Battle in Outer Space

is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in Japan in 1959, and distributed world-wide (sans Far East Territories) in 1960 by Columbia Pictures under the title "Battle in Outer Space". The screenplay was written by Shinichi Sekizawa (from a story by Jojiro Okami) and was brought to the screen by Toho's well-known kaiju eiga specialists, Ishirô Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, Tomoyuki Tanaka, and composer Akira Ifukube.

"Battle in Outer Space" is a loose sequel to "The Mysterians" (1957), jumping ahead several years to 1965, when Etsuko Shiraishi and Dr. Adachi, among others, are now heavily involved in the Earth Defense Forces. Rather than have Mysterians return to Earth for this sequel, a new, more sinister race was created: the Natal, who wield powerful anti-gravity weapons.

U.S. release

"Battle in Outer Space" was released in America by Columbia Pictures in July 1960, and was also available for theatrical bookings packaged at the top of a double-feature with David Bradley's low-budget space opera, "12 to the Moon".

"New York Times" film critic Howard Thompson gave "Battle in Outer Space" a mixed, but generally positive review, stating, "The plot is absurd and is performed in dead earnest... some of the artwork is downright nifty, especially in the middle portion, when an earth rocket soars to the moon to destroy the palpitating missile base... the Japanese have opened a most amusing and beguiling bag of technical tricks, as death-dealing saucers whiz through the stratosphere... and the lunar landscape is just as pretty as it can be."

Cast

*Dr. Ichiro Katsumiya - Ryo Ikebe
*Etsuko Shiraishi - Kyoko Anzai
*Yuichi Iwamura - Yoshio Tsuchiya
*Commander of the Self-Defense Forces - Minoru Takada
*Kogure (Engineer), "SPIP-1" Crew - Hisaya Ito
*Dr. Kenjiro Adachi - Koreya Senda
*Dr. Roger Richardson - Leonard Stanford
*Dr. Immelmann - Harold Conway
*Dr. Ahmed - George Wyman
*Silvia - Elise Richter
*Okada, "SPIP-1" Crew - Nadao Kirino
*Captain of Space Fighter Squadron - Kozo Nomura
*Inspector Ariake (Interpol) - Fuyuki Murakami
*Railroad Track Inspector - Ikio Sawamura
*Lieutenant General - Jiro Kumagai
*Maritime Self-Defense Forces General - Katsumi Tezuka
*Air Self-Defense Forces General - Mitsuo Tsuda
*Adjutant - Tadashi Okabe
*Lieutenant Pierce, SPIP-1 Crew - Malcolm Pierce
*"SPIP-1" Crew - Rinsaku Ogata
*"SPIP-1" Crew - Leonard Walsh
*"SPIP-2" Crew - Osman Yusef
*"SPIP-2" Crew - Koichi Sato
*"SPIP-2" Crew - Yasuo Araki
*"SPIP-2" Crew - Heinz Botmer
*"SPIP-2" Crew - Yutaka Oka
*"JSS-3" Communications Officer - Kisao Hatamochi
*"JSS-3" Crewmember - Yoshiyuki Uemura
*U.S. Army General - Ed Keane
*Express Train Engineer - Yasuhisa Tsutsumi
*Express Train Assistant Engineer - Shigeo Kato

Production Credits

*Executive Producer - Tomoyuki Tanaka
*Screenplay - Shinichi Sekizawa
*Original Story - Jojiro Okami
*Director - Ishiro Honda
*Visual Effects Director - Eiji Tsuburaya
*Cinematography - Hajime Koizumi
*Production Designer - Teruaki Abe
*Conceptual Designer - Shigeru Komatsuzaki (uncredited)
*Lighting - Rokuro Ishikawa
*Sound Recordist - Choshiro Mikami and Masanobu Miyazaki
*Music - Akira Ifukube
*Assistant Director - Koji Kajita
*Film Editor - Kazuji Taira
*Film Development - Far East Laboratories
*Production Manager - Yasuaki Sakamoto
*Still Photographer - Issei Tanaka
*Optical Photography - Hidesaburo Araki
*Visual Effects Photography - Sadamasa Arikawa
*Visual Effects Production Design - Akira Watanabe
*Visual Effects Lighting - Kuichiro Kishida
*Composites - Hiroshi Mukoyama

References

*Columbia Pictures's "Battle in Outer Space" Pressbook, published by the National Screen Service (1960).

Bibliography

*Thompson, Howard. "Battle in Outer Space" film review in "The New York Times". July 9, 1960.
*Ragone, August (2007). [http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,6725/ "Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters"] San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-6078-9.

External links

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