papier laisse à désirer (même s'il n'est pas aussi fin que du papier à cigarette).