Semple Jr. puts it, “Mike Hodges did a great job directing, but it was
sort of out of control, the whole thing. It was really designed around
the costumes.” Aesthetics over substance really appears to be a running
theme
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Flash Gordon is all about the mis-en-scene. It’s a story from a kids’ comic strip from the 30s that spawned serial movies that were for kiddie matinees. If you’ve ever seen those films, the DeLaurentiis version is like Ingmar Bergman in comparison. But that is immaterial. This is a film for the senses. The story and acting are of tertiary concern, if at all. Viewed this way, Flash Gordon is a great success.
EDIT: typos
I am confused. Were there two 1980 Dino DeLaurentis Flash Gordon movies, one of which was not The Greatest Film Ever Made? Because I only know about the one.
That’s Deep Roy as “Princess Aura’s Pet” near the beginning. He would go on to do a lot of things over the next thirty years, perhaps most famously the multitudinous Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This finally explains how Flash Gordon came to be. You couldn’t make such brilliant camp intentionally. It is also funny that Sam Jones, the lead actor (Flash), just left at one point.
“Flash! I love you! But we’ve only got 24 hours to save the Earth!”
Come on, you write about Flash trivia and get the text wrong in the first paragraph? It´s 14 hours. Otherwise, fun article.
One paragraph for Brian Blessed?!
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