Prince of Space
Director: Ejiro Wakabayashi
Year: 1959
Rating: 5.0
Aka - Planet Prince
It was clear five minutes into this film
that it was meant for children and I rated it accordingly as if I was six
years old. I think I would have enjoyed it. Six years old in 1959 because
six-year-olds now would laugh at the primitive special effects and corny
dialogue - but back in 1959 they probably thought it was very cool. This
was in fact a TV show that ran for 49 episodes from 1958 to 1959. Then Toei
produced two one hour features which America got rights to and immediately
dubbed it and cut it down to 90-minutes. That is the version I watched so
I missed 30-minutes of no doubt superb filmmaking. IMDB gives this a 2.2
which seems almost cruel. You have to take into account the period made and
the targeted audience. It has evil-doers, spaceships, a super hero, two annoying
children and a plan to conquer the universe. And no romance. Perfect for
boys of a certain age. Shot in black and white
They come from the Planet Krankor with demands
made of earth. The usual ones. Surrender or die. The leader Phantom (Joji
Oka) is an evil bastard with a cackling laugh, a bristly toothbrush of a
moustache and a large sharp nose as all the inhabitants have. They all seem
to be male and this is made weirdly obvious because they all wear these knit
tight fitting uniforms and clearly no underwear. The boys have no protection,
but lots of room to breathe. Krankor is nothing but a pile of rocks defended
by a giant that spits out flames. They land on earth - near Tokyo naturally
- and are met by . . . the Prince of Space who sends them running back
to Krankor. Who you might ask is the Price of Space (Tatsuo Umemiya)? I have
no idea. Probably explained in the TV show, but he wears a white mask to
hide his identity, can dodge the ray guns and has his own spaceship.
That of course is not the end of our adventure.
Phantom returns and kidnaps five top earth scientists and takes them back
to his cozy home. The Prince of Space chases after him and Phantom keeps
leaving traps for him and telling his crew "That is the end of the Prince
of Peace. No one could live through that!". Ha! The Prince of Peace just
laughs. In 2021 Japan made the Planet Prince 2021. Nothing can kill the Prince
of Peace. This was Tatsuo's second film but he went on to a lengthy career
in action films - Yakuza and Samurai.
