The Mysterians

This is one of the earlier sci-fi movies from Toho studios. Respectable Toho actors and actresses are in this movie including Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, and Takashi Shimura-all actors that appeared in the original Godzilla and Rodan movies. This story involves a group of cool looking aliens called the Mysterians, who want to possess a huge chuck of land in Japan and marry Earth women. The suspense builds when the Earth people resists the Mysterians' demands, which results in a battle for Earth action. Just to note, the actor playing the Leader of the Mysterians was Yoshio Tsuchiya. He also played the Vapor Man in 'The Human Vapor,' Controller of Planet X in 'Godzilla vs. Monster Zero,' and Businessman Shindo in 'Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.'

Eiji Tsuburaya's advanced special effects highlighted a spectacular battle of fire, lasers, rockets, tanks and flying saucers between the humans and space aliens. A slow and mysterious, but sometimes militaristic and moving music score by Akira Ifukube. A dramatic and somber story by Takeshi Kimura. Directing was once again done by the great Ishiro Honda.

The downside, though, was that the story lacked a solid plot and the female leads weren't emphasized enough. There were too many scenes that depicted meetings held by the officials, discussing what to do about the aliens. These meetings were important in a way, but kind of boring. And, the robot monster, Moguera, was a terrific-looking monster, but wasn't utilized enough. But overall, a pretty cool feature for a sci-fi film made in the 1950s.

Grade B

We have always enjoyed the early Japanese Fantasy Films circa 1954-1963. During this time they took themselves and there subjects seriously. What ever their technical short comings were you could see they were in earnest. Basically after this period starting with KING KONG -vs- GODZILLA the slide down to kiddy fare began just a step above STARMAN.

Though we consider the original GORJIRA/Godzilla as the first and the best THE MYSTERIANS is the one (1) we enjoyed most. This is a SPACE OPERA on a grand scale. Watching it is like seeing the old pulp Science-Fiction magazine covers of the 1930's being brought to life. Basically the team that acted and made the original Godzilla are back plus the addition of Technicolor and WideScreen. They needed a big and splashy story and THEM -vs- US for the world was the canvas that well suited this first effort.

We first saw it on T.V. in the mid 1960s and were enthralled like any early teenagers by these scenes of action and massed destruction. But even then we (my brother and I) felt something was missing. It was not until the early 1990s that we saw a restored Japanese print in it's original format (WS) and subtitled in English that what happened on screen made sense. Best of all there were more scenes of destruction.

It is a pity that TOHO did not make a direct sequel and made BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE instead (still a fun film). Now that they are more technically adapt it would be nice to see this film remade. The one (1) thing I would keep though (other then the basic plot line) is the exceptional musical score.

When Godzilla with its American scenes with Raymond Burr made it to the USA it started a run of Japanese science fiction that lasted well over a decade. When I was a lad I well remember the TV commercials for this film and how I just had to go see it.

60 years later The Mysterians holds up rather well. A group of aliens arrive and demand a small tract of land for use. We have to grant it because these folks are way technologically superior to us earthlings. But when a big robot starts doing to Japan what live monsters usually do it's time to resist.

What I remember best from this was the rather quick end the USA and the USSR terminate the Cold War to fight these aliens. They also start researching and move quickly up the scale in weaponry.

They are a mysterious group these Mysterians. We never do see their faces.

It's always been a pet theory of mine that a lot of cultural differences will melt rather quickly if earth ever did face an alien invasion. The Mysterians is one of those few films that support that thesis.

I wish they'd show this thing. Back in my younger days after its theatrical release it was constantly on local TV in New York City.

This is a pretty decent invasion film. This time around, Honda seems to have been inspired by the films "War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and does a good job in conveying a lot of themes that pretty much permeate a lot of his films, fear of nuclear war and the world unifying for a common cause. Also, Akihiko pretty much built on his portrayal of the tragic hero that sacrifices himself at the end to save humanity and did his usual good job.

The only complaint I have about the film is the fact that the appearance of Moguera takes place too early in the film and his destruction is much too early. They do return him to the end, but I would have preferred to see him as the weapon of last resort that the aliens use to try to deliver the crushing blow. Other than that, this is a pretty good movie.

The Japanese tape begins with an overture. The music with the overture is the greatest film score ever written by Akira Ifukube. So this film concerns hooded aliens who come to Earth with plans to capture and have sex with Earth women. So they release a huge bird-like robot named Mogera (it later returned renovated in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla) to prove they mean buisness. The army manages to defeat it by booby trapping the bridge and blowing it up while the monster is using it. Then the battle for the cosmos begins with the Mysterians and their ray firing ships and the humans and their markalite lasers. This is another film I believe inspired the film Independence Day. It's certainly the most colorful of any of the fifties invasion flicks. A must. Eiji Tsuburaya also did an exellent job with his marvelous miniatures and special effects.