Chôhen kaijû eiga: Urutoraman (1967)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Hajime Tsuburaya

Writer:

Mamoru Sasaki (writer)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A feature-length compilation of episodes of the famous Japanese sci-fi TV series about a futuristic policeman who secretly transforms into a giant extraterrestrial savior.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Miniature Effects | Post War Japan | Ecology

Cast

Akiji Kobayashi	...	Captain 'Cap' Toshio Muramatsu
Susumu Kurobe	...	Shin Hayata
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Susumu Fujita
Akihiko Hirata	...	Professor Iwamoto
Masanari Nihei	...	Mitsuhiro Ide
Hiroko Sakurai	...	Akiko Fuji

Also Known As:

Full-Length Monster Movie: Ultraman (International: English title) (literal title)
The Ultra Man (International: English title)
Ultraman (USA)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

One of the few films for Toho Company Ltd. (the film's distributor) to have a fanfare in its logo at the beginning.

Movie Connections:

Edited from "Urutoraman: Kûsô tokusatsu shirîzu" (1966)

True classic

I don't know of any other character that arouses child's interest to watch and emulate a superhero like this one. It's somewhat cheezy by today's standard, but idea was good, and there was fire to every story. Ultraman is a space policeman who comes from M-78 galaxy. He comes to earth chasing after a space villain which looks like a dinosaur called Bemular, and by accident kills a member of Earth Defense Force named Hayata. Ultraman tells Hayata that he will give his life force to him so he can survive, and also gives Hayata the means to transform into Ultraman. Hayata works for Capt. Muramatsu and he has several colleagues who works with him to fight the kaijyu menace that appears around Japan. The attraction of the show is that every episode there's a new monster Ultraman has to eradicate, and these monsters are really cream of the crop of kaijyu kingdom. I'm still hoping that Toho will resurrect a dinosaur called Gomorah in one of its movies. Ultraman lasted for 28 episodes until he lost to a space dinosaur called Zetton and was summoned back to M-78 galaxy. Soon after, many more space policemen from M-78 galaxy arrived keeping the franchise live. Most recent probably is Ultraman Tiga which I think was made under license in Australia.

This was the second series Eiji Tsuburaya (special effects director of the original Godzilla '54) produced after forming his own Tsuburaya production, and spawned many spin off series after which continues till this day.