The influences behind Flash Gordon

1980

Flash Gordon

Film by Mike Hodges

New Hollywood blockbuster era. United Kingdom / United States. In English.

Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon (1980), produced by Dino De Laurentiis and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., is a camp, brightly coloured space opera adapted from Alex Raymond's 1934 comic strip. In it, football player Flash Gordon and his companions defy Ming the Merciless, tyrant of the planet Mongo. Its lineage runs through the 1930s Universal serials, Star Wars and 1960s camp cinema back to the earliest literary voyages to other worlds.

Where it came from

Where to watch

Rent Amazon $3.99, Google Play $2.99
Buy Amazon $14.99, Google Play $9.99, Apple TV $14.99, Fandango at Home $14.99

In the US, as of October 12. Prices and services change.

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1977

Star Wars

Film by George Lucas

New Hollywood. United States. In English.

A space fantasy in which a farm boy joins rebels, a princess and a smuggler against a galactic Empire. Its box-office success revived the space-opera genre.

What it handed down

To Flash Gordon (1980)

Thematic kinship, well documented.

George Lucas had tried to buy the Flash Gordon rights before writing Star Wars, but De Laurentiis held them. Star Wars' 1977 success persuaded De Laurentiis to fund a lavish version of his long-planned project. Hodges and Semple deliberately went for pantomime colour and camp rather than Lucas's earnest tone.

Where it came from

Where to watch

Stream Disney+
Rent Amazon $3.99, Google Play $2.99, Fandango at Home $3.99
Buy Amazon $9.99, Google Play $9.99, Apple TV $19.98, Fandango at Home $19.98

In the US, as of October 30. Prices and services change.

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1927

Metropolis

Film by Fritz Lang

Weimar cinema. Germany. Silent.

In a towering future city, workers toil underground for the elite until a scientist's robot double of the saintly Maria incites revolt.

What it handed down

To Star Wars (1977)

Stylistic influence, well documented.

Ralph McQuarrie's design for C-3PO, made at Lucas's direction, was modelled on the gleaming female robot of Lang's Metropolis. The golden humanoid body and art-deco styling are taken from Maria's mechanical double.

Where it came from

Genesis (Hebrew Bible), Anonymous c. 550 BCE
When the Sleeper Wakes, H. G. Wells 1899 follow this thread

Where to watch

Stream Hoopla
Free Tubi, Pluto TV, YouTube, The Roku Channel
Rent Amazon $1.99, Fandango at Home $1.99, Google Play $2.99, Apple TV $3.99
Buy Amazon $7.99, Fandango at Home $5.99, Google Play $9.99, Apple TV $11.99

In the US, as of October 29. Prices and services change.

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c. 550 BCE

Genesis (Hebrew Bible)

Anonymous

Babylonian exile and Persian period. Ancient Judah / Babylon. Written in Hebrew.

The first book of the Hebrew Bible. It covers the creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, the flood, the Tower of Babel and the patriarchs.

What it handed down

To Metropolis (1927)

Direct source, well documented.

Midway through the film, Maria tells the workers the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11. Lang stages it as a parable in which the dreamers of the tower are cut off from the hands that build it. The film presents its city's master building as a new Babel.

To Paradise Lost

Direct source, well documented.

Milton's epic expands the first chapters of Genesis: creation, Eden, the serpent's temptation and the expulsion. Many passages paraphrase the biblical text closely.

Where it came from

This is one of the oldest surviving works in its tradition; the line ends here.

Find “Genesis (Hebrew Bible)” on Amazon

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Flash Gordon (1980)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Star Wars (1977)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Metropolis (1927)

To Paradise Lost

Where it came from

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