Warning from Space
Director: Koji
Shima
Year: 1956
Rating: 7.0
UFO'S are being seen above Tokyo
and they are not balloons. The populace is taking it calmly unlike in certain
countries where balloons set off a crazy rash of conspiracies and panic from
the loons. Of course, after Godzilla they are ready for anything. On IMDB
this only gets a 4.7 rating which I would guess is from people mainly seeing
the dubbed American version. This is pretty good but totally serious and
really with very little happening. I liked the seriousness of it and the
dismal mood it creates as the world nears extinction. This Japanese film
from Daiei is nearly bifurcated into two different sections - one about aliens
and the other a global disaster film. I thought both were done quite well.
This was the first Japanese sci-fi film to be shot in color and it looks
great with enough low-cost special effects to satisfy fans of the genre during
this period.
The aliens have come from Paira which is
on the dark side of the moon. They are an advanced species and are far ahead
of human technology. They have come to warn the earth of impending disaster
but first they have to make contact with earth. They go to Japan of course
to do this. Maybe because of the saké? But they look like large blue
starfish with a giant eye in the center. Not surprisingly when people see
them, they freak out. Considering that the Japanese eat anything from the
sea, I wonder why they didn't try and catch them. The Pairans go back to
their spaceship and ask "Why are they running from us? Do we horrify them?
Are we so ugly? I mean look at them with that big long thing in the middle
of their face" as they show a photo of Hikari Aozora (Toyomi Karita), who
is a nightclub entertainer and in two scenes we get to see a show number.
In an alien/disaster film. Very cool. They are very Klautu like in their
thinking. In America of course we attacked them, in Japan they soon are merchandising
them as toys. Or would be if the earth was not about to say sayonara.
In order not to be scary, a Paira transforms
herself or himself - gender is hard to tell in starfish - into Hikari and
infiltrates into a scientist's family - even playing tennis and leaping about
ten feet to hit a lob. Which sort of gives the game away. Not wanting to
go karaoke would be another. She tells them another planet is on a collision
course to destroy earth. So naturally people go into their basement which
no doubt will escape the destruction of the earth or out in the countryside.
Folks, when this planet hits, you are a goner. Like us getting under our
desks as children in case of an atomic bomb. It gets closer and closer and
closer. Ten days away. Five days away. The seas are flooding, heat is killing
all the animals and making everyone grouchy.
It looks like the end has come. Say your
prayers and finish whatever TV series you are watching. Take up smoking.
Will God step in? Well, no but maybe the aliens will. Unlike an American
film of this genre back in the 1950s where the main focus will be on the
individual male hero, Japanese films tend to be more group oriented
where through consensus they arrive on a course of action. So they turn into
ensemble pieces and often like here no character particularly stands out.
