Inferno nella stratosfera

I saw "Uchu daisenso" or as it was titled when I saw it, Battle in Outer Space" when I was a kid- a long time ago. Now of course the inevitable comparison to modern space operas will reduce the impact of this simple picture, but taken in the context in which I first viewed it, this was a really cool movie. For starters, it was in glorious color, a rarity in sci-fi in the late 50's I can tell you. I saw a lot of horror and sci-fi movies when I was kid and color was rare. And like most Japanese sci-fi imports of the time this was the whole world united against the invading alien hordes. Yeah a little like Independence Day but In "Uchu daisenso" the United Earth already existed. It didn't take an invasion from outer space to unite the planet. Good (relatively speaking!) effects, a noble if simple plot, combined with beautiful Eastmancolor and this was the perfect drive-in movie.

Pint-size aliens from the planet Natal are bent on conquering the Earth in this colorful space opera from the heyday of Toho Studios. Second in a trilogy of space-themed movies directed by the inimitable Ishiro Honda (the other two being "The Mysterians" and "Gorath") this is pure mindless fun.

The special effects may seem dated now, but for the time they were first-rate, much better than your average sci-fi and far superior to any of the monster films Toho cranked out from the mid-60s onward. This was definitely not done on the cheap: The sets are well thought-out, the astronomical backgrounds detailed and quite convincing.

Eiji Tsuburaya's intricate miniature work is amazing as always. The voyage to the Moon, the fight on the lunar surface, and the final showdown (with souped-up X-15s squaring off against alien saucers and a huge mother ship) are elaborately staged and exciting.

Which is why it's easy to forgive the occasional cheesy bits. For instance, when the beautiful SPIP rockets are taking off for the Moon, Honda illustrates the effects of high-G by having one of the crewmen put his hands on either side of his face and *pull* the flesh back. I also suspect they were running out of funds (the film's only 74 minutes long) when it came time to shoot the scene where the alien mother ship tears up downtown Tokyo with a gravity-reversing ray. Although it's a clever effect, apparently achieved by building the models on top of compressed air jets, the sequence feels too short. Plus the miniatures just don't look quite as detailed or realistic, when compared to other Toho films of the era.

My biggest complaint: In the one scene where you actually meet the aliens in the flesh (sort of) they're in spacesuits which make them look like midget Michelin Men and they sound like a bunch of squeaky dog toys. When a crowd of them "menaces" the heroine, there's not a ray gun in the bunch; all they can can do is shuffle, wave their arms and squeak. Not very intimidating, to say the least. (If anything, they're hilariously reminiscent of that roomful of sex-crazed Cub Scouts in Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex".)

But the good far outweighs the not-so-good in this romp. In a theater, in its original Tohoscope (Toho Studios' equivalent of Cinemascope), it must have been something to see.

(Update: In 2007, an outfit called Monsters in Motion released "Uchu Daisenso" on DVD -- in letterbox, in the original Japanese with English subtitles -- as part of their "Toho Masters" series. With its companion piece "Gorath" available from MiM, and Tokyo Shock's gorgeous edition of "The Mysterians", Honda's entire space trilogy is now obtainable in the original, unedited widescreen versions.)

Some really neat miniatures, beautiful matte paintings, and a very cool lunar set, are the highlights of this movie. It's fun entertainment for the first half, but becomes especially enjoyable midway through once our heroes land on the Moon.

As other reviewers have noted, this movie seems to have influenced Star Wars, in particular a couple of shots during the climactic battle in space, which seem as though Lucas might have lifted them from a print of this film and dropped them right into A New Hope.

Battle in Outer Space brings back some happy memories. I recall seeing this movie at the local Strand Theatre. I was (10) years old at the time and it was such a revelation to see an outer space film in "Color". In those days most Saturday afternoon Sci-Fi was in B/W. True, there were a few high dollar efforts like War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet but for the money, or lack there of, this "B" films brilliant colors & special effects (loved those jitter-bugging saucers)held its own with the big boys. I recently bought a Japanese DVD version at eBay, with English subtitles, and believe me it's just not the same as the dubbed English version. Forget the bad lip-sink, that "Voice of Doom" from the Natal Moon base is not nearly as ominous in Japanese. Glad to see others remember this little "B" gem too. Hope to see it properly released in DVD soon.

Aliens are causing havok on Earth. So a bunch of astronauts are sent to the moon to war with these little funny midget aliens. Just a big battle from beginning to end, with the aliens sucking up Tokyo at the end (man is that cool). It is basically like a Japanese Independence Day except not nearly as intense or violent