Icons Of Sci-Fi Toho Collection (Battle In
Outer Space/The H Man/Mothra/Sony DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: B-
Ishiro
Honda is the king of Japanese live-action genre films, having directed so many
important films in Sci-fi and Horror at Toho that few directors can compete
with the quantity and even quality of his work.
Now more than ever, as genres are in flux and usually the works related
to them are poor and worse, when you watch any of his films, you can see a
personal touch, an enthusiasm, a sense of energy and even excitement, no matter
how aged and dated the films can be in parts.
Sony and Toho have restored three of his key films and issued them as
part of the Icons Of Sci-Fi Toho
Collection DVD set.
Armed
with some of the best model-makers in Japan, plus the underrated widescreen
cinematography of Director of Photography Hajime Koizumi, the pair created some
of the most stark, rich and memorable pop culture in world cinema history. Sony and Toho have included both versions of
three really fun, terrific films, including one giant monster classic that is
among the most famous such films ever made.
Mothra (1960) is an all-time classic
about the peaceful flying title monster who is a good monster and protector of
a secret island. He even has a group of
human followers (one of the most politically incorrect aspects of the film) and
can be summoned by two very small (try five inches) singing women whose song
brings the beast to life to attack when necessary. King
Kong style, they are brought to civilization to sing on a tour, but of
course, it is not nice to mess with nature and here comes a huge path of
destruction. Of course, nuclear
radiation is linked to this.
The H Man (1958) is a very interesting
story of a man who becomes so infected with a dose of the nuclear that he
becomes a walking menace. Though the
special effects portray his menacing presence more like The Blob than The Incredible
Melting Man, it starts with a drug deal gone bad and everything for everyone
in his way just gets worse and worse.
The sense of mystery is a plus and is a film worth rediscovering.
Battle In Outer Space (1959) is a space battle film as
aliens invade the earth and make the mistake of picking Japan as their landing
spot. From a moon base, they attack, but
the Japanese have their latest technology and rocket battle ships to stop
them. A very entertaining film that is
well shot and edited, it is fair to say it was a Star Wars forerunner and though the effects can be dated, the designs
and form of the battles and film in general make this for a fine
sit-through. They knew it was meant to
be seen on a very big screen and it shows.
Though
the budgets could be limiting, the makers found clever ways to get around any
limits the casts are always very good.
The most important thing is no matter how campy these might have become
or obvious some filmmaking choices are, these were made seriously by
serious-minded people who wanted to build films that would last and in many
ways, they have succeeded. With the wave
of mostly highly forgettable digital effects films like these, here we are
enjoying these films a half-century later and counting. Watch them on the biggest screen you can
find!
All the
films are presented in restored, anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 framings and
look really good for their age. I don’t
think DVD is going to be able to do total justice to the color and some of the
detail the films are capable of and they tend to have unique, complex color
palettes. Sometimes an English Sony
Columbia print is sharper and more colorful than a Toho Japanese print, than
sometimes it is the reverse, but the Toho prints tend to be longer and have
more footage. They are all both worth
looking at and you can see how the U.S. editions were also slightly censored.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono in all cases is fine, but all show their age, despite being as
clean as Sony and Toho could make them.
The Japanese prints often say they have Perspecta Sound, which is a
faked stereo, so if you have a receiver that can boost the Mono, you might try
to experiment with all the sound to listen for details that might not be
normally obvious.
Extras
include theatrical trailers for all the films, while English editions of Battle and Mothra have terrific feature length audio commentary tracks by
Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski that you should listen to after watching the
films. Too bad they did not have them
for H Man, but they should have them
back for more Toho films and there should be many more after this strong set.
For more titles
related to Mothra, try these links:
Mothra Vs. Godzilla
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4613/Godzilla+Raids+Again+++Godzilla+Vs.
Godzilla & Other Movie
Monsters (also
reissued by Capcom)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/805/Godzilla+&+Other+Movie+Monsters
- Nicholas Sheffo
