Friday, July 2, 2010

UCHUJIN TOKYO NI ARAWARU: WARNING FROM SPACE

Daiei’s 1956 feature UCHUJIN TOKYO NI ARAWARU 宇宙人東京に現わる(SPACEMEN APPEAR IN TOKYO)(WARNING FROM SPACE, MYSTERIOUS SATTLELITE) was Japan’s first full color sci-fi film. The star shaped aliens known as the Paira or Pairan, seen in the film were designed by artist, Taro Okamoto. Okamoto’s most famous design, “Tower in the Sun” was the center piece of Expo 70’. 
When a runaway planet “Planet R” is on a collision course with Earth, friendly aliens come to warn us before it’s to late. The one eyed, star fish, aliens, the “Paira”, are too frightening looking and freak people out when they are seen. One of the aliens takes the form of a famous singer/dancer so they can finally present us with the message of the impending doom that faces our planet. Apparently terrorist kidnap the scientist that designed a super weapon that could actually stop Planet R. It’s the Paira to the rescue!!! They save the scientist just in the nick of time and Planet R is destroyed.
UCHUJIN TOKYO NI ARAWARU is science fiction in it’s purest form. The visuals and cinematography is top notch, highlighting the beauty of Japan. For me even watching the grainy public domain version is enough to satisfy my taste for GOOD Japanese fantasy cinema with a thought provoking story.

9 comments:

  1. so what IS the correct aspect ratio of this movie? is it the academy ratio or some other one? a good quality release over here would be great, as I do like this movie a lot too.
    surprised you didn't show the rings that "Superman" (1978) stole though!

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  2. Roy, this is my most favorite post of late because i happen to be particularly fond of this film, the atmosphere is wonderful in it, especially if you happen to be a Nipponophile. you've posted a choice selection of screen grabs that will hopefully inspire those who haven't checked out "Spacemen Appear Over Tokyo" yet to see it. like you said, even the faded, dubbed version that's floating around out there is worth having...

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  3. Some shots are beautiful and well thought out. How about that scene when the two fishermen see the Pairan rising out of the lake in the distance. Whew that's creepy.

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  4. Roy,
    ahh man, (what are the odds)when I first saw you had posted this I was 'floored by the fates'... let me explain, I just (honestly) literally watched this last night (Alpha Video pd version) and was planning on re-viewing it for my first installment of JAPAN WEEK at troad. Now, after your absolutely stunning photo screen grabs, my rinky dink spot will be even more rinky dink :) :)
    I'm puting two smiley faces there Roy to let you know, I'm not really disappointed. He who hestitates gets scooped. I think I'll still do it, the more the merrier. But now the few pics I post (off of google grabs) are going to really pale. I'll make my post text heavy.
    Just shows to go you that BLACK SUN ROCKS!!! All others are meager similacrums! :)
    best,
    Jay

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  5. I haven't watched this one in a while, put it on my 4th of July weekend watch list. It would be nice to get a clean copy of this wonderful film.

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  6. I've only ever seen this as a 'square' aspect ratrio of around 1.33, the subtitling indicates it's about right.

    I love the creatures in this and thankfully it was shot in colour, too. My only regret is that what looked like a giant 'starman' in the posters, never actually takes place in the movie...

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  7. Hi, I just saw this movie and posted this photos to this page http://www.listal.com/movie/warning-from-space
    I hope there's no problem! :D
    great pics btw and the movie too as well

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  8. No Problem just give me credit on your site and link the pics to my site. It's a lot of work doing screen grabs.

    Thanks
    Roy

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  9. Hi, I recently saw this movie on one of those poor dvds that only provide pale and washed-out colors. It's really a fascinating science fiction movie! I was excited when I saw the excellent promo stills you posted here. Great! It's a rare glimpse on how the movie originally looked like. A shame it cannot be watched any more in the splendour it displayed some sixty years ago on the silver screen.

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