When I was 6 months old, America managed to land men on the surface of the moon, and bring them back safely to Earth. It was a heady period in history. Surely, the moon was our stepping stone to the rest of the Solar System; we could build a base on the moon, and launch larger spacecraft from outside of Earth's gravity well. We could mine asteroids in zero gravity and use their metallic contents to build more spacecraft and more habitats, and explore even further. Concept drawings looked like architectural renderings you could almost step into.
Tragically, much of that future was just a dream. But science fiction remains a beloved escape for me today, and I still strive to make this world a better one. Accordingly, I am a big fan of Star Trek. You can hardly blame me for fantasizing about a bright, shining future while a raging global pandemic I can do little about slays (as of this writing) 384,000 Americans. Lately, I've been binge watching "Star Trek: Voyager", about 3 episodes per night. My familiarity with science fiction and my need for comedy only adds to my enjoyment of "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
But I also like movies, so I still rent DVDs. I recently watched a Japanese movie from 1959: "Battle In Outer Space."
Battle In Outer Space is a Japanese space war movie, with a strong emphasis on 'war movie.' The premise is simple: Earth is brutalized by space aliens in a series of bizarre surprise attacks. But Earth has its own space ships, and some kind of new heat ray; Earth can resist!
This movie was made by TOHO, but brought to America by Columbia Pictures. Many people surely revere this movie for its technical achievements, but I beg you: do not resist any opportunity to joke and jeer at this movie like you're in Mystery Science Theater 3000. The movie makers were justifiably proud of their (limited) scientific accuracy, but I've been spoiled by a lifetime of Star Trek.
There are LOTS of miniatures which look adorably like miniatures. You will see a train derail and crash down a ravine, and you will feel sad--not for the fictional injured passengers, but instead for the lovely toy train that got destroyed. Even the live-action scenes with human actors running across life-size sets somehow look like minatures on miniature terrain; it would be a marvelous cinematic achievement, if they were deliberately trying to make real actors look like fakey toys on fake miniature terrain.
Of course this 1959 Japanese movie looks dated; the moon landing we take for granted is still 10 years away, Japan is still recovering from World War 2, and the movie's budget has limits. Having said this, the special effects are very good for the time. In fact, the movie seems very effects-driven with paper-thin character/story development; we've seen this in lots of spectacular modern movies like "Tron Legacy" or the DC Cinematic Universe movies, or the recent Star Wars movies: there are amazing effects, but I can't really connect with the characters nor the story, so why did I waste my time watching a movie that leaves me shaken but not stirred?
In this vein, "Battle In Outer Space" has a hero, and he is handsome, and there is a pretty young lady who really, really likes him. She tells him about her hopes and fears and she smiles at him a lot in the moonlight as they look up at the stars. Any man would be lucky to spend the briefest moment with this lady. Our hero never smiles at her. He doesn't even stub out his cigarette. He speaks with her sort of, but he doesn't look at her. In another scene, they shake hands. Is the hero cold and emotionally disabled? Or is this Japanese traditional culture? If so, "Twilight" should have been set in historical Japan, because they really nailed it.
The aliens have the ability to compel some individual humans to obey their will, by sabotaging and fighting other humans. Neither these posessed humans nor their victims uses a martial art; no one even throws a kick. I can't even describe what they were doing. One guy punches another once. You might think it's refreshing to avoid that stereotype and see asian people who don't know kung fu, but I (somehow) managed to earn a Black Belt in Karate--I'm not a great fighter, but I know how to do it--and seeing these Japanese people struggle with each other and NOT use martial arts was just frustrating, considering that the fate of humanity was at stake.
Earth sends an expeditionary force to the Moon, where the aliens have a foothold. The Earth astronauts land on the Moon with rockets, then explore the Moon with a pair of Moon rovers which (get this) somehow look MORE like Oscar Meyer Wieners than the ACTUAL Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. These red tubular buggies even have an 'accordion' section in the middle, so they bend and flex like actual sausages as they drive around the bumpy lunar landscape. Do not resist any opportunity to laugh at them.
These aliens have attacked Earth from spacecraft, blasting Earth with destructive rays, levitating structures and buildings until they tear themselves apart. We hear threats and ultimatums from the aliens over radio. We get one scene wherein we get to see the aliens, and they are wearing bulky space armor, stand about a foot shorter than humans, and they sound like squeaky doggy chew toys. We never even get to see these aliens' faces. We have no idea what their culture nor motivations are. As a Star Trek fan, I'm disappointed; but of course this must mirror the Japanese experience of World War 2, getting bombed by airplanes hundreds of feet in the sky, never seeing the faces of their attackers. How many Japanese people at that time had actually seen an American? I suspect the average Japanese person had seen Americans in movies or photographs; but the viewers of Battle In Outer Space are not even given the opportunity to see these invaders, even after the Earth men shoot some aliens and there are bodies to examine. Don't look at them! Just leave them there.
The film's climax is a seemingly endless series of space ship 'dogfight' scenes. The space ships strafe each other again and again, and I felt--drained by the mayhem? Ground down, perhaps. This went on way too long in the movie for any dramatic value; I just wanted the movie to be over, at this point. But again, these endless combat may be a reflection of the Japanese experience of World War 2, which of course went on for years; whereas we complain about this COVID-19 pandemic lasting mere months.
Eventually, Earth repels these alien attacks, but there is little resolution; presumably the aliens will attack Earth in the future, perhaps repeatedly, perhaps forever. Many cheer at the end of this battle, but I am drawn to the General in the center of the War Room, whose face falls, as though on the verge of tears. Does he grieve for the many civilian casualties we don't get to see in this movie? Does he lament the lack of resolution with a deadly enemy which is only momentarily defeated? Does he regret the opportunity for diplomacy with a resourceful and technologically superior civilization? Does he feel the tragic waste of resources on warfare--resources which could feed, house, clothe, and generally uplift millions during the early 1960s? I want to know about THAT guy, not this movie's 'hero.'
Ultimately, this movie left me feeling very cold and empty.
The hidden gem to this movie is the commentary track; most commentary tracks have stars and movie professionals clowning around, but this commentary track is packed full of information, like a series of Wikipedia articles read to you along with the movie for a visual aid.
