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!
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