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Uchû Kaisoku-sen

Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961) Movie Poster
Japan  •    •  75m  •    •  Directed by: Kôji Ohta.  •  Starring: Shin'ichi Chiba, Ryûko Minakami, Mitsue Komiya, Seiichirô Kameishi, Rin'ichi Yamamoto, Kappei Matsumoto, Takashi Kanda, Shirô Okamoto, Junji Masuda, Hidemichi Ishikawa, Shinjirô Ebara, Harold Conway, Genji Kawai.  •  Music by: Michiaki Watanabe.
A bunch of kids who look like rejects from the Japanese version of 'Lord of the Flies' run around while aliens (from Neptune, presumably) blow up stock footage, including a building with a giant mural of Adolf Hitler. After much technobabble and shots of radar displays, they are defeated by a wispy bachelor named Space Chief who has a wobbly flying car.

Review:

Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
Image from: Uchû Kaisoku-sen (1961)
This 'film' I believe was a serial...basically, this movie is a collection of episodes and not an actual movie. The reason I believe this is that I actually saw this thing listed on television to watch, but it was only in a thirty minute slot and there was another one slotted to begin after it. However, I do not think you are missing anything in this one like the Sandy Frank collections which are entire series. My guess is that this is like four episodes, possibly of a Space Chief series and this set was the start of said show. That being said, it is completely horrible! Probably the worst film that Mystery Science Theater did as far as Japanese films are concerned. Sure, there were a couple that could give this one a run for its money, but in the end I do think this one has the fewest redeeming qualities of the ones they did. The two Alien Fugitive movies while not great had some decent effects and some entertaining aspects. Mighty Jack and Time of Apes also had their moments. There were a couple of the Gamera films that I actually classify as pretty good. Even Prince of Space which was another of the films featuring a dude who runs around attacking his very ineffective enemies was better than this one!

The story has a group of boys who like running all over the place in a frenzy. They spot something strange landing and go to investigate and discover a spaceship that contains a race of slow moving aliens who promptly begin to try and strangle the boys! Well, a flying car comes out of nowhere and within it is Space Chief and he easily beats back the spacemen. Do not get to used to seeing Space Chief as he disappears for a rather good portion of the film as scientist must erect an electric barrier to foil the aliens plans. The aliens try to counter by freezing everyone, but that portion of the film seems rather pointless in retrospect. Then Space Chief flies around trying to blast the enemies out of the sky, but he doesn't really win before leaving and then they launch missiles against the Neptune Men...not a very memorable film.

This was a rather good episode of MST3K, but I did not really care for them acting like this film was such a back breaker. Granted, how many jokes can you make about a car flying through the air blasting ships in the same loop again and again? I did like the bump where Tom Servo gets ill with Rogi Panty complex and yes that is a thing mentioned in the film. I also liked the jokes aimed at the kids who were pretty much there all the time throughout the film running here and there and everywhere!

So this film is probably not the worst film that they have ever riffed on MST3K, but I do think it is the worst Japanese film they had ever riffed. The ones Joel did were not all bad, with a couple of them being films I actually enjoyed. The film may have been simply a collection though as you can sort of see fades in areas like when the kids wave goodbye to Space Chief when he saves them from being choked to death by the Neptune Men. The aliens just have no character and never seem all that threatening. They move slowly and even when they are in the guise of soldiers any threat they may pose is undercut by the fact they are wearing makeup! So yeah, this film is rather bad, but those kids are good at running!


Review by Aaron1375 from the Internet Movie Database.

 

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