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Dom Robinson reviews

Flash Gordon

Distributed by

Cat.no: 74321 671659
Cert: PG
Running time: 107 minutes
Year: 1980
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 30 plus extras
Sound: Linear PCM Stereo
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £15.99
Extras : Comic-book-style scene index, Stills Gallery, Song Lyrics

Director:

Mike Hodges

Black Rainbow, Get Carter

Producers:

Dino De Laurentiis

Screenplay:

Michael Allin

Music:

Cast:

Flash Gordon: Sam J. Jones

Enter The Shootfighter, From The Edge, Maximum Force, Silent Assassins

Emperor Ming: Max Von Sydow

Dune, The Exorcist, Judge Dredd, The Seventh Seal, What Dreams May Come, Until The End Of The World, TV: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

Prince Barin: Timothy Dalton

Cromwell, Framed, Licence To Kill, The Living Daylights, The Rocketeer, TV: Jane Eyre, The Lion In Winter, Scarlett

Vultan: Brian Blessed

Henry V, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, TV: Blackadder, I Claudius, Sherlock Holmes, Till Death Us Do Part, Z Cars

Dr. Hans Zarkov: Topol

Fiddler On The Roof, TV: War And Remembrance

Dale Arden: Melody Anderson

Flash Gordon is an incredible adventure fantasy based on the legendary comic strip by Alex Raymond. This imaginative Dino De Laurentiis production features an all-star cast including Max Von Sydow, Topol, Brian Blessed and Timothy Dalton.

The evil Ming the Merciless is wreaking havoc is the planet Earth from his distant home on Mongo. Dr. Hans Zarkov wants to counter attack, and gets some unsuspecting help in the form of Flash Gordon and travel agent Dale Arden when their jet crashes near the strange scientist's laboratory.

When the trio takes off for Mongo, Ming sets about kidnapping them for his own terrible purposes. From that moment on, it's a thrill packed battle of wizardry and wits as Flash Gordon fights to save Dale from Ming's clutches, and Earth from annihilation.

The stunning costumes are by two-time Academy Award winner Danilo Donati and special effects by sci-fi special Oscar winner, Frank Van Der Veer. Finally, the film is topped off by a futuristic musical score performed by Queen.

film pic

"Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square..."

The picture quality here is very good indeed, brimming with sharp and vivid colours, not to mention the extravagant set-pieces which are done great justice, with only minor artifacts noticeable on a rare occasion and that's with my nose pressed against the screen! However, it does lose a point for not being anamorphic when it's standard practice for BMG to release 16:9-enhanced anamorphic versions in Germany, often with plenty of extras.

The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 - which is essential for such a film, emulating the original theatrical ratio - and the average bitrate is a good 5.48Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s.

The sound quality is great and, like Highlander, is chock-full of Queen rock classics. Also, the dialogue comes across clearly and any fans of The Orb not familiar with this film will note that the dialogue from the first scene, featuring Ming, is used on a track from their "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld" album from 1991. It is presented in Linear PCM Stereo.

Extras :

Chapters :

The disc is well-chaptered with 30 covering the 107 minutes of the film, which compares favourably with the 29 that adorned the PAL Laserdisc and the last is saved to keep the end credits separate. What makes this scene selection stand out from all the rest is the comic-book style that has been applied to it, making it look as if it's separate pages from a Flash Gordon publication.

Alas, no theatrical trailer is included.

Languages & Subtitles :

The film is in English only, with no subtitles. This seems to be the case for all of the current batch of BMG releases.

Stills Gallery :

At the rate of a page each, stills are available for most of the main characters in the film and it makes for a nice addition to the disc.

Song Lyrics :

Lyrics can be viewed for two songs on the soundtrack: Flash's Theme and The Hero along with an option to "Go to song". However, the cynical side of me wishes to point out that since these are the songs used on the opening and closing credits respectively, the option just takes you to the start of chapters 1 and 30 respectively. In the case of the opening theme, the song doesn't start immediately as you get Ming's appetite for destruction.

Menu :

The menu begins the comic book-look with some subtle animation even if it's all done in silence.

For some reason, there's no "Play Movie" option. If you've already been viewing part of the film and have come back to the main menu, "Return To Movie" will take you back, but to start the film from scratch, you'll either need to select the first scene yourself, or reboot the DVD altogether since it will begin after the copyright info has been displayed.

film pic

Let battle commence.

Aside from the well-known actors on display here, one wonders what happened to the career of Flash himself, aka Sam J. Jones, as he went off to star in straight-to-video limbo.

Overall, this is a very entertaining adventure, even if it is rather cheesy at times. It looks and sounds great and for just a penny under sixteen notes it's well worth checking out. Its only competition is a widescreen video tape and PAL laserdisc (see review HERE !), both of which will be similarly non-anamorphic.

FILM	 		: ****
PICTURE QUALITY 	: ****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: *½
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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