Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (1936)
Image Entertainment
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Charles Middleton, Jean Rogers, Priscilla Lawson, Frank Shannon
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Flash Gordon fans rejoice! Image Entertainment has just released a phenomenal collection of 13 complete and uncut episodes of the 1936 serial “Flash Gordon” starring Buster Crabbe and Charles Middleton on one DVD. In total the dual-layer disc is presenting here contains over 245 minutes of pure and original Flash Gordon in chronological order from chapter 1, “The Planet Of Peril” all the way to chapter 13, “Rocketing to Earth”.

Image Entertainment is presenting “Flash Gordon” in its original fullframe format on this disc. Although some defects are visible in the film print, the transfer is generally clean. Occasional registration problems cause the image to jitter slightly, but considering the film’s age, the quality of the material on this DVD is quite amazing. No distracting compression artifacts are evident during the films, although slight ringing artifacts are evident during the title cards.

“Flash Gordon” contains a monaural audio track in English language in a 1.0 channel presentation. The audio sounds fine, given the technical limitations and aging of these episodes. Some distortion is evident but the noise floor on the audio track is surprisingly low, bringing the oftentimes frantically entertaining episodes back to full life.

Having the ability to see all 13 episodes of the escape from Mongo in sequential order without any interruption is a treat and Image Entertainment’s great treatment on this DVD make this unforgettable series even more memorable!