The Mysterians (1957) Chikyû Bôeigun (original title)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Shigeru Kayama (story)
Takeshi Kimura
(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:

Alien | Giant Robot | Secret Weapon | Darkroom | Eye Beams

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 Itô	...	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 Ômura	...	Doomed Villager
Shin Ôtomo	...	Policeman Kawada
Akio Kusama	...	Chief of Police station Togawa
Shôichi Hirose	...	Detective in Etsuko's house
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Policeman Ogata
Heihachirô Ôkawa	...	Person at Board Meeting
Takuzô Kumagai	...	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
Hideo Unagami	...	The mysterian
Minosuke Yamada	...	The Secretary of Defense Hamamoto
Ryûtarô Amami	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Saburô Kadowaki	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Keiichirô Katsumoto	...	Detective (uncredited)
Masayoshi Kawabe	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Mitsuo Matsumoto	...	Reporter of news paper (uncredited)
Jirô Mitsuaki	...	Detective (uncredited)
Eisuke Nakanishi	...	Detective in Etsuko's House (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

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

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Hajime Koizumi

Film Editing by
Kôichi Iwashita

Production Design by
Teruaki Abe

Production Management
Yasuaki Sakamoto	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kôji 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)
• Tokyo Shock (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Blasters (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Star Classics Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• United Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures  us releasing agent
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Chikyû Bôeigun" - Japan (original title)

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:

Tadao Nakamaru played a first lieutenant in this film. It was his first feature film role in a career that spanned almost 40 years.

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 Godzilla: Unleashed (2007) (VG)

Ifukube's score is the most action packed score ever.

The Japanese tape begins with an overture. The music with the overture is the greatest film score ever written by Akira Ifukube. So this film concerns hooded aliens who come to Earth with plans to capture and have sex with Earth women. So they release a huge bird-like robot named Mogera (it later returned renovated in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla) to prove they mean buisness. The army manages to defeat it by booby trapping the bridge and blowing it up while the monster is using it. Then the battle for the cosmos begins with the Mysterians and their ray firing ships and the humans and their markalite lasers. This is another film I believe inspired the film Independence Day. It's certainly the most colorful of any of the fifties invasion flicks. A must. Eiji Tsuburaya also did an exellent job with his marvelous miniatures and special effects.