Right from the start, a couple of factors definitely helped me enjoy this film, even before pressing play (since it turned out to be one of those budget Mill Creek 50-pack discs). First, I’m really fond of those classic movie serials that used to run weekly in theaters, always ending on a cliffhanger. Second, I've been a fan of Buster Crabbe ever since seeing him play both Tarzan and the lead in a Flash Gordon serial. The directors, Beebe and Goodkind, were experts at making these kinds of movies, and this one follows suit. Still, I can easily ignore any complaints about it being poorly made if you’re comparing it to films from the 1950s—it's not actually from that era; it was simply re-edited into a longer film sometime in the 50s so the company could sell it, likely to TV stations. I did enjoy watching it, but I would have preferred seeing the original serial version, complete and untouched. Apparently, some of the best and most thrilling scenes were cut out.

Source on TMDB