“Okay, Flash, I’m game. I’ll help you save the world.”

“Streamline Superheroes: Art Deco in Comics and Film” / FLASH GORDON: ROCKETSHIP

Saturday, November 22 - 2:00PM Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, CA

Presented by the American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles

“Streamline Superheroes: Art Deco in Comics and Film,” 60 min.

From science fiction to skyscrapers, Art Deco set the stage for a new kind of hero. In her hour-long lecture, film history writer Anne Marie Kelly traces the superhero’s origins in the optimism and style of 1930s Art Deco, and follows the enduring legacy of Deco design in the superhero’s cinematic rebirth at the end of the 20th century. Who designed Flash Gordon’s spaceship? Why does Superman wear a cape? What’s the connection between Gotham City and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis? Don your cape and cowl, and fly to the theater as we unmask these mysteries and more.

FLASH GORDON: ROCKET SHIP (1936) - Directed by Frederick Stephani

Condensed from the original four-hour-plus serial, ROCKET SHIP hurtles along like, well, a rocket ship! Flash (Buster Crabbe), faithful female sidekick Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon) do battle with interplanetary tyrant Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) while Flash tries not to succumb to the wiles of smitten, seductive Princess Aura (Priscilla Lawson), Ming’s daughter.

TICKETS