Starring Keizo Kawasaki, Toyomi Karita, Bin Yagisawa, Shozo Nanbu, Bontaro Miake
Directed by Koji Shima
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Aliens come to Earth with a warning for Japanese scientists, but have trouble establishing communication until one of them impersonates a popular musical stage star.
This early science fiction effort from Daiei Studios, distributor of several Japanese film classics, as well as the Gamera film series, is an interesting take on the cosmic disaster genre, with distinctive aliens displayed to us right off the bat, wearing starfish-like costumes with a giant eye in their center. The special effects are more than serviceable, although not a highlight of the film, but the filmmakers effectively mine human drama especially in the picture's climactic scenes in an observatory which has been transformed into a shelter for a group of schoolchildren. The film could use some more dynamic photography, especially when it cuts between the same locales again and again, but it more than held my interest, and it's intriguing to compare to similar American efforts.
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