30s/40s serials

Foxbat

Foxbat

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Just wondering if I am a lone voice in the crowd with my love for the old serials.

Just for the youngsters here - before television Republic and other companies used produce 12 or 15 part 1/2hour serials to be shown at cinema. Most episodes ended with an utterly ridiculous (and yet compelling!!??!) cliffhanger.
Even when I was a kid (not that long ago - honest!) I can remember the serial at the saturday matinee. We used to stamp our feet and throw popcorn at each other - sometimes climbing the balcony and flicking ice cream across the cinema....aahh! those were the days.
The advent of television killed off these wonderful films and they faded into history. But now, they are back in glorious DVD-o-vision!
So far I have all 3 Flash Gordon serials (one is in 3D - can't wait to get the glasses!)
Undersea Kingdom and Radar Men from the Moon.
What I really want is King of The Rocketmen and look forward to the day it is released.
Am I alone in wanting to preserve this history?
Remember, without these serials there would be no Star Wars or Indiana Jones.
So spare a place in your hearts for those actors of old that brought so much joy to so many. :)
 
Absolutely the connection - I remember George Lucas, in an interview, expressing suprise that no one caught on to his throwbacks to the Republic "Flash gordon" series (for example, the rolling intro text that fades back.). I think Lucas was actually hoping to do the Flash Gordon movie, rather than Star Wars, at one point as well...

I remember watching some of these - on television - when I was a kid (Flash Gordon, Rocket Men, and Zorro). They certainly had their voice then, but I often felt "cheated" by the cliffhangars (I remember seeing one ending with someone falling over a cliff - yet in the following episode, they *didn't* fall over the cliff).
 
The oldest serials I've seen are Lost In Space and The Green Hornet. I don't know much about 30s/40s serials, but I am interested. However, I shall have to hold back on exploring them as I already spend far too much money on books on audio CDs. Perhaps a channel like TCM should specialise in re-runs of these old serials?
 
(I remember seeing one ending with someone falling over a cliff - yet in the following episode, they *didn't* fall over the cliff).
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LOL I know exactly what you mean...but it does lend it a certain charm n'est pas?

Glad to see I'm not alone. For anybody comtemplating a look - Flash Gordon is probably the best place to start (check out the episode intros in Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe to see exactly where Lucas got his idea for the Star Wars intros).
 
Actually, I think TCM does show these sorts of things occasionally. They also show some interesting documentaries on occasion (I love documentaries, especially the old ones), and, on Sunday nights, silent films.

As far as the serials go, I'm not quite old enough to remember them at the Saturday matinee (although that used to be my regular Saturday afternoon activity, when I was in the high elementary grades). However, I do remember seeing some of them on television. Flash Gordon especially rings a bell in the depths of my memory.

And, of course, the influence of these serieals on George Lucas's filmmaking is plainly evident in the Indiana Jones films.
 
Radio Serials

I have always been interested old radio serials from the '30s. The Shadow, the original radio run of Superman, and Orson Wells's infamous radio adaption of the H.G. Wells' novel War of the Worlds are my personal favorites.
 
Hah, this is WAY before my generation, but I still find it interesting. Maybe I should get into them more...I'll check out Flash.
 
I've seen some of the Flash Gordon movies and they were great fun, but I suppose these are different from the mvie serials.


SAdly, TCM stopped broadcasting in the Asian region about three years back. I was utterly crushed - I'd discovered a strange fondness for those old 40's gangster movies. :(
 
I've seen some of the Flash Gordon movies and they were great fun, but I suppose these are different from the mvie serials.
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If you mean the old Flash movies with Buster Crabbe (rather than the De Laurentis produced one from the eighties) then be aware that these are actually heavily edited versions of the original serials. They were done like this to give them some life extension as TV specials. Be careful if you buy any stuff that you're not buying the same thing twice. Best advice: stick to the original serials and you'll get it in all its glory :)

As for gangster movies - you can't beat a Jimmy Cagney flick - best tough guy ever!!!
 
I must have seen the De Laurentiis ones, since I was a lad in the 80s. My mother had seen the older ones as a child and took me to see these when they came out. She introduced me to a lot of good stuff, now I think of it, including my first Tolkien and Asimov books.

Jimmy Cagney is the man!
 
Imagine Jimmy Cagney as Flash Gordon - giving Ming the merciless a good slap around the face. He would have thought twice about trying to rule the universe after that :)
 
Ah, Buster Crabbe - didn't he disappear in a diving incident during WWII? I'm sure I've read about his being allegedly linked to subterfuge activities against the Germans. Possibly a reflection of the Republic serials, somehow.
 
This one always causes a bit of confusion.

Larry 'Buster' Crabbe was Flash Gordon - and also an Olympic gold medal swimmer amongst other things. He died of a heart attack in 1983.

Lionel 'Buster' Crabb was a Navy diver. I believe it was him that disappeared in strange circumstances.

Here's a site worth having a look at: http://flashgordon.ws/flash.htm

Hold the front page - have just acquired Buster Crabbe as Buck Rogers in a 12 episode
thrill-o-rama from 1938!

I believe I can now wear my anorak with pride :D
 
"Just wondering if I am a lone voice in the crowd with my love for the old serials."

Certainly not, my friend! I just in fact sat through all those old Flash Gordons & King of the Rocket Men! Great stuff, nothing beats it. Those "Space Ranger Rocky Jones" flicks were a treat, too!
 
Certainly not, my friend! I just in fact sat through all those old Flash Gordons & King of the Rocket Men! Great stuff, nothing beats it. Those "Space Ranger Rocky Jones" flicks were a treat, too!
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Welcome to a kindred spirit :D

I am the proud owner of a copy of Rocky Jones in 'Crash of The Moons' - wonderful stuff!
 
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