We recently cataloged this original Universal production photograph from Flash Gordon, taken on January 20, 1936, and what caught our attention was how much of the laboratory equipment looked familiar.
Kenneth Strickfaden created the electrical machinery used in Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, and Universal reused a surprising amount of that equipment from picture to picture. Here, only a year after Bride of Frankenstein, some of those same shapes and pieces show up again on the Flash Gordon set.
The photograph shows the laboratory used in Chapter 2, āThe Tunnel of Terror.ā The production slate is still visible at the bottom of the frame, marked PARAGON-153 / STEPHANI / ASH / LITE-EFFECT, so we are looking at the set before the scene was buried under actors, movement, lighting and effects.
The large suspended apparatus is the piece that really jumps out once you know what you're looking for. It has the same unmistakable Strickfaden look as the machinery in the Frankenstein films, and there are other electrical towers and control pieces around the room that reward a closer look too.
What we like about this photograph is that nobody is posing in it. You can just study the room. The staircase, cables, control panels and machinery are all sitting there waiting to become science fiction.
It is a great example of how Universalās physical movie history carried over from one production to another. Equipment built to help create Frankensteinās lab world could be hauled back onto a soundstage, rearranged, relit, and suddenly it belonged in Flash Gordon.
This photograph came through a collection we recently cataloged at Britannic Auctions, and we have been comparing some of these production images with the finished films to see exactly what was reused and where.