flapdoodle64 Ishiro Honda is the Steven Spielberg of Japan in that he created a huge body of work...big, exciting, fantasy movies of such number, quality and iconic value that he stands head and shoulders above his peers. This film is among Honda's lesser known works, and is a rarity in that there is absolutely no Kaiju in this film, not even a robot Kaiju such as seen in the better-known 'The Mysterians'. And, in terms of the fantastic cinema of Japan, this is one of the more serious science fiction creations of the period, although containing many inaccuracies that would be glaring to anyone with the slightest familiarity to the work of George Pal. This film features creative and interesting FX that vastly outshine most of what the US was producing at this time, and might even have the most complex miniature sets and sequences of anything produced by Toho during the classic period. There are large scale space ship dogfight sequences that anticipate Star Wars, which was done 17 years later. The plot, while not profound, is sufficiently interesting and entertaining and the actors are good enough to make this an enjoyable escapist film. Thematically, this is classic Invasion Literature, with few new wrinkles thrown in...definitely straightforward, Honda doesn't give us anything ambiguous or subversive to chew over.Any fan of old-school scifi and Kaiju films is liable to enjoy this one very much, it's just an impressive spectacle.

Woodyanders A race of no-count aliens plan on invading earth. They make their base of operations on the moon. An expedition of folks made up of people from all over the world embark on a mission to the moon in order to thwart the dastardly extraterrestrials. Director Ishiro Honda relates the absorbing story at a reasonably snappy pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the stirring action with rip-roaring gusto. While the opening third is a bit slow and dull, the narrative fortunately picks up considerable steam and momentum once the mission is underway. The sequences on the moon are quite gripping and suspenseful. The spaceship dogfights are likewise very lively and exciting. Another memorable highlight occurs when the aliens destroy Tokyo. The cast give admirably sincere performances, with an especially stand-out turn by Yoshiro Tsuchiya as a scientist who falls prey to the aliens' ability to control human minds. Akira Ifukube contributes a robust and rousing score. Hajime Koizuma's bright color cinematography makes breathtaking use of the widescreen format. The squeaky-voiced aliens are a total hoot. Best of all, Eiji Tsuburaya's nifty and impressive special effects are truly something to behold, with striking matte paintings and nice miniatures (the opening scene with a train being wrecked rates as a particularly memorable moment). Moreover, there's even a positive and uplifting central message about how the human race can be a mighty and unbeatable force by banding together against a common foe. A solid and satisfying item.

rosscinema I've always been a sucker for these cheaply made films because I grew up on them but this one just doesn't have the lasting impact of the other films of this kind. Earth is of course attacked by martians in UFO's and the countries of the world unite to combat them. We send a crew of astronauts to their planet to stop them and then get ready for the battle royal back here on Earth. Although early on in the film their is to much talking and discussing on how to stop them, once the two ships leave for the planet then the film never ceases the action. But one thing that I think hurts the film is that the martians just don't leave a mark. We see them in one scene and they seem somewhat harmless. They are short with orange plastics suits and big helmets with lights on they're foreheads and have long noses! Not scary at all! So the rest of the film is just UFO's flying around. As silly and laughable as other films like "Mothra", "War of the Gargantuas", and "Rodan" at least those are memorable in their own way. This one seems to be easily forgotten. It just doesn't distinguish itself like the other films.

kelsci 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.