Japanese "monster" movies of the post-war 1950s were cleverly-disguised satires of the American occupation.Two things were going on: The Americans were every where and they had lots of money. The US set the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar. The Japanese were desperately trying to rebuild their economy and taxes ran high along with barely submerged resentment of Americans.Enter the low-budget film maker. Finding production money was tough so they were rather frugal in their spending on everything but film and sound tape. Indulge in a guilty pleasure and re-visit the genre; imagine sitting in a theater full of Japanese kids cheering every time the giant mutant monster destroys a US tank or airplane.

I am a big Ishiro Honda fan, may be rest in piece and the Mysterians show you why. Mogera is a great monster, a little on the bulky side. But still a cool robot monster. The only thing I don't get is what's up with the big multi-colored helmet. Did they need them to breath or what? Plus, what's the multi-colors for, is a sign of rank or what? But the story is sound but does drag on at points. What I respect more then anything else about Japanese especially about Japanese filmmakers like Ishiro Honda is the attention to detail they place in a film. I mean, the Mysterian ship has detailed blueprints, I doubt many other filmmakers around the world go to that much trouble. I always say no matter how much a movie doesn't work, I respect when they try their best. The Mysterians do more then just try, they succeed in many parts of the story and effects. A must have for Ishiro Honda fans and 7 big STARS.

We have always enjoyed the early Japanese Fantasy Films circa 1954-1963. During this time they took themselves and there subjects seriously. What ever their technical short comings were you could see they were in earnest. Basically after this period starting with KING KONG -vs- GODZILLA the slide down to kiddy fare began just a step above STARMAN.Though we consider the original GORJIRA/Godzilla as the first and the best THE MYSTERIANS is the one (1) we enjoyed most. This is a SPACE OPERA on a grand scale. Watching it is like seeing the old pulp Science-Fiction magazine covers of the 1930's being brought to life. Basically the team that acted and made the original Godzilla are back plus the addition of Technicolor and WideScreen. They needed a big and splashy story and THEM -vs- US for the world was the canvas that well suited this first effort.We first saw it on T.V. in the mid 1960s and were enthralled like any early teenagers by these scenes of action and massed destruction. But even then we (my brother and I) felt something was missing. It was not until the early 1990s that we saw a restored Japanese print in it's original format (WS) and subtitled in English that what happened on screen made sense. Best of all there were more scenes of destruction.It is a pity that TOHO did not make a direct sequel and made BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE instead (still a fun film). Now that they are more technically adapt it would be nice to see this film remade. The one (1) thing I would keep though (other then the basic plot line) is the exceptional musical score.

This is a pretty decent invasion film. This time around, Honda seems to have been inspired by the films "War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and does a good job in conveying a lot of themes that pretty much permeate a lot of his films, fear of nuclear war and the world unifying for a common cause. Also, Akihiko pretty much built on his portrayal of the tragic hero that sacrifices himself at the end to save humanity and did his usual good job.The only complaint I have about the film is the fact that the appearance of Moguera takes place too early in the film and his destruction is much too early. They do return him to the end, but I would have preferred to see him as the weapon of last resort that the aliens use to try to deliver the crushing blow. Other than that, this is a pretty good movie.