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Buck Rogers (1939
1939 in film

The year 1939 in film involved some significant events....
) is a Universal
Universal Pictures

This is a partial listing of films produced and/or distributed by Universal Pictures, the main film production company/distribution company arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal.List of films...
 serial film
Serial (film)

|}Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film that were related to pulp magazine Serial ....
 based on the Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
 comic strip
Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story.Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many such strips are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet....
. It starred Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe

Buster Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular Serial in the 1930s and 1940s....
 (who had previously starred in two Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon

Steven "Flash" Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, 1934....
 serials) as the heroic Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
, Constance Moore
Constance Moore

Constance Moore was a singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as Show Business and Atlantic City and the classic 1939 movie serial Buck Rogers, in which she played Wilma Deering, the only female character in the serial....
 as relatively seldom-seen romantic interest Wilma Deering
Wilma Deering

Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years.Through all the versions of Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering has maintained some clear characteristics....
, Jackie Moran as sidekick George "Buddy" Wade, and Anthony Warde as "super-racketeer
Racket (crime)

A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist....
" "Killer" Kane
Killer Kane

Killer Kane is a fictional character in the 1939 Buck Rogers movie serial produced by Universal Studios. Kane is a gangster who became the supreme dictator of Earth with the help of his criminal army....
.

story begins with Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade in the midst of a dirigible
Airship

An airship or dirigible is a aerostat that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust. Unlike other aerodynamics aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing, or airfoil, through the air, aerostatic aircraft, such as airships and Balloon , stay...
 flight over the North Pole
North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface....
.






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Buck Rogers (1939
1939 in film

The year 1939 in film involved some significant events....
) is a Universal
Universal Pictures

This is a partial listing of films produced and/or distributed by Universal Pictures, the main film production company/distribution company arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal.List of films...
 serial film
Serial (film)

|}Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film that were related to pulp magazine Serial ....
 based on the Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
 comic strip
Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story.Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many such strips are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet....
. It starred Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe

Buster Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular Serial in the 1930s and 1940s....
 (who had previously starred in two Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon

Steven "Flash" Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, 1934....
 serials) as the heroic Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers

Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
, Constance Moore
Constance Moore

Constance Moore was a singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as Show Business and Atlantic City and the classic 1939 movie serial Buck Rogers, in which she played Wilma Deering, the only female character in the serial....
 as relatively seldom-seen romantic interest Wilma Deering
Wilma Deering

Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years.Through all the versions of Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering has maintained some clear characteristics....
, Jackie Moran as sidekick George "Buddy" Wade, and Anthony Warde as "super-racketeer
Racket (crime)

A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist....
" "Killer" Kane
Killer Kane

Killer Kane is a fictional character in the 1939 Buck Rogers movie serial produced by Universal Studios. Kane is a gangster who became the supreme dictator of Earth with the help of his criminal army....
.

Plot summary

The story begins with Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade in the midst of a dirigible
Airship

An airship or dirigible is a aerostat that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust. Unlike other aerodynamics aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing, or airfoil, through the air, aerostatic aircraft, such as airships and Balloon , stay...
 flight over the North Pole
North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface....
. They are caught in a savage storm and crash - but not before they release an experimental substance called Nirvano Gas that they hope will preserve them until rescue can arrive. The Nirvano Gas works, but the dirigible is buried in an avalanche and is not found until 500 years have passed. When Buck and Buddy are found, they awaken to a world ruled by the ruthless dictator
Dictator

A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
 "Killer" Kane and his army of "super-racketeers." Only those who live in the "Hidden City", run by the benevolent scientist Dr. Huer and his military counterpart, Air Marshal
Air Marshal

Air Marshal is an air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank struc...
 Kragg, resist the criminal rulers of Earth.

Buck and Buddy join the resistance, and they set out for Saturn
Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant....
, where they hope that they can find help in their fight against Kane. Saturn is run by Aldar and the not-so-aptly-named Council of the Wise and Prince Tallen. To the dismay of Buck and Buddy, they also discover that Kane has dispatched ambassadors of his own, headed by his loyal henchman, Captain Laska. The serial then becomes a back-and-forth struggle between Buck and Kane to secure the military support of Saturn for the struggles on Earth.

Production Notes

A 12-part Buck Rogers movie serial was launched in 1939. The serial starred Buster Crabbe, who had previously played the role of Flash Gordon, a role he was later to reprise as "Brigadier Gordon" in the Buck Rogers television series — the only crossover between the two characters. Constance Moore played Lieutenant Wilma Deering, the only woman in the film, and Jackie Moran was Buddy Wade, a character who did not appear in other versions of the Buck Rogers franchise, but who was clearly modeled on the Sunday strip character Buddy Deering. Anthony Warde played "Killer Kane", Buck Rogers's enemy; this was the only time that Warde, who usually portrayed evil underlings in serials, played a lead villain .

Korean-American actor Philson Ahn, younger brother of noted actor Philip Ahn, played Prince Tallen, a Saturnian native who befriends Buck Rogers.

The noted actor and "crown prince of stuntmen" David Sharpe, who appeared in over 4,500 films over the course of a seven-decade career, also appeared in the Buck Rogers serial in several roles: as a Kane pilot, a Hidden City sentry, and a Saturnian lieutenant.

The serial had a small budget and saved money on special effects by re-using material from other stories: background shots from the futuristic musical Just Imagine (1930), as the city of the future, the garishly stenciled walls from the Azura palace set in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, and even the studded leather belt that Crabbe wore in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, turned up as part of Buck's uniform.

In 1953, the 1939 movie serial was edited into a feature film
Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial Film distributor in Movie theater and being the "main attraction" of the screening ....
 entitled Planet Outlaws. Then it was edited again to feature length and titled Destination Saturn for syndication to television, in 1965. Finally, the serial was edited once again to feature form in the late 1970s, this version simply entitled Buck Rogers with the theatrical poster advertising, "Star Wars owes it all to Buck Rogers", and later was sold on videotape in the early 1990s by VCI Entertainment under the catalogue title of Planet Outlaws (which title, to make it appear legitimate, was also superimposed onto the first shot of film following the main titles).

Cast

  • Buster Crabbe
    Buster Crabbe

    Buster Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular Serial in the 1930s and 1940s....
     as Buck Rogers
    Buck Rogers

    Anthony "Buck" Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories....
  • Constance Moore
    Constance Moore

    Constance Moore was a singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as Show Business and Atlantic City and the classic 1939 movie serial Buck Rogers, in which she played Wilma Deering, the only female character in the serial....
     as Wilma Deering
    Wilma Deering

    Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years.Through all the versions of Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering has maintained some clear characteristics....
    . This was the only serial appearance for Moore, a singer on radio and the New York stage.
  • Jackie Moran as George "Buddy" Wade
  • Anthony Warde
    Anthony Warde

    Anthony Warde was a noted United States actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 in film and 1964 in film....
     as "Killer" Kane
  • C. Montague Shaw
    C. Montague Shaw

    Charles Montague Shaw was an Australian people character actor, often appearing in small supporting parts in more than 150 films.He began his acting career in the Australian theatre, before moving on to United Kingdom and elsewhere in the British Empire....
     as Doctor Huer
  • Jack Mulhall
    Jack Mulhall

    Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a movie actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
     as Captain Rankin
  • Guy Usher as Aldar
  • William Gould
    William Gould (actor)

    William Gould , was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1922 in film and 1953 in film.He died in Long Beach, California....
     as Air Marshal Kragg
  • Philson Ahn as Prince Tallen
  • Henry Brandon as Captain Laska


Critical reception

Cline writes that Moore makes a vivid impression with a performance that projects "passive importunity...[which] could only exude from a demeanour of wholesome honesty."

Chapter titles

  1. Tomorrow's World
  2. Tragedy on Saturn
  3. The Enemy's Stronghold
  4. The Sky Patrol
  5. The Phantom Plane
  6. The Unknown Command
  7. Primitive Urge
  8. Revolt of the Zuggs
  9. Bodies Without Minds
  10. Broken Barriers
  11. A Prince in Bondage
  12. War of the Planets
Source:

See also

  • List of film serials
    List of film serials

    A list of film serials by year of release....
     by year
  • List of film serials by studio
    List of film serials by studio

    A List of film serials by studio, separated into five major studios and the remaining minor studios.The five major studios produced the greater number of serials....


External links

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