REVIEW: UCHU DAISENSO
REVIEW: BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE
PRODUCTION: ISHIRO HONDA [ 1959 ] 93' / 90'
PRODUCTION: TOHO CO. LTD
PRODUCTION: COLUMBIA PICTURES
CAST: RYO IKEBE, KYOKO ANZAI
CAST: KOREYA SENDA, YOSHIO TSUCHIYA
PERSONAL RATING:
CRITICAL RATING:
WTF-FILMOMETER: IT'S AN INVASION OF PRE-60'S SCIFI TEDIUM

Toho Co. LTD released no giant monster films in the year of 1959, evidence of their temporary trending away from such films at the end of the 1950's. While the years between 1954 and 1956 had seen the inception of such creatures as Godzilla, Anguirus, and Rodan, the years that followed from 1957 to 1963 were comparatively slim on such things (Toho's kaiju craze would pick up at full steam in 1964, with the production of no fewer than three monster-oriented films that year alone).

The interim years from 1957 to 1960 proved an experimental time for the company as far as science fiction and fantasy productions were concerned. Some of these experiments - including the genuinely creepy little gangster / horror effort BIJO TO EKITAININGEN [THE H-MAN; 1958] - were quite successful in their own right, but it was the breakthrough science fiction / action spectacular CHIKYU BOEIGUN [THE MYSTERIANS; 1957] that would set the course for Toho's larger budgeted fantasy efforts for the years to follow. That film brought the creative team of director Ishiro Honda, composer Akira Ifukube, special effects master Eiji Tsubaraya, and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka back to the forefront of science fiction cinema and, by virtue of its success, all but guaranteed something in the way of a sequel.

1959's uneven UCHU DAISENSO (released in 1960 by Columbia under the more recognizable title of BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE) was, for better or worse, that sequel.

BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE certainly begins promisingly enough - in a rousing pre-credits action sequence the audience witnesses the destruction of an Earth-orbiting space station by a band of malevolent flying saucers that bare more than a little resemblance to those featured in 1957's THE MYSTERIANS. After the credits we are treated to another such sequence - a saucer inexplicably levitates a railroad bridge, allows an oncoming locomotive to crash, and then tosses the bridge back into place. It seems that such events are occurring around the world, with a waterspout trouncing the historic city of Venice and another laying waste to a cruise ship in the Panama Canal.

In short order a meeting of scientists from around the world is organized and set to take place in, where else, Japan. The delegates arrive at the Space Research Center and begin massive discussions about the events at hand. Through pseudo-scientific babble it is determined that a common force is at work in the disasters - a force from beyond the Earth. Going against the entirety of evidence available, the delegates all remark about how they hope the alien intelligence's visit is of a peaceful nature (if it is then these aliens certainly have a funny conception of what is and isn't peaceful). But preparations to repel the unearthly aggressors are put into action just in case.

Meanwhile, the wacky alien-possessed Dr. Ahmed - the stereotypical turban-toting scientific delegate from Iran - is running amok at the Space Research Center with Interpol agents (how the hell did they find out about him in the few minutes since he became possessed?) in hot pursuit. The other delegates gather to view the various machinations that are to be put to use against the aliens if need be. First up is a plutonium-powered heat ray that looks to be capable of shooting through damn near anything. Next is an enormous spaceship - the S.P.I.P. - that's in its last stages of development. The Interpol agents catch up with the delegates and ask about Dr. Ahmed, but it's too late - he's already making a nuisance of himself by fighting with assistant Iwamura (Yoshio Tsuchiya) for the ray gun. This doesn't go well and Dr. Ahmed ends up being vaporized by a passing flying saucer after ranting a bit about the residents of the planet Natal. Only a red-hot silhouette and an intriguing bit of unseen something are left behind.

The intriguing bit of unseen something is found to have been some sort of radio control device - implanted in Dr. Ahmed's brain, it successfully put him under alien control. At the next meeting of the delegates it has, oddly, been ascertained that the people of Natal have established a base on the moon and that we Earthlings must prepare to resist an inevitable invasion. The two S.P.I.P. spaceships are commissioned for the purpose of flying a select group of scientists - including Major Katsumiya (Ryo Ikebe), Dr. Adachi (Koreya Senda), and the former's love interest Etsuko (Kyoko Anzai) - to the moon to scope out the Natal base of operations. Iwamura is also slated to go on the trip - unfortunately he's possessed by the Natalians the night before the launch. . .

After a bit of severely awkward love-talk between Katsumiya and Etsuko, we are whisked away to the day of the launch. The delegates board, the military band plays, and the two S.P.I.P.s take off without issue. After the ships have successfully left the atmosphere we are treated to the requisite 'some bastard forgot about weightlessness in space' scene. A stern comment about being cautious in the low gravity seems to solve the problem and the crew wanders around the ship for the remainder of the trip without incident. Nearer the moon the two ships encounter the first hurdle posed by the evil Natalians - the flying saucers are in control of giant raisins with Christmas lights inside of them (dubbed "space torpedoes") and are having a bit of fun chucking them at the two Earth ships. Much heat ray firing ensues and all of the space torpedoes are either vaporized or avoided. Meanwhile, Iwamura has revealed his possession by trying to deactivate the heat ray on his ship. An evasive maneuver puts an abrupt end to his scheming and he is brought back to the cabin, unconscious, and promptly tied up for safe keeping.

The alien threat is overcome, for the moment, and the Natalians waste no time in warning the ships (in goofy slowed down Japanese, of course) not to land on the moon. They land anyway, of course. Once there we are treated to yet another 'same stupid bastard forgot about low gravity' scene - the two crews (sans a few stragglers left to keep an eye on both ships) soon set out in search of the Natal base in two of the most ridiculous looking rovers ever put to film. Caterpillar-like and graced with windshields and nosecones that make them look as though they have faces, the two vehicles could easily be the proud parents of the present day Oscar-Meyer Weiner-mobile. The crews don't seem to mind, however, and the machines handle admirably as they trek across the lunar surface - avoiding being sighted by flying saucers all the way. They've soon reached their destination and the scientists find themselves face to face with the Natal base in all of its glory. . .

Etsuko finds herself meeting the Natalians themselves - wandering about by herself in a cave, she is ambushed by a mob of the little creatures. Looking a lot like the Mysterians, only in miniature and accompanied by the squeaky noise made by the meganurons in SORA NO DAIKAIJU RADON [1956], the Natalians have, sadly, come unarmed and are quickly dispensed with by a single heat ray blast from our hero Katsumiya. The base itself proves a bit more difficult to handle and the team are forced to dismount the two caterpillar-things' laser cannons to do the job. In the meanwhile, Iwamura has escaped his short-lived captivity and is taking to blowing up the two spaceships by turning random knobs (hopefully fatal flaws such as explosive-if-turned knobs will be avoided in future spaceship designs). The two ships' crews go to war with the base and destroy it just in the nick of time - Iwamura is freed from his alien possession and manages to correct his knob-turning mistake before the surviving S.P.I.P. is blown to tiny bits.

The two scientists head back to their ships only to find an onslaught of flying saucers waiting for them - much heat ray firing, once again, ensues. A few saucers are destroyed and, with the help of a self-sacrificing Iwamura, the men board the remaining S.P.I.P. and high-tale it back to their Earth base. Upon their return the Earth is united against the common threat posed by the planet of Natal - a fleet of smaller spaceships capable of better maneuverability and flight in and out of the atmosphere is rushed into production, as are a few larger versions of the plutonium-powered heat ray. It's only a matter before the Natalians are at it again and attacking the Earth directly. . .

The squadrons of fighter ships take off from their various Earth bases (in Russia, America, and Japan) and what follows may be the first ever dogfight in outer space - an initial inspiration for George Lucas, no doubt. A number of flying saucers and good guys, alike, are killed in the battle and a couple of space torpedoes manage to get through the Earth defenses. A huge chunk of New York is set ablaze by the glowing raisin from space, as is the Golden Gate bridge. But, as always seems the case, the Natalians have something special in store for the denizens of Tokyo, Japan. The base - now converted into a mothership for the Natalians - descends on the city and proceeds to de-gravitate whole blocks, resulting in everything from skyscrapers to buses to people flying straight up into the air. An impressive display, for sure, but too little too late - the mothership and the remaining saucers are destroyed by the larger model heat rays and the Earth celebrates yet another victory against alien aggressors. The end.

The Eiji Tsubaraya helmed special effects work - though not as convincingly realized as that present in either CHIKYU BOEIGUN [1957] or YOSEI GORASU [GORATH; 1962] - is really the star of the show here. Tokyo being torn apart from the bottom up and the interstellar dogfight are both inspired sequences that deserve a good amount of credit. They are not enough to save a film whose plot is as inconsistent as this one's, sadly. Penned by Toho regular Shinichi Sekizawa from a story by Jojiro Okami, the whole base from which the film is built just seems oddly off. Important details (how the hell did the UN delegates figure out that the Natalians had built a base on the moon from which they were going to launch an attack on Earth?) are systematically ignored, characterization phony and rushed, and the alien race never given enough credit to be threatening.

This film also marks one of the early times that one of WTFFILM's most despised plot devices is introduced into a science fiction film - the possession of individual Earthlings by a superior alien force so that they might do the aliens' dirty work vicariously. Having already displayed their ability to wipe pretty much anything man can create off the face of the map with a few well-placed laser blasts, one has to wonder why the planet Natal felt it necessary to possess the Iranian delegate when they could have just as easily done his work themselves. One also can't help but wonder why, after the miserable failure of that attempt, the Natalians made the decision to possess yet another human being for similar purposes. Aside from those displays of idiocy, the people of Natal also see fit to warn us of their actions ahead of time and give us Earthlings ample opportunity to draw up plans against them. Then there's the case of the suicidal mothership, capable of wiping any city on Earth cleanly off the map, wandering directly into the line of fire of the heat rays. . .

In short, the alien menace is never made out to be terribly menacing - a problem, no doubt, for a film of this nature.

Performances here are mixed, with no one actor really given enough of a character to work with - Yoshio Tsuchiya as the possessed Iwamura is undoubtedly the best of the bunch. Tsuchiya enjoyed parts of this sort, having previously played the leader of the Mysterians in CHIKYU BOEIGUN [1957], and would go on to play the head Xian in KAIJU DAISENSO [MONSTER ZERO; 1965]. Toho regular Ryo Ikebe is given little to do this go around and the ill-constructed love story between himself and Kyoko Anzai never succeeds in being anything but embarrassingly awkward. Ishiro Honda helmed the project, as he did the majority of Toho's science fiction efforts from the time, but can't do much to help a film that looks to have been broken from the get go. He would go on to direct the much better YOSEI GORASU [1962], the last of the unofficial Toho space trilogy and the only one that doesn't feature a malevolent alien force as the antagonist of the film.

A definite high point in the proceedings is the exceptional score provided by long-time composer Akira Ifukube. Some of his most popular themes fill the soundscape of this film, including the theme that would become the march used as the main title for KAIJU DAISENSO [1965]. United States distribution rights to UCHU DAISENSO, as with the rights to BIJO TO EKITANINGEN [1958] and MOSURA [1961], were sold to Columbia Pictures. While a negligible amount of footage was cut from the film (three minutes' worth), Columbia did the film no favors by replacing much of Akira Ifukube's score with library tracks, notably during the dogfight towards the end of the film. That version of the film ran on television in the late 1990's and early 2000's, which is how I (and many others, I'm sure) first saw the title. Graced with a generally terrible overdubbing and the aforementioned omission of Ifukube's score, this cut of the film is to be avoided.

Sadly the Japanese version of the film doesn't fare much better. A few genuinely entertaining special effects set pieces can't save a film whose story is ill conceived and, worse, uninteresting. A low point for the science fiction films Toho was putting out in the late 1950's, UCHU DAISENSO is a disappointing effort from start to finish with very little in the way of saving graces.

Not recommended.