(movie Review)Although this movie is not the same genre as the "Stray -Cat- Rock" series, it is another old film that needs to be watched with a forgiving attitude, and enjoyed just as much for its cheesiness as for its merits. If you think you can do that, this film is a great ride.
Some kind soul has posted the original preview to this film on youtube here. If you take a couple minutes to watch it, it's probably more effective at conveying the atmosphere of this film than my words would be.
According to Wikipedia, this film is based off of an old 1941 radio play by Ted Sherdeman, the writer of "Them!" (the 1950s movie about giant radioactive ants, which I actually saw and enjoyed as a middle schooler when it was rerun on cable).
Although produced by Toho studios, the film has an international cast, and was even able to recruit such big Hollywood names as Joseph Cotten and Cesar Romero (along with a handful of other minor names). The film was originally shot all in English, with the Japanese actors learning their lines phonetically. It was later dubbed over for the Japanese release.
Although the DVD in my local rental shop was only in Japanese. Despite being a DVD. So I had to struggle through all in Japanese. I suppose it was good practice for me, although it was a bit strange to listen to Cesar Romero as dubbed over by a Japanese voice actor.
[I'm going to take a break for a slight rant here: I have long been frustrated by the fact that DVDs in Japan very rarely have English subtitles. This has prevented me from exploring Japanese cinema as much as I would like. It's one thing to struggle through a cheesy sci-fi flick like this in Japanese, but anything with more serious or complicated themes is usually off limits to me. This is why I still haven't watched classic films like "Seven Samurai", and instead I end up watching cheesy love films like "Heaven Can Wait...Maybe" because it's one of the very few DVDs with English subtitles.
I don't think it would be that much trouble to add a subtitle track for the DVD release, especially for movies which are already subtitled in their international release. But I let it go because after all I am living in a non-English speaking country.
But really, there's no excuse for a DVD release not to include the audio that the movie was originally filmed in. I mean it's a DVD. That's what they're made for.
And to add insult to injury, this film contains a directors commentary track, so they obviously took the time to add another audio track.]
Anyway, my issues with the DVD release aside, it is a fun film. It's one third Thomas Moore's Utopia, one third "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and one third "Dr. Moreau". Parts of the film also feel like "Star Trek" under water, particularly the submarine battles, and also the sets which are the 1960s version of what the future would look like.
Despite having a cast that's arguable more American than Japanese, the fact that this is a Japanese film is very apparent. The use of models in this film is the same as Godzilla films of the same era, and produces the exact same feel. The music is also very similar to the standard Japanese monster movie music, and sounds like a just a slight riff off of the old "Godzilla emerging from the waters" theme.
And there's also the bad special effects. The monsters who are obviously just puppets (and not very well made puppets at that), and the infamous "you can still see the strings" of some of the flying creatures....But then again I guess it's easy for us in the age of CGI to be snooty about older films with limited budgets. Really considering what they were working with at the time, it's amazing what they were able to pull off.
Link of the Day
Via Let's Japan: A Song for Nova Teachers who still haven't been Paid
I'm slightly luckier than this person in that I was one of the few who got my job back in January. But I feel her frustration.
Latitude Zero: Movie Review (Scripted)
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