Buck Rogers (1939)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Directors:

Ford Beebe
Saul A. Goodkind

Writers:

Dick Calkins (comic strip)
Norman S. Hall (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 February 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Original cartoon strip by Dick Calkins and Phil Nolan - Based on the Buck Rogers newspaper feature owned and copyrighted by John F. Dille Co. (original posters)

Plot:

A pilot and his young passenger crash-land on a mountaintop and are put into suspended animation by a strange gas...

Plot Keywords:

Suspended Animation | Blizzard | Outlaw | Saturn | B Movie

Cast

Buster Crabbe	...	Buck Rogers (as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
Constance Moore	...	Wilma Deering
Jackie Moran	...	George 'Buddy' Wade
Jack Mulhall	...	Captain Rankin
Anthony Warde	...	Killer Kane
C. Montague Shaw	...	Professor Huer
Guy Usher	...	Aldar
William Gould	...	Air Marshal Kragg
Philson Ahn	...	Prince Tallen
Henry Brandon	...	Captain Laska
Wheeler Oakman	...	Lieutenant Patten
Kenne Duncan	...	Lieutenant Lacy (as Kenneth Duncan)
Carleton Young	...	Scott
Reed Howes	...	Captain Roberts

Also Known As:

Buck Rogers Conquers the Universe (USA) (video title)
Buck Rogers: Destination Saturn (USA) (recut version)

Runtime:

237 min (12 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Buster Crabbe was not actually the first actor to play Buck Rogers physically. That honour goes to an unknown man who played Buck in a Virginia department store, instead of that store's regular Santa Claus.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Buck and Buddy infiltrate the council on Saturn, the second soldier reacts to being shot by Buck's laser gun before he is shot.

Quotes:

George 'Buddy' Wade: I wouldn't call Dr. Huer exactly handsome, but I sure would give a lot to see his face right now.
Buck Rogers: [laughs] I bet you would Buddy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Smile (1975)

The adventures of Buck Rogers and his colleague Buddy.

This was the first TV serial I saw in my childhood, and I still remembers it as a jewel. Buck Rogers (Linden or Larry `Buster' Crabbe) and Buddy (Jackie Moran) had an air crash in 1940, hopefully they survived and were discovered under heavy snow and ice layers 80 years later. Both were conducted to a hidden city, a headquarters of revolutionaries fighting against the injustice of Killer Kane (Anthony Wade), who ruled a very modern city. The adventures had plenty of fiction, with a lot of action, air-spaceship fighting, modern parachutes, visits to far Saturn planet and others. The only disappointment of the serial was that there was no a single kiss between Buck and his eternal female colleague Wilma (Constance Moore). The soundtrack (of Hajos &Waxman), although it was used in other serials of Flash Gordon and Tim Tyler's luck, its introductory part is really nice and difficult to find out in any shop at present. It is pity not to see DVD and/or VHS video available with subtitles in Spanish.