| Warning from Space |
|---|
Japanese film poster
|
| Directed by | Koji Shima |
|---|
| Produced by | Masaichi Nagata |
|---|
| Screenplay by | Hideo Oguni |
|---|
| Based on | A novel
by Gentaro Nakajima |
|---|
| Starring |
- Keizo Kawasaki
- Toyomi Karita
- Bin Yagasawa
- Shozo Nanbu
- Bontarô Miyake
- Mieko Nagai
- Kiyoko Hirai
- Isao Yamagata
|
|---|
| Music by | Seitaro Omori |
|---|
| Cinematography | Kimio Watanabe |
|---|
| Edited by | Toy Suzuki |
|---|
Production
company
|
|
|---|
| Distributed by |
|
|---|
Release dates
|
|
|---|
| Country | Japan |
|---|
| Language | Japanese |
|---|
Warning from Space (
宇宙人東京に現わる Uchūjin Tokyo ni arawaru?, Spacemen Appear in Tokyo) is a
Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film released in January 1956 by
Daiei, and was the first
Japanese science fiction film to be produced in color. In the film's plot,
starfish-like
aliens disguised as humans travel to Earth to warn of the imminent collision of a
rogue planet and Earth. As the planet rapidly accelerates toward Earth, a
nuclear device is created at the last minute and destroys the approaching world.
The film, directed by
Koji Shima, was one of many early Japanese monster films quickly produced after the success of
Toho's
Godzilla in 1954. The film was loosely based on a novel by Gentaro Nakajima. After release, the film was met with negative reviews, with critics calling it "bizarre" and accusing it of using science fiction
clichés.
Warning from Space influenced many other Japanese science fiction films, such as
Gorath. The film, along with other 1950s science fiction films, influenced director
Stanley Kubrick, who would later direct
2001: A Space Odyssey.
A small ship travels to a rotating
space station. Aboard the station, a group of
starfish-like beings discuss how to warn humans of an impending disaster, deciding on contacting Japanese scientist Dr. Kumara. Meanwhile,
flying saucers are spotted over the skies of
Tokyo, baffling scientists. A
journalist tries to get a statement from Dr. Kumara about the sightings, but Kumara replies that there is not enough evidence to formulate a hypothesis. At an
observatory, Professor Isobe spots an
object in his
telescope apparently releasing smaller objects.
Isobe discusses his findings with Kumara and a physician, Dr. Matsuda, who believes they should get photographs via a rocket. The photographs they retrieve, however, turn out to be unclear, though they deduce the object has a high energy output. In the meantime, the
extraterrestrials have been unsuccessfully attempting to contact humans. They begin appearing in lakes and rivers, frightening local fishermen and sailors. One of the aliens manages to secure a photo of Hikari Aozora, a famous Japanese entertainer. Their plan is for one of the aliens to mutate into the form of Aozora. Back aboard the space station, one of the Pairan leaders, Ginko, volunteers herself. Her starfish form is slowly mutated into a human form.
The starfish-like Pairans in discussion aboard the space station.
On Earth, Toru, Isobe's son, discovers the disguised alien floating in the water. After her rescue, she exhibits
superhuman characteristics such as jumping ten feet and
materializingin different places without walking. Soon, she disrupts Dr. Matsuda's work on a
nuclear device, explaining she understands the complex equations he was writing and warning against the
effects of a device, leading him to believe she is not human. Shortly afterwards, as the team of scientists discuss her abnormal traits, the camouflaged Ginko appears and reveals her true identity, explaining she is from Paira, a world on the same
orbit as Earth but on the
opposite side of the
Sun. She then continues to reveal her mission, to warn Earth of an
imminent collision of a
rogue planet, which is dubbed "Planet R" by the media. They appeal to the World Congress about the situation, but are swiftly rejected. Only after they show Planet R and its rapid
acceleration in the telescope does the World Congress launch its
nuclear weapons, which ineffectively explode on its surface.
In the meantime, a group of spies have abducted Matsuda and are attempting to steal his formula to the nuclear device the disguised Pairan warned him about. Matsuda does not comply and is eventually tied to a chair in a remote building. As the
Earth's atmosphere heats up due to the approaching world, Ginko again arrives to learn why Planet R is not yet destroyed. They locate Matsuda through Pairan technology and gather the formula for the device. The scientists then all watch as the nuclear device is shot from the space station and destroys Planet R, cooling the atmosphere and removing the threat. Ginko then changes back to her original form aboard the space station.
Production[edit]
After the success of
Toho's 1954 film
Godzilla, which depicted a giant dinosaur attacking Tokyo, many Japanese film studios began to produce similar
monster films, including
Warning from Space.
[1][2] Along with other films such as
Shintōhō's
Terrifying Attack of the Flying Saucers and the
American Forbidden Planet,
Warning from Space became part of a fledgling subgenre of films based around science fiction creatures.
[3] The film also used the theme of
atomic bombs that was present in many films at the time,
[4][5] but showed how the weapons, which
devastated the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki a decade earlier, could be put to good use.
[6] Still others noted the film used another common theme of
cosmic collisions in the style of earlier films such as the 1931 film
End of the World, which depicted a
comet on a collision course with the Earth.
[7]
The Pairan aliens were designed by the prominent avant-garde artist
Tarō Okamoto,
[8] which used a single eye that is common among science fiction aliens.
[9] Although official film posters showed the Pairan aliens towering over buildings, the actual cinematic version of the aliens were on the scale of humans, at about two meters.
[10] Walt Lee reports that Gentaro Nakajima's novel, on which this film was based, was in turn based on the Japanese folktale
Kaguya-hime.
[11] The film was one of fourteen Japanese color pictures produced in early 1956,
[12] but the first color Japanese science-fiction film.
[13]
Release[edit]
Warning From Space was released in Japan in 1956.
[14] Daiei also hoped to find a foreign market for
Warning from Space, though the company found difficulty in selling it.
[15] Nevertheless, the film played at both King Cinema in
Rangoon,
Burma[16] and Tai Khoon Theatre in
Sandakan,
Malaysia, in 1958.
[13] The film did help Daiei achieve some success in the genre.
[17] It was passed for release, anglicized as
Warning from Space, by the
BBFC in the
United Kingdom in 1957,
[18] and later in the
United States in 1963.
[19] It was picked up by
American International Television later in the 1960s.
[15] The film was released in
Spain as
Asalto a la Tierra,
[7] and in
France as
Le Satellite Mystérieux.
[20] Warning from Space has since fallen into the
public domain,
[21] allowing companies to distribute the free film on
DVD.
[22]
Reception[edit]
From retrospective reviews, a review included in the book
A Guide to Apocalyptic Cinema, author Charles P. Mitchell called the film "bizarre" and gave it two stars.
[23] Similarly, in a 1978 issue of the magazine
Cue, viewers were warned "don't watch it."
[24] In the 1986
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies by Phil Hardy and
Denis Gifford, the film is accused of using the science fiction
clichés of
flying saucers and
atomic bombs.
[25] Gyan Prakash, in his book
Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City, called the film "charming."
[1] The film was noted for its misleading characterization of
astronomers, with one author observing that it advanced the cinematic portrayal of astronomers as scientists in
lab coats peering through an enormous telescope.
[26]
In his biography of
Stanley Kubrick, author
John Baxter traces Kubrick's interest in science fiction films, which led to his
2001: A Space Odyssey, to the Japanese
kaiju eiga films of the 1950s, including
Warning from Space, with its "nameless two-metre-tall black starfish with a single central eye, who walk
en pointe like ballet dancers."
[10] Baxter notes that despite their "clumsy model sequences, the films were often well-photographed in colour ... and their dismal dialogue was delivered in well-designed and well-lit sets."
[10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to:a b Prakash, Gyan (2010). Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 112.ISBN 0691146446. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Ryfle, Steve (1998). Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G". Toronto: ECW Press. p. 65. ISBN 1550223488. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Ragone, August (2007). Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters: Defending the Earth with Ultraman, Godzilla, and Friends in the Golden Age of Japanese Science. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 52. ISBN 0811860787. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Shapiro, Jerome Franklin (2002). Atomic Bomb Cinema: The Apocalyptic Imagination on Film. New York: UNC Press Books. p. 462. ISBN 0415936608. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
- Jump up^ Lifton, Robert Jay (2000). Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New York: Macmillan. p. 257. ISBN 0805065113. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- Jump up^ Lifton, Robert Jay (1991). Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima. London: Psychology Press. p. 363.ISBN 080784344X. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Lupiáñez, Manuel Moreno and Jordi José Pont (2002). De King Kong a Einstein: La Física en la Ciencia Ficción (in Spanish). Barcelona: Edicions UPC. p. 258. ISBN 8483013339. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- Jump up^ Introduction. Taro Okamoto Museum of Art (in Japanese). Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- Jump up^ Westfahl, Gary (2005). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 2. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 871.ISBN 0313329524. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Baxter, John (1997). Stanley Kubrick: A Biography. New York: Basic Books. p. 200. ISBN 0786704853. Retrieved April 28,2011.
- Jump up^ Lee, Walt (Compiler) (1974). Reference Guide to Fantastic Films: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Los Angeles: Chelsea Lee Books. p. 324. ISBN 0913974021. RetrievedApril 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Hasegawa, Saiji (1964). Japan Trade Guide With a Comprehensive Mercantile Directory. Tokyo: Jiji Press. p. 207. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Leaflet: Warning From Space. Malaysia Design Archive. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- Jump up^ Galbraith, Stuart (1994). Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. p. 308. ISBN 0-89950-853-7.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Shoemaker, Greg (1979). "Daiei: A History of the Greater Japan Motion Picture Company". The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (12): 14. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- Jump up^ Far East Film News (January 17): 21. 1958.
- Jump up^ Sewell, Keith and Guy Mariner Tucker (1995). "The Gamera Saga". G-FAN (14). Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- Jump up^ Warning from Space BBFC. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
- Jump up^ Young, R.G. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies. New York: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 663.ISBN 1557832692. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Un Siècle de Cinéma Fantastique et de SF. Paris: Éditions Le Manuscrit. 2005. p. 467. ISBN 2748160738. RetrievedMay 22, 2011.
- Jump up^ "Warning from Space (1960)". Archive.org. RetrievedDecember 23, 2010.
- Jump up^ "Amazon.com: Warning from Space". Amazon.com. RetrievedMarch 20, 2011.
- Jump up^ Mitchell, Charles (2001). A Guide to Apocalyptic Cinema. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 276.ISBN 0313315272. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ "Warning from Space". Cue (Cue Publishing Co.) 7 (1-6). 1978. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Hardy, Phil and Denis Gifford (1986). Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies. Minneapolis: Woodbury Press. p. 163.ISBN 083000436X. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ West, Michael (May 28, 2009). "Public Perception of Astronomers: Revered, Reviled and Ridiculed" (PDF). New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved September 25,2012.
- Jump up^ Valdron, Den. "Gorath, the Mystery Planet". The Godzilla Saga. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- Jump up^ Valdron, Den. "Gamera: The World of Tera". The Godzilla Saga. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
- Jump up^ Derry, Charles (2009). Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century. Jefferson: McFarland. p. 78. ISBN 0-7864-3397-3. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
- Jump up^ Anderson, Murphy; et al. (2005). The Justice League Companion: A Historical and Speculative Overview of the Silver Age Justice League of America. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 1944. ISBN 1-893905-48-9. Retrieved April 28,2011.
- Jump up^ Renee, Misiroglu and Michael Eury (2006). The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0-7808-0977-7. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
External links[edit]
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
