This is another movie I wish MST3K had a chance to screen.
This movie is the combination of 2 Japanese movie serials from the Super Giant series of the late 1950s.
When I first saw this movie when I was a child, it scared the hell out of me, as it contains the usual 'violence against children' seen in movies like 'Invasion of the Neptune Men' and to a lesser extent, 'Prince of Space'. Even today, the scene where the Nazi-like soldiers kidnap the children is a little too edgy for anyone under 12 years old.
But the allure of this movie is the innocent and almost naive story line. Even though the movie has many ridiculous ideas, the actors remain deadly serious throughout.
The film opens with a bunch of ridiculous looking aliens with costumes that are right out of a 3rd grade theatre production. The aliens send 'Star Man' to protect the Earth from a invasion from the 'Spherions'.
Star Man is a slightly paunchy, overacting, average-looking, middle aged Japanese man. He flails his arms around, beating up Japanese extras in highly exaggerated and very poorly choreographed fight scenes. The fight scenes alone are worth the price of admission. Many times, actors aren't even close to being hit when they do flips and pretend to be knocked out.
Also, watch for the scene where Star Man disables flying saucers by bending what can only be described as a metal rack from a refrigerator.
As with most early Japanese Sci Flicks, there are numerous technical errors like people being able to breathe and fly through space.
But I recommend this movie to any B Movie fan. It's very campy and the shoddy production values are more than made up for by the movies goofy charm.
One of the reasons the TV show 'Batman' was so successful was because the actors took their roles so seriously. This is also what makes this movie work. All of the actors take their silly roles very seriously, as if they are acting in 'Hamlet. This only makes 'Attack from Space' even more enjoyable.
