Uchû sai sensô (1959) Reviews

• A fun movie, worth seeing

  rudge492005-11-29

  Saw this when I was 11 years old, I recall the rocket fighters sent up by the Earth Forces are based on the X-15 rocket plane. One thing I remember-and it moved me at the time, and is one of the movie's strengths-is the scene where the earth space ships go past the area where the space station was destroyed-and you see the bodies of the crew. The action moves at a brisk pace, no long winded speeches or philosophizing. The SFX are pretty good for the time. As a side issue, I got a chuckle when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977, I recognized the "futuristic weapons" as being models of British Lee Enfields, German MG-42 machine guns, Heckler & Koch submachine guns.

  More

• A special effects extravaganza for its time.

  kelsci1999-07-15

  I saw this film in 1960 playing with "The Time Machine" as a double feature. Though not as rich in story line as "The Mysterians" this film really takes off when the two Speep earthships go to the moon to battle a base set up by the planet Matal who also fly "Mysterian" style flying saucers. On the moon the action really starts with marvelous raygun battles between the enemy and earth forces. The earth forces possess a marvelous heat ray cannon as well as smaller but potent raygun rifles. Later in the film, the earth forces battle invading flying saucers and a mother ship with X-15 styled fighter craft equipped with heat ray guns. The finale with the mother ship's ray gun destroying Toyko is done quite well. For the time this film was made, the special effects are quite good. Considering my nickname is ray-gun 3, this is a ten star IMDb vote scale film in that department. I think the best scene in the film is on the moon where one of the crew stays behind with his ray rifle destroying flying saucers so the earth force can get away in their Speep spaceship. This scene is one of the best piece of special effects I have scene in this type of movie. A thought to remember is the film was made 17 to 18 years before "Star Wars". An outstanding accomplishment by Toho studios.

  More

• Saturday Afternoon Fun 1959

  marcolm2006-04-05

  Battle in Outer Space brings back some happy memories. I recall seeing this movie at the local Strand Theatre. I was (10) years old at the time and it was such a revelation to see an outer space film in "Color". In those days most Saturday afternoon Sci-Fi was in B/W. True, there were a few high dollar efforts like War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet but for the money, or lack there of, this "B" films brilliant colors & special effects (loved those jitter-bugging saucers)held its own with the big boys. I recently bought a Japanese DVD version at eBay, with English subtitles, and believe me it's just not the same as the dubbed English version. Forget the bad lip-sink, that "Voice of Doom" from the Natal Moon base is not nearly as ominous in Japanese. Glad to see others remember this little "B" gem too. Hope to see it properly released in DVD soon.

  More

• You can see where George Lucas may have gotten some ides for his Star Wars saga

  libra_oct_19632010-09-11

  I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is certainly paced slower than modern sci-fi movies, but the action moved along at a good pace nonetheless. The backgrounds, matte work, color and special effects were very impressive. The one conceivable flaw was that there were no stand out actors or personal relationships (no love interest as there was in the original Godzilla). This may have been intentional as the story meant to emphasize a global effort against a ruthless and cruel invader.) I would rate this on the upper scale of Toho's scifi efforts (anotehr under-rated, under-viewed film would be "H-Men"). If you are a kaiju fan you will not be disappointed.

  More

• Good sequel to "The Mysterians"

  vtcavuoto2009-11-23

  "Battle in Outer Space" is another gem from Toho Studios. The film boasts some excellent (for 1959) special effects. The color print is stunning as well. The plot is similar to "The Mysterians" with aliens trying to take over mankind. In the end of course, earth triumphs over the aliens. The acting is decent, the dubbing is passable. The music score is done well. The real star of this film are the outer space scenes. I really enjoyed the spacecraft as well as the battle scenes. Toho Studios are more well known for their monster films (Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra)but these space films are just as good. If you get a chance, catch this as well as "The Mysterians".

  More