I misteriani

For the first fifteen minutes of "Chikyu Boeigun" (known in USA as "The Mysterians"), nothing happens. Scientist poking around a forest fire site comes face to face with a giant, metallic bird like monster. Then this film takes off, becoming more and more exciting. After the monster ravishes a village, the military kills it. We discover it's from the planet Mysteriod, and citizens of that planet are setting up a base here on Earth. The rest of the film concerns the battles betwen the Earth and The Mysterians. A bunch of Inoshira Honda's touches abound. There's a doomed hero (Ahikio Hirata) literally going on a kamikaze mission through the alien base, the plea for all nations to drop their petty squabbles and join forces to save the Earth, and wall to wall giant monster/spaceship excitement. Musician Akira Ifukube's score is militaristic, throbbing, and perfect. While "Gojira" is the best Japanese sci-fi classic, "The Mysterians", a candy coated treat is a close second, being the most fun.

Trivia note: Musician Akira Ifukube invented the famous Godzilla roar.

We have always enjoyed the early Japanese Fantasy Films circa 1954-1963. During this time they took themselves and there subjects seriously. What ever their technical short comings were you could see they were in earnest. Basically after this period starting with KING KONG -vs- GODZILLA the slide down to kiddy fare began just a step above STARMAN.

Though we consider the original GORJIRA/Godzilla as the first and the best THE MYSTERIANS is the one (1) we enjoyed most. This is a SPACE OPERA on a grand scale. Watching it is like seeing the old pulp Science-Fiction magazine covers of the 1930's being brought to life. Basically the team that acted and made the original Godzilla are back plus the addition of Technicolor and WideScreen. They needed a big and splashy story and THEM -vs- US for the world was the canvas that well suited this first effort.

We first saw it on T.V. in the mid 1960s and were enthralled like any early teenagers by these scenes of action and massed destruction. But even then we (my brother and I) felt something was missing. It was not until the early 1990s that we saw a restored Japanese print in it's original format (WS) and subtitled in English that what happened on screen made sense. Best of all there were more scenes of destruction.

It is a pity that TOHO did not make a direct sequel and made BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE instead (still a fun film). Now that they are more technically adapt it would be nice to see this film remade. The one (1) thing I would keep though (other then the basic plot line) is the exceptional musical score.

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.

Although best known for their Godzilla series, Japan's Toho Studios made many other sci fi and fantasy films. This was the first of many that would be about aliens from another world invading Earth {that idea would be later incorporated into quite a few Godzilla films}. It's dated in some respects but still pretty good fun and must have seemed quite impressive at the time of it's western release. Before that the only major film that dealt with alien invasion on a "full scale,open war" kind of level was The War Of The Worlds, and The Mysterians attempts even more, if not quite succeeding, in the way of spectacle.

The first half hour is terrific, the characters are briefly introduced, strange things happen and a large bird-like robot goes on the rampage in Godzilla fashion. After this,things go downhill a little bit, too much time is taken up with meetings and the lengthy battle scenes between the aliens and the humans are a bit static and go on a little too long. Nevertherless there is a charming toy-like nature to these scenes, as various futuristic weapons are employed against the invaders.

Special effects are occasionally poor {watch out for the awful superimposed explosions} but generally better than most Hollywood sci fi films of the time. Filmed in very garish colour {which particularly highlights the alien's costumes} and with a tremendous main march theme by Akira Ifikube, the Mysterians has it's dull bits, but is still worth watching for some childish fun. Toho would perfect the alien invasion idea two years later with the incredible Battle In Outer Space.

This is a pretty decent invasion film. This time around, Honda seems to have been inspired by the films "War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and does a good job in conveying a lot of themes that pretty much permeate a lot of his films, fear of nuclear war and the world unifying for a common cause. Also, Akihiko pretty much built on his portrayal of the tragic hero that sacrifices himself at the end to save humanity and did his usual good job.

The only complaint I have about the film is the fact that the appearance of Moguera takes place too early in the film and his destruction is much too early. They do return him to the end, but I would have preferred to see him as the weapon of last resort that the aliens use to try to deliver the crushing blow. Other than that, this is a pretty good movie.