FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE

The wonderful Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (12 chapter Universal serial/1940). Directors: Ford Beebe; Ray Taylor.

The third and final Flash Gordon serial has a plague striking earth, leaving purple spots on victims' foreheads. This is caused by Ming (Charles Middleton) the Merciless' "death dust," which Flash (Buster Crabbe)  and his allies, Dale (Carol Hughes) and Zarkov (Frank Shannon), must stop or else. A cure for the death dust is Polarite, which can be found in the frozen kingdom of Frigia on Mongo. Flash has a few allies in the form of Queen Fria (Luli Deste of The Case of the Black Parrot) of Frigia; Prince Barin (Roland Drew of The Invisible Killer) of the medieval kingdom of Arboria; and Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Shirley Deane). Aura has a handmaiden named Sonja (Anne Gwynne), who is secretly in league with the bad guys -- she and Dale have a "cat fight" in chapter ten. There are some decent cliffhangers, such as Flash falling into a bottomless pit in chapter one; an avalanche in chapter two; and the electrical ray in chapter four. We see more of Mongo's delightful giant lizards, one of whom snacks on a soldier (off-screen) in Ming's army. Crabbe and Shannon could have acted their parts in their sleep by now; Hughes [Meet the Boyfriend] is perhaps not as glamorous as Jean Rogers  but she's spunky enough. Byron Foulger, Roy Barcroft, Tom Steele, and Donald Curtis are also in the cast.

Verdict: Flash Gordon's last gasp, and not a moment too soon. **.

THE INVISIBLE KILLER

THE INVISIBLE KILLER (1939). Director: Sam Newfield.

Lt. Jerry Brown (Roland Drew) and his partner, Pat (William Newell) are called in when a gambler takes a hit from a bullet -- but the gunshot isn't the cause of death. There are other murders as well, and hot on the trail is gal reporter Sue Walker (Grace Bradley), who happens to be engaged to Brown. Other characters include Cunningham (Boyd Irwin), who hates gambling and is horrified to learn that many of the buildings he owns have become gambling dens without his knowledge; his daughter, Gloria (Jean Brooks), whom Sue helps out of more than one jam; District Attorney Sutton (Crane Whitley); and businessman Arthur Enslee (Alex Callam). As the bickering romantic couple, Drew and Bradley are acceptable, personable leads for this cheap PRC release with a no-name cast. Jean Brooks [herein billed as "Jeanne Kelly"] probably made more of an impression in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim and The Leopard Man but she's fine in this. The Invisible Killer moves fairly fast but works up almost zero suspense as to the identity of the killer or killers.

Verdict: A short programmer you can easily miss. **.