Uchu daisenso (1959)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

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:

Sequel

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)_.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Independence Day (1996)

A special effects extravaganza for its time.

I saw this film in 1960 playing with "The Time Machine" as a double feature. Though not as rich in story line as "The Mysterians" this film really takes off when the two Speep earthships go to the moon to battle a base set up by the planet Matal who also fly "Mysterian" style flying saucers. On the moon the action really starts with marvelous raygun battles between the enemy and earth forces. The earth forces possess a marvelous heat ray cannon as well as smaller but potent raygun rifles. Later in the film, the earth forces battle invading flying saucers and a mother ship with X-15 styled fighter craft equipped with heat ray guns. The finale with the mother ship's ray gun destroying Toyko is done quite well.

For the time this film was made, the special effects are quite good. Considering my nickname is ray-gun 3, this is a ten star IMDb vote scale film in that department. I think the best scene in the film is on the moon where one of the crew stays behind with his ray rifle destroying flying saucers so the earth force can get away in their Speep spaceship. This scene is one of the best piece of special effects I have scene in this type of movie. A thought to remember is the film was made 17 to 18 years before "Star Wars". An outstanding accomplishment by Toho studios.