Dr. Hans Zarkov (archive footage)
Spaceship to the Unknown is a condensed version of the original serial, compressing the original twelve episodes into an efficient 97 minute feature. Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) heads into space with brilliant scientist Dr. Zarkoff (Frank Shannon) and his sweetheart Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) in an effort to throw the planet Mongo off course; it is expected to crash into the Earth within a matter of days. However, once Flash and his crew arrive on Mongo, they have to deal with the supremely evil Ming the Merciless (Charles B. Middleton) and his wicked minions.
Dr. Zarkov
Edited version of the 1940 Universal serial "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe", released in a syndication package to TV in 1966.
Dr. Hans Zarkov
Condensed feature version of the 1936 serial Flash Gordon, with altered musical score. The film, which was shown outside the US as simply "Flash Gordon", was re-named Rocket Ship for its 1950 stateside re-release.
A cop-turned-bail bondsman gets involved in a murder investigation.
Train Station Gateman (Uncredited)
Art curator George Steele experiences a train wreck...which never happened. Is he cracking up, or the victim of a plot?
Professor Davidson
Two expeditions are trying to reach the Lost City of Zoloz -- one headed by Professor Davidson, a scientist who wants to establish an archaeological site, and the other by a greedy treasure hunter who wants to keep the fabled treasures of the city for himself. An agent of a foreign power also wants to establish a secret airbase there, so he stirs up the natives against The Phantom, who has been able to get them to stay peaceful so far. When The Phantom is murdered, his son takes his place and sets out to restore peace to the jungle and stop the agents' and the treasure hunters' nefarious plans.
Dr. Hayden
Japanese master spy Daka operates a covert espionage-sabotage organization located in Gotham City's now-deserted Little Tokyo, which turns American scientists into pliable zombies. The great crime-fighters Batman and Robin, with the help of their allies, are in pursuit.
Police Commissioner
A superhero known as The Black Commando battles Nazi agents who use explosive gases and artificial lightning to sabotage the war effort.
Senator (uncredited)
This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government decided to sabotage the school. They put the hard-as-nails Major Sam Carter in charge of the academy, and he ruthlessly put the recruits through grueling training -- until only ten prospective soldiers remained. They include Dawson, a patriotic farm boy and Howard Shelton, a selfish playboy who has come to West Point only because of its prestige. The two vie for Carolyn Bainbridge, while they, along with the other eight, try convince Carter that the school is worth keeping.
McDowell
A group of frontier businessmen set up a protective organization for the purpose of extorting money from the local ranchers.
Hammond
A government agent goes undercover in order to apprehend a saboteur who caused a plane crash.
Mr. O'Malley - Captain of the Nova Scotian (uncredited)
German Julius Reuter sends 19th-century news by carrier pigeon and then by wire, founding a news agency.
Second Man with California Gold News
Based on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to transport his people across the Rocky mountains to settle in Salt Lake City. The plot focuses on two fictitious characters, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb and the hardships they have to face along the way.
Sweeney
A broke playboy signs on to help a young beauty save her ailing bus line.
Sheriff
Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.
Dr. Zarkov
A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov, this time with ready-made allies waiting: Prince Barin of Arboria and Queen Fria of the frozen northern land of Frigia; where, it so happens, is found polarite, antidote to the plague. But Ming will use all his forces to keep our heroes from thwarting his plans of conquest.
Construction Supervisor at Elevator
Betty Bryant is an ambitious newspaper reporter in love with Dan Barton, a member of a big-city Emergency Squad who are trained to deal with riots, cave-in, explosions, fires and other emergencies where lives are at stake. Slade Wiley, an unscrupulous tunnel builder, finds that his low bid on the Newford Tunnel project is causing him to lose a lot of money, and has underworld leader Nick Burton set off blasts to frighten the stockholders into selling their shares at a low price so he can buy up the stock. Betty is investigating the deal when Wiley and Burton take her on a "tour trip" to the tunnel.
Kelsey (Uncredited)
The struggle of a man to build a steam ship to take him across the Atlantic in spite of all setbacks, and his win against a crack sailing boat in the early 19th century.
Inspector McTavish
Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.
Captain McTavish
Torchy conducts a one woman campaign against a corrupt mayor and crime boss, and when the reform candidate is murdered, she takes up the banner.
Old Man (uncredited)
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Police Capt. McTavish
Torchy Blane joins her police-detective fiance to solve a series of murders involving a set of Chinese grave tablets taken and sold to a collector and death-threats written in Chinese characters.
Police Lieutenant
Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.
Police Captain McTavish (uncredited)
A notorious counterfeiter passes himself off as a Secret Service agent to Steve and gets him to unwittingly help him bilk the racetrack out of tens of thousands.
Dr. Alexis Zarkov
Feature version of the 1938 film serial FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS: Flash Gordon fights Ming the Merciless once again to ensure the survival of the Earth.
Mac (uncredited)
Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.
Captain McTavish
Torchy, Steve, and Gahagan are on the trail of a bank robber aboard an ocean liner traveling from New York to L.A. via the Panama Canal.
Duke Slattery - Policeman with Warrant
When a singing, song-writing prizefighter is framed for murder and sent to the state pen, his girlfriend sets out to prove his innocence.
Dr. Zarkov
A 15-episode serial starring Buster Crabbe.
Minor Role (uncredited)
This MGM An Historical Mystery short traces the final voyage of the Mary Celeste, a ship discovered at sea, in December 1872, devoid - for no discernible reason - of crew, passengers and captain. At "the famed nautical court of Gibraltar", investigators propose three hypotheses.
Capt. McTavish
When a rival newspaper publisher complains to his captain about possible collusion between himself and reporter Torchy Blane on scooping her rivals in crime news reporting, Det. Lt. Steve McBride determines to thwart her efforts to get inside information - and she determines to go on getting it, by whatever means necessary.
Police Sergeant at Jail (Uncredited)
Jessie, a young working class woman, seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind.
Captain McTavish
The third of nine Torchy Blane movies. Angry that police detective Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) is giving preferential treatment to his reporter-fiancée, Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell), reporters from a rival newspaper plan a fake murder with the idea that Torchy's paper will print the story and look foolish. The tables are turned when the fake murder turns out to be the genuine article.
Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Madge Winton (Marion Davies), a beautiful secretary, makes herself look homely in order to avoid advances by lecherous bosses. When her new employer, writer Freddy Matthews (Robert Montgomery), accidentally sees her without her disguise, she has to pretend to be her roommate Sadie.
Sheriff Anderson
In this western, a Spanish-American war veteran cannot find gainful employment. In desperation, he becomes a cattle rustler until he can get back on his feet. Just as he is ready to go straight, his girlfriend's younger brother is shot.
Dr. Hans Zarkov
Three earthlings visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless.
Captain Stafford
Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.
Chaplain (uncredited)
A crusading young reporter planning a series of articles about a corrupt politician is framed for a crime and sentenced to serve five years at a prison farm.
Mr. Holt
After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth, responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, perpetrated on April 14, 1865, during a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington; Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, considered part of the atrocious conspiracy, is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the sinister Shark Island Prison.
Detective Hewitt (uncredited)
In this MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series short, a radio and television engineer falls into a life of crime by dismantling alarms for robberies.
Dan O'Reilly
Wildcat riggers risk their lives in the pursuit of oil. Their jobs get even more dangerous when ruthless oil baron J.C. Anderson sets his sights on their territory. When longtime driller Dan O'Reilly falls to his death from a well tower sabotaged by Anderson's strong-arm thugs, his teenage son 'Fishtail' inherits the property and the troubles that come with it. With the help of his geologist pal, Hank Langford, the boy fights to bring in a gusher before the deed to the well-site expires.
Police Sergeant
A young doctor is determined to expose the killer when a surgeon is found stabbed to death in a hospital elevator.
Mr. Farley
Drug dealer on the run from the law meets an innocent young girl and her brother, and turns them into “cocaine fiends”.
Mike
When the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy's life, Hoppy agrees to find his missing grandson.
Leahy
A G-man woos a newswoman and corners bank robbers with a hostage in a factory.
Police Chief at Lodge (uncredited)
James “Brick” Davis, a struggling attorney, owes his education to a mobster, but always has refused to get involved with the underworld. When a friend of his is gunned down by a notorious criminal, Brick decides to abandon the exercise of the law and join the Department of Justice to capture the murderer.
Prison Warden
A recently released prisoner lives alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back in any more trouble, but his peaceful existence is disrupted when a mysterious woman arrives.
The Burglar, Holtz aka Jack Dunning
He is working on the books to cover his crimes, when a visitor arrives with a gun. In the conversation that ensues, it is revealed that the visitor is an escaped convict that was a former employee of the bank. He was railroaded to prison to cover the crooked banker's crime. As with other entries in this series, there is a shadow projected every so often with a voice forecasting what is to come.
Badger
The Duke of Chartres is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.
Judge Bradford
Ben Jordan runs away after accidentally setting fire to a barn in his small New England community. He returns when his mother dies to find that she has left everything to her ward, Jane Crosby.
Sir John Mansfield
A sweet-natured young Irish woman is courted by a romantic poet and a local country gentleman. Which man will she choose?
Terrence O'Malley
When New York City police officer O'Malley learns of a young man who is about to embark on a life of crime by taking part in a robbery, he takes the boy aside and tells him the story of Boomerang Bill, another wanna-be gangster who wanted to be a big shot in the New York crime scene. It seems that Bill fell for a pretty young dance-hall girl, and went up against local gang boss Tony the Wop when he insulted her. Tony, who never forgot a slight, found a way to make things very, very tough for Boomerang Bill, in a way that he never saw coming.
Detchard
King Rudolf of Ruritania is saved from a coup attempt by the help of his lookalike cousin, who falls in love with the king's fiancee.