Flash Gordon’s 1938 trip to Mars

In 1938, Universal Pictures released Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars, a serial film consisting of 15 episodes (299 min.), based on the popular comic strip Flash Gordon. Starring Buster Crabbe as the hero Flash Gordon, Jean Rogers as the heroine Dale Arden, Charles B. Middleton as Ming the Merciless, and Beatrice Roberts as the evil Queen Azura of Mars, the plot revolves around Flash Gordon's courageous attempt to destroy a Nitron Lamp based on the Red Planet that is draining a valuable element from Earth’s atmosphere.



This clip, if I’m not mistaken, is a compilation of selected scenes from Episode 10, “Incense of Forgetfulness,” and Episode 11, "Human Bait." Here, the peoples of the Forest Kingdom on Mars capture the heroine, Dale Arden, and force her to inhale Lethium, the "Incense of Forgetfulness.” After turning against Flash Gordon and stabbing him with a dagger, Dale is whisked away and presented to Ming the Merciless and Queen Azura!