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

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Director:

Mike Hodges (Black Rainbow, Get Carter)

Producers:

Dino De Laurentiis

Screenplay:

Michael Allin

Music:

Queen

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.

"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 :

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 :

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.

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.