MovieChat Forums > Jack the Giant Killer (1962) Discussion > Did this influence Flash Gordon?

Did this influence Flash Gordon?

posted 12 years ago by combatreview
3 replies | jump to latest

It seems highly improbable to me, but watching it last night I found myself reminded of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie in a few scenes.

Apart from Princess Elaine's witchy make-up reminding me of the naughty princess's scarlet get-up in FG, there's a scene that is strongly reminiscent of the bit in FG where Flash and Dale are allowed a few moments together - Pendragon even utters exactly the same line - "you have until the sands run out...", turning over an hourglass as he does.

There's also a moment where Pendragon turns himself into a dragon and the brief shot of him projecting himself into the sky looks a lot like the image of Ming that comes out of nowhere to zap the pilots in the first few minutes of FG.

These are tenuous similarities, so I'm not convinced of this, I just found a few moments very reminiscent...

[–] daryavaush 12 years ago

More likely that Flash Gordon influenced Jack the Giant Killer.

Flash Gordon was created in 1934.

[–] combatreview 12 years ago

This is perfectly true, but the full colour film obviously didn't exist until the 1980s, and my observations are really about that film, not about any aspect of the Flash Gordon mythology per se.

Mind you, I think you'll find Jack The Giant Killer himself precedes Flash Gordon by an enormous margin...

[–] MystMoonstruck 9 years ago

combatreview writes: Pendragon even utters exactly the same line - "you have until the sands run out...", turning over an hourglass as he does.

In "Flash Gordon" (1980), Klytus actually says, "You have until the sands run up", emphasizing the final word.

Now, you might liken that bit to "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) instead.

(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC