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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, October 1, 2016

The X From Outer Space (1967)

Starring Eiji Okada, Shun'ya Wazaki, Itoko Harada, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber
Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An Earth spacecraft bound for Mars is forced to return home, carrying an alien object which grows into a monster that rampages across Japan.

What begins as a promising original science fiction adventure from Japan soon reverts into another of their giant monster movies, echoing territory Godzilla, Gamera, and others have tread before, although a more fanciful creature which seems to be enjoying its destruction distinguishes this effort.  I would have liked to have seen more of the story behind the aliens who were destroying prior Earth ships and why, or even more development in the love triangle involving Wazaki, Neal, and Shin'ichi Yanagisawa, but the film is what it is, and as an entry in the kaju genre, it's among the more entertaining if not quite what I was hoping for.

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