Chikyû Bôeigun (1957)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Shigeru Kayama (story)
Takeshi Kimura (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

15 May 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

Tagline:

They come from another World...They want 3 kilometres of land-and...FIVE of your WOMEN!

Plot:

Aliens arrive on Earth and ask permission to be given a certain tract of land for their people to live on...

Plot Keywords:

Giant Robot | Alien | Flying Saucer | Radioactivity | Dome

Cast

Kenji Sahara	...	Joji Atsumi
Yumi Shirakawa	...	Etsuko Shiraishi
Momoko Kôchi	...	Hiroko Iwamoto
Akihiko Hirata	...	Ryoichi Shiraishi
Takashi Shimura	...	Dr. Tanjiro Adachi
Susumu Fujita	...	Gen. Morita
Hisaya Ito	...	Capt. Seki
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Cmdr. Sugimoto
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Dr. Nobu Kawanami
Tetsu Nakamura	...	Dr. Koda
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Leader of the Mysterians
Yutaka Sada	...	Police Capt. Miyamoto
Ren Imaizumi	...	Adachi's Assistant Hayami
Takeo Oikawa	...	Announcer on TV
Tadao Nakamaru	...	1st Lt. Yamamoto
George Furness	...	Dr. Svenson
Harold Conway	...	Dr. DeGracia
Haruya Kato	...	Doomed Villager
Senkichi Omura	...	Doomed Villager
Shin Otomo	...	Policeman Kawada
Akio Kusama	...	Chief of Police station Togawa
Shoichi Hirose	...	Detective in Etsuko's house
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Policeman Ogata
Heihachiro Okawa	...	Person at Board Meeting
Takuzo Kumagaya	...	Col. Ito (as Jirô Kumagai)
Mitsuo Tsuda	...	Person at Defense Meeting
Kamayuki Tsubono	...	Person at Defense Meeting
Hideo Mihara	...	Gen. Emoto
Yasuhiro Shigenobu	...	Doomed Villager
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Mysterian
Haruo Nakajima	...	Moguera
Byron Morrow	...	General (American version)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rikie Sanjo	...	Etsuko's mother
Soji Ubukata	...	Dr. Noda
Minosuke Yamada	...	The Secretary of Defense Hamamoto

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shigeru Kayama		story
Takeshi Kimura		writer
Jojiro Okami		story

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Hajime Koizumi

Film Editing by
Koichi Iwashita

Production Design by
Teruaki Abe

Production Management
Yasuaki Sakamoto	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Koji Kajita	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jay Bonafield	....	dubbing supervisor: English
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects
Masanobu Miyazaki	....	sound recordist
Carlos Montalbán	....	dubbing scenarist: English
Peter Riethof	....	dubbing scenarist: English

Special Effects by
Hidesaburo Araki	....	special effects photographer
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	special effects photographer
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	director of special effects
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects art director

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Other crew
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	combination shots

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1957) (worldwide) (all media)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1959) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Star Classics Video (video)
• Tokyo Shock (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• United Video (video)
• VCI Home Video (video)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Defence Force of the Earth
Earth Defense Force
The Mysterians (USA)

Runtime:

89 min | Japan:88 min | USA:85 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Norway:12 | UK:PG

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Yoshio Tsuchiya was offered the lead role but turned it down, instead opting to play the Mysterian leader.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): One of the bicyclist firefighters has a very southern-US accent, when the on-screen actors are obviously Japanese.

Quotes:

Dr. Tanjiro Adachi: Strange things are happening behind the moon!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Resist Evil Part Three: Don't Stop or We'll Die (2009)

Dumb - loads of fun

Just saw the subbed, widescreen version of this Nipponese classic from 1957. OK, there was no characterisation to speak of. The "hero" and his professor mentor (played by Takashi Shimura, leader of the samurai in SEVEN SAMURAI, by the way) are just cardboard cut-outs serving the relentless, by-the-numbers plot. But the real star of this is the quaint-as-all-get-out vintage special effects.

The Toho spfx team were the best. Take a good look at the miniature work in the spectacular flooding scene. This is way better than similar miniature flooding scenes in the far bigger budgeted and later SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978), one of the last films to use traditional miniature work.

But you just got to love these Mysterians in their elegant colour-coded costumes, and the great design of the alien burrowing machine engine room.

So ... not a great deal of sense but a real visual treat. Switch off your brain, sit back and enjoy this madcap, popcorn fest for what it is. Fab, gear and groovy entertainment.