Prophecies of Nostradamus

Prophecies of Nostradamus Alternate titles The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) The Last Days of Planet Earth (TV 1981) See alternate titles Directed by Toshio Masuda Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, Osamu Tanaka Written by Toshio Masuda, Yoshimitsu Banno; Toshio Yasumi (story); Tsutomu Goto (novel) Music by Isao Tomita Production companies Toho Eizo, Toho Pictures Distributor TohoJP, UPAUS Rating Not Rated Budget ¥650 million Box office ¥883 million Running time 114 minutesJP (1 hour, 54 minutes) 89 minutesint'l (1 hour, 29 minutes) 87 minutesUS (1 hour, 27 minutes) Aspect ratio 2.35:1JP 1.33:1US TV Rate this film! 4.20 (10 votes)

Prophecies of Nostradamus (ノストラダムスの大予言,   Nosutoradamusu no Daiyogen, lit. "The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus") is a 1974 tokusatsu disaster film directed and co-written (with Yoshimitsu Banno) by Toshio Masuda based on Tsutomu Goto's 1973 novel The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Co-produced by Toho Eizo and Toho Pictures, it was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on August 3, 1974. A heavily edited version of the film entitled The Last Days of Planet Earth was syndicated in the United States beginning in 1980.

Plot

In the spring of 1853, schoolmaster Gentetsu Nishiyama begins preaching the prophecies of Michel de Nostredame using the book Centuries. Nishiyama is then executed by members of the Tokugawa Shogunate after discussing the arrival of mysterious black ships which will end Japan's long isolation. His wife and son escape with the book. At the onset of World War II, his descendant, Gengaku, is interrogated by an Imperial Army Officer for his continued preaching of the prophecies that predict the rise of fascism and formation of the Axis.

In 1999, Dr. Ryogen Nishiyama is discussing the use of chemicals which may assist crop yields across Japan. He is also arguing with local police about factory emissions. Later, in his home he receives a threatening phone call about a similar matter. In a scientific meeting he discusses problems with the Minister of the Environment and other scientists which, he says, will affect the daily lives of the Japanese people. He participates in a Swiss conference about on how to deal with food shortages, overpopulation, and mysterious environmental events such as large icebergs north of the Hawaiian islands. He discusses these matters in a ministerial meeting along with other mysterious happenings in Japan with the Prime Minister and other cabinet members. Meanwhile, the United Nations sends a scientific team to New Guinea to investigate and study radioactive dust clouds that have appeared there. When contact is lost with the team, Nishiyama joins a second mission to find and hopefully rescue the first team. They discover that the area where the first team was last seen is infested with mutated bats and radioactive leeches, which attack and knock one team member unconscious. A large group of cannibalistic natives then attack the team, killing the unconscious member and scaring off the rest. While fleeing, they find the original team in a cave, barely alive. They are forced to mercy-kill the original team members, then bury all of the dead.

After the events in New Guinea, an SST jet explodes in the atmosphere over Japan, puncturing the ozone layer and unleashing ultraviolet rays which cause massive floods throughout Japan and all over the world. These floods destroy the country's food production, leading the government to ration. Riots and looting begin spreading throughout Japan. Hundreds of youth commit suicide as society breaks down. The massive panic escalates into a local war and eventually a global nuclear conflict. Most of the survivors are rendered horribly disfigured and are left to fight over food among themselves.

Nishiyama then explains to the Japanese cabinet that these events may one day become a reality. The Prime Minister sends out a plea for assistance to set the country's troubled course on the right path so that future generations will be able to live and prosper. Afterwards Nishiyama, his daughter, and his photographer colleague Akira then leave the National Diet Building.

Staff

Main article: Prophecies of Nostradamus/Credits.

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

• Directed by   Toshio Masuda
• Associate director   Yoshimitsu Banno
• Written by   Toshio Masuda, Yoshimitsu Banno
• From the screenplay for The Last War by   Toshio Yasumi
• Based on the novel by   Tsutomu Goto
• Inspired by the writings of   Michel de Nostredame
• Executive producers   Tomoyuki Tanaka, Osamu Tanaka
• Music by   Isao Tomita
• Cinematography by   Rokuro Nishigaki, Kaoru Washio
• Edited by   Nobuo Ogawa
• Production design by   Yoshiro Muraki
• First assistant director   Fumisuke Okada
• Director of special effects   Teruyoshi Nakano
• First assistant director of special effects   Koichi Kawakita

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. Tetsuro Tamba   as   Dr. Nishiyama / Gentetsu Nishiyama / Gengaku Nishiyama Kaoru Yumi   as   Mariko Nishiyama Toshio Kurosawa   as   Akira Nakagawa Takashi Shimura   as   hospital director Akihiko Hirata   as   botanist Hiroshi Koizumi   as   zoologist Masahiko Tanimura   as   Tayama, assistant to Dr. Nishiyama Mizuho Suzuki   as   director general of environment agency Taketoshi Naito   as   chief cabinet secretary Katsuhiko Sasaki   as   Yoshihama, assistant to Dr. Nishiyama Katsu Ryuzaki   as   One, assistant to Dr. Nishiyama Jun Hamamura   as   Kida Tappei Shimokawa   as   JSDF commanding officer Kazuo Kato   as   scholar Kuniyasu Atsumi   as   scholar Hyo Kitazawa   as   scholar Yoshiro Aoki   as   Major Kashio Kazuko Inano   as   Hamako Tayama, Tayama's wife Sayoko Kato   as   Shikoku tour bus guide Kumeko Otowa   as   Kida's wife Toshiko Yabuki   as   housewife who asks question Tatsu Nakamura   as   Katsuko Nakagawa, Akira's mother Kaori Taniguchi   as   Orin Shosei Muto   as   Ihara, assistant to Dr. Nishiyama Shiro Kuno   as   Tokugawa Shogunate spy Mikizo Hirata   as   Sanji Nakagawa, Akira's father Saburo Hiromatsu   as   cabinet minister Keisuke Yukioka   as   scholar Toshizo Kudo   as   man who asks question Masahiko Kametani   as   student who asks question Tsuyoshi Ogasawara   as   Tokugawa Shogunate spy Yuji Osugi   as   Akira's brother Haruo Suzuki   as   policeman Toshio Aoki   as   policeman Shunsuke Kariya   as   leader in crowd Masao Kosaka Sachino Fujino   as   rioter Shigeo Kato   as   UV ray fire victim

Isao Torii   as   Kida's son-in-law Kengo Nakayama Kanzo Uni Shizuko Azuma   as   mother / rioter Mitsuko Hayashi Yoshie Kihira   as   UV ray fire victim Yasuko Agawa   as   Kida's daughter (as Tomoe Mari) Mayako Yoshida   as   Akira's sister-in-law Himawari Theatre Group​ Japanese Children Theatre Group Goro Naya   as   Kazuo Ota, TV newscaster Osamu Ichikawa   as   radio announcer / math problem presenter Isao Sakuma   as   radio announcer Ichiro Murakoshi   as   "Country A" representative / foreign newsreader Tetsuya Kaji   as   African nation's ambassador (voice) Willy Dorsey   as   African nation's ambassador Ralph Jesser   as   New Guinea expedition surveyor Franz Gruber   as   Dr. Wilson George Frim   as   "Country A" delegate Tony Cetera   as   New Guinea expedition researcher Reiner Geschmann   as   New Guinea expedition researcher Karl McMullin   as   New Guinea expedition member Osman Yusuf   as   New Guinea expedition member Kyoko Kishida   as   voice of Nostradamus' prophecies Yoko Tsukasa   as   Nobue Nishiyama So Yamamura   as   Prime Minister Kuroki Tomoyuki Tanaka   as   cabinet ninister (uncredited) Toshio Masuda   as   voice on phone (uncredited) Shinji Nakae   as   narrator (voice) International English dub Matthew Oram   as   Dr. Nishiyama Barry Haigh   as   Akira Nakagawa / Prime Minister Kuroki Linda Masson   as   Mariko Nishiyama Michael Ross   as   director general of environment agency / Dr. Wilson / One U.S. version Jack Ryland   as   narrator Riley Jackson   as   sportscaster on radio

Appearances

Monsters Soft-bodied Humans Giant Plants Giant Slugs Giant Carnivorous Tree Giant Bats Giant Leeches

Weapons, vehicles, and races SST Jet 12 Multi Missile Tank

Gallery

Main article: Prophecies of Nostradamus/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Prophecies of Nostradamus/Soundtrack.

Production

Prophecies of Nostradamus was based on the first of 10 books about Nostradamus by Tsutomu Goto. He first became interested in the physicist following the Apollo 11 Moon landing, which Quatrain 9-85 appeared to have predicted. Published during the 1973 oil crisis, Goto's novel The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus became a bestseller. The script for Prophecies of Nostradamus was written by Yoshimitsu Banno and Toshio Masuda from a Shibuya hotel in about 10 days, though Masuda was not present for the full duration. Toshio Yasumi is given full credit as the movie's writer, however, with Banno and Masuda credited for "adaptation"; the credits do not clarify that Yasumi's credit was for his work on the earlier 1961 movie The Last War, which also featured a nuclear war with a sick mother as an emotional anchor. Prophecies of Nostradamus also incorporated a significant amount of stock footage from The Last War.

As associate director, Banno was responsible for most of the New Guinea sequence. A Toho soundstage was damaged in a fire caused by one of the special effects scenes, with the ruined props including the original Moguera suit.

Alternate titles

• The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus (literal Japanese title)
• PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS (Catastrophe 1999) (On-screen International English title)
• The Last Days of Planet Earth (United States)
• Nostradamus' End of the World: 2000 (Fin Du Monde Nostradamus - An 2000; France)
• Catastrophe (Catastrofe; Italy)
• The Prophecy of Nostradamus World Disaster in 1999? (Die Prophezeiung des Nostradamus Weltkatastrophe 1999?; West Germany)
• The End of the World: The Prophecies of Nostradamus Fulfilled! (El Fin del Mundo ¡Las Profecías de Nostradamus se Cumplen!; Mexico)
• The End of the World According to Nostradamus (O Fim do Mundo Segundo Nostradamus; Brazil)
• Catastrophe - Prophecies of Nostradamus (Catástrofe - Profecias de Nostradamus; Brazilian video title)
• The Last Days of the World (Verdens Sidste Dage; Denmark)

Theatrical releases

• Japan - August 3, 1974  [view poster]
• France - September 25, 1974  [view poster]
• West Germany - May 22, 1975  [view poster]
• Brazil - September 29, 1975  [view poster]
• Mexico  [view poster]

Foreign releases

Toho's export version of the film reduced the film's runtime to 89 minutes. An English dub was recorded in Hong Kong, possibly by Matthew Oram's company Voicetrax. This version was released on VHS in Denmark by Panorama Video under the title Verdens Sidste Dage ("The Last Days of the World").

The many alterations made to the film include:

• The pre-title sequence, set in 1853 and during World War II, which establishes the persecution of the Nishiyama family for its belief in Nostradamus' prophecies, is removed.
• The Nishiyama family's dinner with Akira is much longer in the Japanese version. The deleted portions of this sequence include further discussion of the famine in Africa and of harmful chemical preservatives in Japan's food supply, which Dr. Nishiyama states was warned of in Nostradamus' prophecies. He also asks Mariko and Akira to consider settling down together and starting a family. Meanwhile, Nobue takes a phone call off-screen; when she returns, it's revealed that yakuza, associated with the factory Dr. Nishiyama had been investigating, have been making threats against his family.
• The export version entirely deletes a minor subplot involving Kida, one of Dr. Nishiyama's associates, whose daughter is expecting a baby. The child dies at birth, succumbing to severe genetic defects caused by pollution. Nishiyama goes to the hospital to pay his respects to the family, which prompts an emotional outburst from Kida.
• Also at the hospital, in another scene deleted for the export version, Nishiyama is introduced to a family with a young daughter suffering from the pollution-related illness. A followup scene, in which Nishiyama convinces the family to move to the country, and in which he receives another call from the yakuza, is likewise deleted.
• The sequence depicting the "Nature, Mankind, and the Future" panel is trimmed to remove a comment from a concerned woman, as well as Nishiyama's rebuttal.
• A montage juxtaposing strange events with everyday life in Shikoku is removed.
• The scene where Nobue dies is extensively trimmed, removing much of her last conversation with her husband.
• The export version removes the Prime Minister's stirring plea to Japan to reverse course before it's too late to save the world. It instead cuts from Nishiyama sitting down following his speech to the final exterior shot of the National Diet Building.

The controversial shots that had been deleted for later Japanese theatrical exhibitions were dubbed into English and are present in the export version.

U.S. release

A Japanese version of Prophecies of Nostradamus was exhibited at Japanese-language theaters in certain U.S. cities in 1979 and 1980.

In 1980, UPA acquired the rights to distribute the film on television and home video. Although primarily based on Toho's export version, UPA's cut, titled The Last Days of Planet Earth, removes some footage from that version while also adding back in several shots from the Japanese version. The Last Days of Planet Earth was released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1995 through Paramount. This remains the only legitimate release of the film in the United States.

UPA made the following changes to its version of the film:

• As in the Japanese version, a female narrator periodically recites Nostradamus' prophecies throughout the English export version. This has been expunged in The Last Days of Planet Earth in favor of a more expository narration by Jack Ryland. Some scenes which originally played with the prophetic recitation are now sans narration, while much more footage that hadn't included any voiceover now does. Ryland's narration also helps bridge the many alterations made by UPA's uncredited editor. Furthermore, narration is heard more frequently in The Last Days of Planet Earth than in Toho's export version.
• Part of the Japanese version's prologue has been reinstated, now rearranged to focus on Nostradamus' predictions instead of the Nishiyama family's history. A closeup of Gengaku Nishiyama is apparently supposed to represent Nostradamus.
• Some of the documentary footage of the People's Republic of China, originally under the opening credits, was moved to the new prologue sequence. UPA added stock footage from World War II to pad out its prologue.
• UPA filmed a new insert shot of the Giberellon growth diagram.
• In the same scene, footage in Dr. Nishiyama's lab has been shuffled to delete the line "It would mean the genocide of the entire Japanese people."
• Mariko and Akira's reunion at the former's ballet class has been deleted. Some shots of the ballet students would be recycled at this version's concluding montage.
• UPA removed Akira's recollection of the suffering he witnessed in his trip to Africa, which included shots of severely emaciated people and dead animals.
• UPA's version cuts several expository shots of Japanese signs.
• During dinner, Mariko's quip that Akira is "as hungry as a starving African" was removed.
• The lovemaking scene between Akira and Mariko is mostly left intact, save for cropping to prevent showing Mariko's nipple. A short exchange of dialogue at the end of this scene was trimmed and replaced with a recycled shot of the ocean.
• Three shots from the subplot involving Kida's ill-fated grandchild, which had been cut from the export version, are reinstated in this version, albeit presented without context. As these scenes hadn't been dubbed, only shots originally without (or with minimal) dialogue are used. A Nishiyama line from the previous scene has been recycled here, as if the audience is hearing his thoughts.
• In line with the aforementioned deleted Japanese signage, UPA's version deletes several expository shots of newspaper headlines. In the place of the headline announcing the New Guinea expedition is newly-shot footage of an electric typewriter printing a press release.
• Before leaving for New Guinea, Nishiyama asks Ihara to lend One his lighter, as One can't get his to work. UPA's version deletes some dialogue in this bit and instead repeats the shot of One fumbling with his lighter.
• The montage of events occurring in Shikoku, deleted in the export version, was reinstated by UPA. Two folk songs heard in this sequence are left in Japanese.
• UPA deleted a shot of one of the dead Giant Bats.
• In the medical tent in New Guinea, Nishiyama examines a lighter that Akira had found. As a flashback, UPA reinserts the shot of One failing to light his cigarette and Nishiyama's line, "Fire is most important in the jungle," before cutting back to the New Guinea sequence.
• The lead-up to the natives' attack is toned down in UPA's version, with less footage of the party members arming themselves and inspecting the perimeter of the camp. Likewise, UPA cut the entire controversial sequence in the tent in which two mutated natives cannibalize Frank.
• Beginning with the shot of the natives leaping out of trees at the research expedition, UPA mirrors the image along its vertical axis. The film remains mirrored for roughly 15 minutes in UPA's version before returning to the footage's normal orientation.
• A gruesome shot of flesh sliding off the arm of one of the zombified research party members is deleted.
• During a press conference, Nishiyama receives a call about his wife's worsened condition. In the Japanese and export versions, it's unclear until the end of the scene that it had been Mariko on the other line. Because of an error in the dubbed dialogue, however, the export version makes it at first seem that Nishiyama is speaking to someone else. UPA's version fixes this by shuffling some of the footage to include a shot of Mariko on the phone during the call and deleting the line in which Nishiyama refers to Mariko's mother as "his wife." The concluding shot of Mariko in this scene ends the long sequence of mirrored footage.
• UPA deleted a shot of a young boy standing naked and unattended in a public fountain, occurring in the background of a shot of hippies doing drugs. Inserted in its place are two incongruous shots of the freeway on fire, recycled from an earlier sequence.
• The "regatta of death" scene is reworked to remove a few shots of Japanese language printed on flags. Additionally, a radio broadcast of this event, as heard in the export version, has been replaced with a new broadcast recorded specifically for the U.S. version.
• Nobue's final moments are further reworked from the export version. UPA deleted Nishiyama's line, "Are you any better?" The scene now ends before Akira enters.
• Footage is once again flipped, this time for roughly three and a half minutes, beginning with Nobue's final scene and ending on a shot of the rioters pointing up at the city's reflection in the sky.
• One scene of the lead rioter urging the others to storm the food storage facility is re-dubbed in UPA's version to avoid using narration from the export version.
• UPA trimmed the scene in which Mariko tells Akira she's pregnant, ending as he chases after her.
• During the speculative end of the world scenario sequence, UPA cut a series of shots depicting nuclear missiles launched from an already-annihilated base.
• A shot of a Soft-bodied Human biting into a snake is removed.
• Following Nishiyama's speech, UPA inserted a montage during which the narrator covers much of the same material as the Prime Minister's speech in the Japanese version. Footage juxtaposing peaceful life in Japan, sourced from various scenes mostly from the Japanese version of the film, is juxtaposed with footage of disaster and destruction, some of which had already been used in the film.
• The final shot in UPA's version is of a mushroom cloud, recycled from the end of the world scenario, whereas both Toho versions end on the shot of Nishiyama, Mariko, and Akira walking away from the Diet Building.

Unmade sequel

Tomoyuki Tanaka proposed a sequel for the film in 1974, the year of the film's theatrical premiere, aimed for a 1975 release. The proposed sequel was tentatively titled Prophecies of Nostradamus II: The Great King of Terror (ノストラダムスの大予言ＩＩ　恐怖の大魔王,   Nosutoradamusu no Daiyogen Tsū Kyōfu no Dai Maō), and would follow the character Tsutomu Goto (named after the author of the novel upon which the first film was based) as he attempts to contact the spirit of Michel de Nostredame in order to avert the impending end of the world.

Videos

Trailers

Japanese trailer AMC The Last Days of Planet Earth promo (2000)

Miscellaneous

Italian opening credits

Trivia

• Prophecies of Nostradamus was released theatrically in Japan on a double bill with Lupin the Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy.
• While the film was still in release, various anti-nuclear and atomic bomb survivor advocate groups filed a complaint to the Eirin Board, which was in charge of censoring films in Japan. They protested that the scenes depicting the mutant humans created by nuclear fallout were offensive towards the hibakusha (the survivors of the atomic bombs). In response, Toho removed several minutes of footage from the film and added dialogue to humanize the mutants. Following a 1980 Japanese television broadcast of the uncut version, Toho placed the film under a self-imposed studio ban which continues to this day.
• On July 25, 1974, Fuji TV aired an hour-long special about the film during their "Thursday Report" block, entitled (Secret) Prophecies of Nostradamus (㊙ノストラダムスの大予言,   Hi Nosutoradamusu no Daiyogen). It featured several prophets and experts on meteorology and food ecology giving their respective takes on the 1999 apocalypse Nostradamus predicted. Performers Hiroshi Itsuki, Shizue Abe and Linda Yamamoto appeared in the special, as well as the film's stars, Tetsuro Tanba, Yoko Tsukasa, Toshio Kurosawa and Yumi Kaoru.
• This film depicts the destruction of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was the site of a real-life nuclear disaster following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
• Many special effect shots from the finale of The Last War are used for scenes showing the nuclear war at the film's climax.
• The film's Italian poster and opening credits list several actors who do not appear in any version of the movie. These same actors are also credited in the French opening credits.

External links

• Scans of the film program and a "Making of" book

References

This is a list of references for Prophecies of Nostradamus. 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]

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