Flash Gordon

Forget the hi-tech droidery of the current strain of sci-fi, Flash Gordon time warps us thirty years back into the baroque world of wedding-cake sky castles, crystal swords, hawk-men, and chaps who have just twelve hours to save the world, armed only with a lantern jaw and a clean pairof tights. The narrative is a little plodding, but adult punters will soon slip back into areverie for the lost visions of Saturday morning cinema, and their kids can get off on the extraordinary undercurrent of febrile sexuality. Acting honours go to von Sydow as Ming the Merciless and Mariangela Melato as his dark-eyed henchperson. Flash himself is as thick as a brick, but will no doubt appeal to gentlemen who prefer blonds.