Uchu daisenso (1959)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Jojiro Okami (story)
Shinichi Sekizawa (writer)

Release Date:

8 July 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The Moon is Captured! The Earth is Next!

Plot:

The nations of the Earth unite in a common cause to fight off an invader from outer space.

Plot Keywords:

Iranian | Alien Invasion | Mind Control | 1960s | International Cooperation

Cast

Ryo Ikebe	...	Maj. Ichiro Katsumiya
Kyôko Anzai	...	Etsuko Shiraishi
Koreya Senda	...	Professor Adachi
Minoru Takada	...	The Commander
Leonard Stanford	...	Dr. Roger Richardson
Harold Conway	...	Dr. Immerman
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Iwomura
Hisaya Ito	...	Kogure
Nadao Kirino	...	Gravity Man
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Inspector Iriake
Malcolm Pearce	...	Dr. Achmed
Leonard Walsh	...	Thomas Sheldon
Kôzô Nomura	...	Rocket Commander
Ikio Sawamura	...	Lantern Man
Tadashi Okabe	...	Newscaster

Also Known As:

Battle in Outer Space (USA)
The Great Space War

Runtime:

Japan:93 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Many sources list the running time of the U.S. version as 74 minutes. This error was originally generated by the U.S. distributor, Columbia Pictures. The 74-minute running time is actually that of its theatrical co-feature, _Twelve to the Moon (1960)_.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The strings holding the flying machines (rocket ships and flying saucers) aloft are clearly visible in several scenes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Independence Day (1996)

Hey! It was 1959!

I saw "Uchu daisenso" or as it was titled when I saw it, Battle in Outer Space" when I was a kid- a long time ago. Now of course the inevitable comparison to modern space operas will reduce the impact of this simple picture, but taken in the context in which I first viewed it, this was a really cool movie. For starters, it was in glorious color, a rarity in sci-fi in the late 50's I can tell you. I saw a lot of horror and sci-fi movies when I was kid and color was rare. And like most Japanese sci-fi imports of the time this was the whole world united against the invading alien hordes. Yeah a little like Independence Day but In "Uchu daisenso" the United Earth already existed. It didn't take an invasion from outer space to unite the planet. Good (relatively speaking!) effects, a noble if simple plot, combined with beautiful Eastmancolor and this was the perfect drive-in movie.