Warning from Space (1956)

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Warning from Space
The Japanese poster for Warning from Space
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Spacemen Appear in Tokyo (1956)

Directed by Koji Shima
Producer Masaichi Nagata
Written by Hideo Oguni (screenplay)
Gentaro Nakajima (novel)
Music by Seitaro Omori
Distributor DaieiJP
Four Star InternationalUS, 1964[1]
American International TelevisionUS, 1968[2]
Running time 87 minutesJP
(1 hour, 27 minutes)
88 minutesUS
(1 hour, 28 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.37:1
Rate this film!
4.13
(8 votes)

Warning from Space (宇宙人東京に現わる,   Uchūjin Tokyo ni Arawaru, lit. Spacemen Appear in Tokyo) is a 1956 tokusatsu science-fiction film produced by Daiei. It was released to Japanese theaters on January 27, 1956, becoming the country's first science-fiction film in color.

Plot

A small Pairan ship travels and connects to a bigger one. In it, the Pairans discuss how to warn humans of the incoming threat they just discovered. Meanwhile on Earth, flying saucers are seen over the skies of Tokyo. A journalist asks Dr. Kumara for a statement on the flying saucers, but Kumara simply says that they don't have enough evidence to formulate a hypothesis. Meanwhile, in an observatory, Professor Isobe looks in his telescope and spots an unusual object releasing some objects.

Isobe and Kumara later talk about Isobe's discovery. A physician, Dr. Matsuda, gets the idea of taking pictures via a rocket. However, the pictures they take appear to be unclear. They then deduce the object has high energy output. Meanwhile, Pairans have been unsuccessfully attempting to contact humans. They start appearing in buildings, rivers, and lakes scaring the citizens of Japan. A Pairan manages to get a photo of Hikari Aozora, a popular Japanese entertainer. The plan is for a Pairan to mutate into the form of Hikari Aozora. A Pairan leader, Ginko, volunteers herself. She gets in a circular device and slowly starts to mutate into a human form.

Sometime later, Isobe's son, Toru, find Ginko in the water. Sometime after she was rescued, she starts showing superhuman abilities such as jumping 10 feet high and appearing in different places without making any sound. She was also shown to completely understand Matsuda's work on a nuclear device, leading him to doubt is she's actually human. Later, scientists discuss her superhuman abilities and the ability to understand how a nuclear device works, Ginko levitates towards them and reveals her true identity. She explains to them that she is from Planet Paira and tells them that a rogue planet is about to hit the Earth. They appeal to the World Congress about the situation but are rejected. Not much after, the World Congress considered it real and a threat, they launch nuclear weapons at the rogue planet with hope to destroy it, but the missiles were proven ineffective.

Meanwhile, Matsuda is kidnapped by a group of spies who demand his formula for a nuclear device. Matsuda refuses to give it to them but is then tied to a chair and left in the building. Earth's atmosphere heats up and Ginko comes back to see that Planet R wasn't destroyed. Pairans use their technology to locate Matsuda, who was wearing a Pairan ring and gather the formula. Pairans then create a nuclear weapon of their own and destroy the rogue planet, saving the Earth. Ginko then returns to the ship and mutates back into a Pairan.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Koji Shima
  • Written by   Hideo Oguni
  • Produced by   Masaichi Nagata
  • Music by   Seitaro Omori
  • Cinematography by   Kimio Watanabe
  • Edited by   Toyo Suzuki
  • Assistant director   Noriaki Yuasa
  • Director of special effects   Toru Matoba
  • Story by   Gentaro Nakajima
  • Art director   Shigeo Mano
  • Color design and Pairan design   Taro Okamoto

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Keizo Kawasaki   as   Dr. Toru Isobe
  • Toyomi Karita   as   Hikari Aozora / Ginko Amano
  • Bin Yagisawa   as   Pairan No. 2
  • Isao Yamagata   as   Dr. Eisuke Matsuda
  • Shozo Nanbu   as   Dr. Naotaro Isobe
  • Bontaro Miake   as   Dr. Yoshio Komura
  • Mieko Nagai   as   Taeko Komura
  • Kiyoko Hirai   as   Kiyoko Matsuda
  • Fumiko Okamura   as   Madam Ohana
  • Toshiyuki Obara   as   Kenichi Hideno, reporter
  • Shiko Saito   as   Mystery man
  • Sachiko Meguro   as   Tokuko Isobe
  • Frank Kumagai   as   Astronomical observatory correspondent
  • Kanji Kawara   as   Dr. Takashima
  • Tetsuya Watanabe   as   Sankichi
  • Akira Natsuki   as   Pairan No. 3
  • Shunji Tsuda   as   Pairan No. 4
  • Gai Harada   as   Sailor
  • Seiji Izumi
  • Yasuko Hanamura   as   Geisha
  • Kenji Tani   as   Bouncer
  • Ko Sugita   as   Reporter
  • Yuji Hayakawa   as   Policeman
  • Noriaki Yuasa   as   Lake Chuzenji onlooker (uncredited)

Titra Sound Studios English dub

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Jack Curtis   as   Pairan Leader[3]
  • Bret Morison   as   Dr. Komura[2][3]
  • Larry Robinson   as   Dr. Matsuda / Hideno[3]
  • Peter Fernandez[3]
  • Corinne Orr[3]
  • Arianné Ulmer Cipes[3]

Appearances

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Gallery

Main article: Warning from Space/Gallery.

Alternate titles

  • Spacemen Appear in Tokyo (literal Japanese title)
  • Uchujin Tokyo Ni Arawaru (English Japanese Blu-ray title)
  • Assault to the Earth (Asalto a la Tierra; Spain)
  • The Mysterious Sattelite (Le Satellite Mystérieux; France)
  • The Cosmic Man Appears in Tokyo (United States)
  • Unknown Satellite Over Tokyo (United States)

Theatrical releases

  • Japan - January 27, 1956
  • Spain - November 11, 1957; May 16, 1970
  • France - November 27, 1957
  • United Kingdom - May 1958[4]
  • Myanmar - 1958[3]
  • Malaysia - 1958[3]

Video releases

Kadokawa DVD (2012)[5]

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: Unknown
  • Special features: Unknown

Kadokawa Blu-ray + DVD (2019)

  • Region: A
  • Discs: 2
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special features: Trailer, reprinted press sheet
  • Notes: Packaged with a DVD of Tokyo Tower at Twilight.

Arrow Video Blu-ray (2020)

  • Region: A or B
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese, English (both LPCM Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: Booklet containing essays on Taro Okamoto by Nick West and the English dub by David Cairns (first pressing only), audio commentary by Stuart Galbraith IV, teaser and theatrical trailer, image gallery

Unlicensed DVDs of the English-dubbed version of Warning from Space proliferated in the United States for years, as the film was presumed to be in the public domain. The companies behind these releases include Alpha Video, Digiview Entertainment, Miracle Pictures, and AFA Entertainment.

Videos

Japanese Warning from Space newsflash / special announcement
Japanese Warning from Space theatrical trailer

Trivia

  • Despite being benevolent, roughly human-sized characters in the film, the Pairans are depicted as giant rampaging monsters in some posters and stills for the film.
  • A giant Pairan alien made a brief appearance in the 1995 manga Manga Boys Special Edition: Gamera, where it helped to guide Gamera through space.

References

This is a list of references for Warning from Space. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. Heffernan, Kevin (2004). Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953–1968. Duke University Press. pp. 240, 241. ISBN 9780822332152.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Craig, Rob (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 403. ISBN 9781476666310.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Words of Warning" by David Cairns, published in the booklet included in the first pressing of Arrow Video's Warning from Space Blu-ray
  4. Monsters From An Unknown Culture: Godzilla (and friends) in Britain 1957-1980 by Sim Branaghan - Part 3 - SMGuariento.com
  5. Amazon.co.jp: 宇宙人東京に現わる (1956) 角川書店

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