#48 Prince of Space (Yusei Oji) (Wes)

Prince of Space

After the past few substitute movies it was nice to get back to the list again, and especially nice as the next movie was a movie I’ve seen many times before via one of my favourite Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes, Prince of Space (Yusei Oji). Like Time Chasers (see here) and Soultaker (here) we couldn’t get the original movie, so we had to watch the MST3K version, which has no complaints from me, but once again I must apologise in advance if I inadvertently use any of their jokes without realising it.

Aliens from the planet Krankor (led by the Ambassador Phantom (Joji Oka) and not by Wee Jimmy Krankie as I would have hoped) want some new super rocket fuel that Japanese scientists have invented (how they know about this fuel, and why they waste so much of their own flying between Krankor and Earth is never really adequately explained though). But when the Krankies (with no sign of Ian Krankie amongst them either) decide to invade Earth they are met by the hero The Prince of Space (I think he’s like Star-Lord and just gave himself a massively grandiose title), who lives on Earth in disguise as a bootblack using the name Wally/Waku-San (Tatsuo Umemiya). When the Phantom realises that his weapons have no effect on the Prince of Space (if only he’d maybe say it in the movie, it would have saved the Krankies a lot of trouble…), he flies back to Krankor and decides to kidnap the scientists instead. So he flies back to Earth, kidnaps them and then returns once more to Krankor. It’s then up to The Prince of Space to rescue them and prevent Phantom from destroying the Earth and all the great things about it. Like children in suits, chickens, underwear and obscure British comedian references from the 80s. Fan-dabby-dozy!

I love superheroes, and I love Japanese cinema, so a Japanese superhero movie in theory should be right up my alley. In practice though I’ve always found the majority of Japanese superheroes to be little more than extended toy commercials. From Ultraman (Not actually a single superhero, but hundreds of superheroes seemingly with the same name), to The Power Rangers (Super Sentai) to The Kamen Riders, every one of them look ready to jump straight from the screen to under your Christmas tree. Even the Japanese version of Spider-Man had a giant robot that he controlled (called Leopardon). Now whilst I understand that selling toys is always going to be a big part of any superhero franchise, I also like to occasionally enjoy good storytelling in a movie I’m watching, I’m kind of old fashioned like that.

Prince of Space is much more like the 1930s American serial superheroes than the modern heroes though. There are definitely hints of Flash Gordon in Prince of Space, with even Phantom being slightly reminiscent of Ming the Merciless. In fact he looks like the love child of Max Van Sydow as Ming and Gérard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac. However unlike Ming, Phantom never seems a plausible threat to anybody in this movie. He talks a big game, but as soon as Prince of Space show up he pretty much just gives up straight away, which is odd as Prince of Space also spends much of the movie running away from the Krankies weapons.

Prince of Space is actually two movies edited into one, Planet Prince and Planet Prince – The Terrifying Spaceship, which explains why the plot goes a little wobbly (the rocket fuel plot gets forgotten, and Phantom just wants to invade the Earth halfway through the movie). This strangely adds to the charm of the film though. It has very a simplistic innocence with its spaceships dangling on wire, false noses that have been attached with spirit gum but not been blended in with the skin, so you can see the edges of them and costumes that include miniature television aerials on the Krankies helmets. The Krankies costumes are also the only thing which spoil this innocence, as whoever designed them obviously spent too much time worrying whether they looked futuristic enough, and not enough time considering whether the actors should be wearing underpants under their leggings.

One of the most perplexing things about this film, but also part of its innocent charm, is that Dr Maki’s (Ushio Akashi) son Johnny/Ichiro (Akira Asami), who bizarrely wears a suit with shorts throughout the movie, and his best friend Mickey/Makoto (Koji Komori) seem to have government clearance to go anywhere they please. After Dr Maki takes them to the first contact with the Krankies, they then take it upon themselves to try to find out when the Krankies are on Earth. You’d think that after so many soldiers were vapourised by the Krankies on their first visit then a responsible parent may at least try to keep them out of harms way, but instead it comes down to Prince of Space to rescue them whenever they inevitably fall foul of the chicken-like aliens (sorry).

The worst thing (and therefore the most fun thing) about this movie isn’t even the filmmaker’s fault; it’s the horrible American voice acting for the dubbing. Whoever was in charge of hiring the people who did the voice acting couldn’t have found a more emotionless bunch if they decided to audition for actors at a Tory party conference after everyone had been replaced by pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The script is literally read out. My favourite part of this being that  Phantom laughs a lot in this film. Well, when I say laughs he actually says "ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha" as though the person dubbing him had never heard anyone laugh before.

Prince of Space is a terrible movie, but in the best way possible. It has a great deal of charm and is hugely fun to watch. If like us you can’t find the original movie, then the MST3K version is well worth watching. Either way though I highly recommend you check this out if you love B movies as it’s guaranteed to make you laugh in the best way possible. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha Ha.

#48 Prince of Space (Yusei Oji) (1959) (MST3K Version) (Colin)

Cast: Tatsuo Umenmiya, Hiroko Mine, Takashi Kanda, Ushio Skashi

Director: Eljiro Wakabayashi

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The next movie on our list is a Japanese ‘B’ movie called Prince of Space (1959), (original title, Yusei Oji).  Unfortunately, (or rather I should say fortunately as we are big fans of the show), we had to watch the MST3K version as the original version was harder to find that a helpful assistant in Asda.  However, we will try to review the movie and not the program, but for the record, it was a bloody good episode of MST3K!

Prince of Space, on paper, should be right up my street.  A low budget, Sci-Fi flick from the golden era of the ‘B’ movie.  Indeed so far on our list we have had cult classics such as Plan 9 From Outer Space (see blog here) and Robot Monster (see blog here) and I have enjoyed these films immensely.  However, a recent movie, The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, (see blog here) has broken my faith in the ‘B’ movie.  This film was dreadful, painfully slow and had no redeeming quality.  Was this a blip?  Can Prince of Space restore my faith and belief that ‘B’ movies of the 50’s and 60’s are so bad, they become good?

The plot of Prince of Space is quite simple, some rather clever professors have discovered a new type of rocket fuel which will change space travel forever.  Somehow, many light years away on a planet called Krancor, word has got out about this marvellous fuel and a chap named Phantom, is keen to get his mitts on it, (or at least this is how the plot starts out, but by the end of the movie it’s all about invading the earth and the fuel plot kinda gets lost).

Upon arriving on Earth, Phantom starts firing his death ray thingy at will, (I’m not sure what Will had done), which destroys everything in its path, (everything except tin hats and guns apparently).  All looks bad for the people of Earth until a costumed man called Prince of Space, appears on the scene.  He informs Phantom his death ray has no effect on him and tells Phantom to leave the people of Earth alone.  Phantom fires his death ray which fails to make a dent in Prince of Space’s lovely cape, and realising Princey’s not bluffing, he scarpers.

Back on Krancor and Phantom hatches a plan.  He will kidnap the scientists and force them to tell him the secrets of the rocket fuel formula or he will threaten to destroy the earth, (which is a bit throwing the baby out with the bath water if you ask me).  He also vows to learn the true identity of Prince of Space and suspects that he is actually hiding on Earth.

Part 1 is easy and soon he has transported all the scientists to Krancor, ready to force Earth to accept his demands.  Part 2 is a bit more tricky and so he sends some Krancorians, (if that’s what you call a resident of Krancor) to Earth to track Prince of Space down….

Will they succeed in identifying Prince of Space?  Will Prince of Space manage to rescue the scientists and save the Earth?  And will any of the American actors who dubbed this movie say any of their lines with any passion and less like they are reading the back of a cereal packet?

The answer to the last question is a resounding, no!

This leads me quite nicely into my first problem with this movie, the dubbing.  It appears to have been done by the first few people the US editors met in the canteen rather than established voice actors.  The facial expression of the Japanese actors, sometime frantic, sometimes animated seem weird when the sound coming out of their mouth has less emotion that a Justin Bieber album.

I also read on Wikipedia that the translation of the original Japanese script is not spot on and would certainly explain one aspect of the movie.  Prince of Space, every 5 minutes, tells Phantom and co that their weapons are useless against him.  Even though Phantom has this warning, he continues to fire his weapons and even though Princey keeps, (and I mean keeps), saying this, he constantly flinches and ducks out of the way of these ‘harmless’ weapons.

In the original Japanese version, he actually tells Phantom that he can dodge his weapons and therefore it is useless firing them at him.  This subtle but significant difference explains why Phantom keeps firing, (Prince may not be able to dodge them all), and why Prince keeps moving, (he actually can be killed by the weapons, but as long as he continues to dodge, he’ll be OK).

This error in translation does confuse things and the fact this is actually 2 movies stuck together with chewing gum, adds to the muddle.  (Although this may explain why the fuel plot is forgotten and the invasion of Earth takes over as the main storyline).

As for the look and feel of the movie itself, well the soundtrack is actually quite good and the orchestrial music builds the mood and sets the scene effectively.  The special effects of the weapon’s blasts are good for the time and the sound effects have that nice whooshey, whizzy, whirly sounds of the 50’s and 60’s.

The special effects for the spacecraft are predictably wonky and the fishing line they travel on is usually on screen and easy to see.  The earth is clearly a beach ball, the monster on Krancor’s costume zip is showing and the noses on the Krancor people, (which make them look like a cross between broadcaster Jimmy Hill and Danny Devito’s penguin in Batman Returns (1992)), are obviously fake and stuck on.

The costumes of the Krancor are very typical for the time and include numerous antennae sticking up out of top of their helmets, (oh behave yourselves).  It gives their head the look of the opening rooftop sequence in Coronation Street.  (I don’t know who first thought the use of TV aerials would give a futuristic look, but I hope they copyrighted this idea as they would been minted by the end of the 60’s).

One part of the costume I can not condone, however, is the lack of underpants under the Krancor’s tights, which leaves not a lot to the imagination.  The Krancor ship looks like a roast chicken but the lower half of their costumes look like the last chicken in the shop.

So Prince of Space is a poorly dubbed, badly translated and a confused story with shonky special effects and bad costumes.  Did it restore my faith and belief that ‘B’ movies of the 50’s and 60’s are so bad, they become good?  100% without hesitation yes, and more!

I loved this movie and even without MST3K riffing in the background, I would still have found this a funny but warm film and a great example of the appeal of the ‘B’ movie.  Every wobbly spaceship, wobbly scene and wobbly part just adds to the charm.

So I’m pleased to say, Incredibly Strange Creatures was a blip and I look forward to discovering more movies in the creaky, cheap, poorly made world of the ‘B’ movie.  I realise this genre is not for everyone, but if you like ‘B’ movies and MST3K, I think I may have just found the perfect movie for you.

Did I like it?  I like it very much!

#49(b) Town and Country (Wes)

Town and Country

So if you read our Showgirls reviews (see here and here) then you’d know that we failed to get our movie once again, so we’re back on the reserve list of movies. Thankfully the quality of these movies should in theory be better than the ones we’re currently watching, but since they nearly made the list, that doesn’t say much. So when I looked up next movie on IMDB I was shocked to see the calibre of actors who starred. Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Charlton Heston amongst others. Surely Town and Country couldn’t be THAT bad?

New York architect Porter Stoddard (Warren Beatty) is married to Ellie (Diane Keaton), but having an affair with Cellist Alex (Nastassja Kinski). Peter isn’t the only person having an affair with someone who has a large instrument between their legs, as his (secretly gay) best friend Griffin (Garry Shandling) is also having an affair. Griffin’s wife Mona (Goldie Hawn) wants a divorce after catching him and goes to her childhood home to get away from everything where she and Porter have a brief night of pleasure after getting drunk. Porter runs off with Griffin to Sun Valley to get away from their troubles where Porter manages to sleep with both Eugenie (Andie MacDowell) and Auburn (Jenna Elfman). Porter and Griffin eventually return to New York where they must face the consequences for their infidelities, whilst I continue to face the consequences of getting drunk and agreeing to watch the movies on this stupid list.

  

I wonder if Town and Country was named so that it sounded more like a British movie, as that’s clearly what it wants to be. Unfortunately for director Peter Chelsom the writers Michael Laughlin and Buck Henry are no Richard Curtis when it comes down to comedy. This movie is less Notting Hill and more Not-On-My-Watch. Whereas the best British romantic comedies manage to charm with an often self-deprecating humour mixed with the ridiculous situations people find themselves in, Town and Country either has no real subtlety at all or tries to be so subtle you miss everything the writer’s thought was funny.

It had more in common with the sex farce series from the seventies, Confessions Of… than movies like Love Actually, relying on hiding in the wardrobe style jokes for its farcical humour. Basically this film could be looked upon as an American version of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Not in the story itself, but in the fact that Beatty has four affairs and then realises that this movie marks the end of his acting career.

That this was Warren Beatty’s last movie, which perhaps is telling in itself. Maybe he realised that playing the same womanising character that he played throughout his career at 64 was something that just wasn’t playing with audiences anymore. It’s a shame that this had to be his swansong, as Beatty had a mostly solid career before this with Bonnie and Clyde, McCabe and Mrs Miller and The Parallax View all being flat out classics. Unfortunately for Beatty Town and Country is much more like Ishtar than any of those, and his performance is just embarrassing.

Whilst wealth and power may be an aphrodisiac that often makes for otherwise unlikely couplings, a near pension age Beatty spending the whole movie seducing his way through pretty much the entire female cast is unbelievable. Just as unbelievable as all of Beatty’s conquests all ending up in exactly the same bathroom together (in the traditional farcical sense) or that Beatty’s hair colour is natural in this movie.

For all that the acting in this movie is as you would expect from actors of such high regard. Whilst none of the performances in this movie were groundbreaking, none of them were particularly bad. Sure Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn and Andie MacDowell have been playing pretty much the same characters throughout most of their careers, and Charlton Heston (as Eugenie’s dad) basically plays himself as a gun obsessed, angry man, but at least they can act, which is a nice change of pace from most of the movies on this list.

I wouldn’t call it one of the worst ever movies, but it’s not exactly something anyone should ever go out of their way to watch. Town and Country is a soulless comedy, which misses out on the laughs, and features a bunch of characters you feel nothing for. Unfortunately even the best actors in the world can’t take a bad script and turn it into a work of art, and this isn’t even the screen equivalent of some dogs playing pool.