9781435937987

1435937988

Originally released as motion pictures in 1959, 1960 and 1961.

Special features: Commentaries on Battle in outer space and Mothra with authors & Japanese Sci-Fi historians Steve Ryfle & Ed Godziszewski.

[The H-man]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya ; music, Masaru Sato.

[Battle in outer space]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; edting, Kazuji Taira ; Director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya ; music, Akira Ifukube.

[Mothra]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; edting, Ichiji Taira ; music, Yuji Koseki ; director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya.

Diaglogue in English and Japanese with English subtitles.

Closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.

[The H-man]: Police experts investigating sordid drug dealings are stumped when crooks vanish leaving only their clothes behind. No-nonsense Inspector Tominaga (Akihiko Hirata) refuses to give credence to the radical theory of scientist Dr. Masada (Kenji Sahara): radioactivity has transformed six sailors into H-Men, liquid beings that dissolve other humans for food. Alluring nightclub singer Chikako Arai (top-billed Yumi Shirakawa, star of The Mysterians) gets involved because her boyfriend is one of the gangsters thought to have disappeared -- or been liquefied. Two sailors' tale of encountering "living liquid" monsters on a derelict ship is presented in a spooky flashback. The authorities remain unconvinced -- until the H-Men invade Chikako's nightclub, melting gangsters and detectives alike!

[Battle in outer space]: Agile jet-job flying saucers oppose Earth's Defense Force fighter rockets in the stratosphere, in orbit and on the dark side of the moon. After a worldwide spate of bizarre disasters -- train wrecks, flooding, etc. -- the United Nations traces the nefarious acts to alien forces called "Natalians". Twin rocket ships are launched from a Japanese space center to investigate what might be an enemy base on the lunar surface. The expedition barely escapes from flying saucers launched from Natal's base of operations, the Mother Ship. Worse, a member of the expedition has been brainwashed by the space enemies, and telepathically commanded to sabotage the UN spaceships.

[Mothra]: A scientific team is dispatched to investigate a mysterious radioactive island thought to be uninhabited. It now supports a population of sad, reclusive natives. Dr. Sinichi Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi) meets the tribe's tiny twin "Shobijin" fairies (Yumi & Emi Ito, aka "The Peanuts", a singing duo very popular in Japan). The tiny women communicate telepathically. Stowaway reporter Senichiro Fukuda (Frankie Sakai) befriends the fairies, but sneaky Rolisican gangster-entrepreneur Clark Nelson (Jerry Ito) secretly returns to the island, murders a number of natives and kidnaps the Shobijin to sing in a stage show back in Tokyo. Official efforts fail to force Nelson to relinquish the tiny girls. They tell Senichiro that they are sad, not for themselves, but for Tokyo: Mothra will come to their rescue. And indeed, as the natives back on Infant Island dance, a giant egg hatches an equally monstrous larval moth, which immediately sets sail for the Japanese capitol.

Toho collection

H-man

Battle in outer space

Mothra

H-man, Battle in outer space, Mothra

[The H-man]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya ; music, Masaru Sato.

[Battle in outer space]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; edting, Kazuji Taira ; Director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya ; music, Akira Ifukube.

[Mothra]: Photography, Hajime Koizumi ; edting, Ichiji Taira ; music, Yuji Koseki ; director of special effects, Eiji Tsuburaya.

[The H-man]: Yumi Shirakawa, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Eitaro Ozawa, Koreya Senda, Mitsuru Sato.

[Battle in outer space]: Ryo Ikebe, Kyoko Anzai, Minoru Takada, Koreya Senda, Len Stanford, Harold Conway, George Whitman, Elise Richter, Hisaya Ito, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Hiro-O Kirino, Kozo Nomura, Fuyuki Murakami.

[Mothra]: Jelly Ito, Ken Uehara, Yumi Ito & Emi Ito (The Peanuts), Takashi Shimura, Seizaburo Kawazu, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Harata, Yoshio Kosugi, Yoshibumi Tajima, Yasushi Yamamoto, Haruya Kato, Ko Mishima, Tetsu Nakamura.

H-Man [Bijo to ekitai ningen] / Ishiro Honda (1958, 79 min.)

Battle in outer space [Uchu daisenso] / Ishiro Honda (1959, 90 min.)

Mothra [Mosura] / Ishiro Honda (1961, 101 min.).

Missing persons > Investigation > Japan > Drama.

Drug traffic > Drama.

Radiation > Physiological effect > Drama.

Gangsters > Drama.

Human-alien encounters > Drama.

Extraterrestrial beings > Drama.

Unidentified flying objects > Drama.

Sabotage > Drama.

Island people > Drama.

Kidnapping > Drama.

Moths > Drama.

Monsters > Drama.

Missing persons > Investigation.

Radiation > Physiological effect.

Drama.

Monster films.

Science fiction films.

Video recordings for the hearing impaired.

Feature films.

Science fiction films.

Monster films.

Video recordings for the hearing impaired.

Science fiction - Feature.

Peanuts (Musical group)

Tōhō Kabushiki Kaisha.

Columbia Pictures Industries.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Firm)