This is How Movies Should Be Made

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

GORATH/Yosei Gorasu (1962) is TOHOs' take on the 'end of the world' disaster film. That theme seems to be near and dear to every motion picture company in the world sometime or another. Whether a localized disaster or universal Armageddon there's boffo box-office in seeing masses of humanity and their works trashed.The film is made too the level of the limited budget and technical skills of the Japanese film industry of the time. That did not make it a poor film though and the subject was treated with respect. Unlike TOHOs' next fantasy film KING KONG vs GODZILLA/Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962) where the slide to camp kiddie fare began.THE NUTS; GORATH which can be best described as a Red Dwarf Star is on a collision course with the Earth. The solution, move the Earths orbit North by 400,000 Kilometers (est.280,000 Miles) which would tilt the orbital plane allowing GORATH to pass. How to do it, lots of Fusion Rockets at the South Pole. The main focus of the movie is the building of the Rockets and scenes of major destruction with GORATHs' passing. In addition there is a bonus Monster/Kaiju of a Giant Walrus that looks like stuffed foam rubber and which was eliminated from U.S.A. release.Though not up to THE MYSTERIANS/Chikyu Boeigun (1957) it's as good as BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE/Uchu daisenso (1959). It is the last of the 'Space Operas' from 'The Golden Age' of the Japanese fantasy film. Films that we find more enjoyable then those made in the Eastern Block countries and laterally Italy. It is best to get the original Japanese release versions of these films. They are more coherent in their original edit and dubbing translation.

This movie presents some shortcoming typical of TOHO/low budget Japanese productions, EG some miniatures look like garage sale toys and some SFX are poor, yet i found it extremely enjoyable. Remember it was 1962, much before big budgeted Hollywood movies. The movie is easily watchable (got a letter-boxed edition), images are very clear, SFX very good period-wise. The plot (albeit very simple) unfolds nicely. There are many far fetched assumptions and scientific nonsense, EG the moon gets destroyed, earth is moved 400.000 km, YET nothing major happens as Gorath drifts away in the deep space. The space mission obsession continues. In 1982 (that's when Gorath was supposed to collide with earth ) they portray dozens of space stations, and tremendous ease to travel upto Saturn, Jupiter etc. We're 25 years past 1982 and not the tiniest fraction of such advancements has been made. There are a few subplots, which do not get in the way. Character development is extremely limited, if any. All in all an enjoyable movie worth watching twice. I saw the giant walrus, too. I suppose it was a diversion to improve the rhythm, which was running in circles around the Pole operation. A giant planet, whose extension is barely 3/4 earth's but whose mass is 6000+ times, is on collision course with earth. A first space mission perishes while trying to investigate the matter. Yet UN scientists have been alerted and plan to install reactors to the pole to propel earth 400.000 away, to avoid Gorath's devastating gravity. Pretty much all there.The scientific rationale behind stars of incredible density/gravity was popular back then and stemmed from (incorrect) assumptions about the origins of gamma ray bursts first uncovered by US spy satellites looking for Soviet nuclear tests. Gamma ray bursts (according to a theory popular back then) originated from Gorasu kind of stars.

This film is one of my favorites from Toho's "Golden Age" and one of the three "space operas" directed by Ishiro Honda. A giant asteroid with a huge magnetic field is growing by absorbing everything in its path...a path which puts it on a course to Earth. How will man survive? Easy---through the conviction and determination of Japanese will-power and ingenuity, the Earth is pushed out of orbit after giant engines are built at the South Pole. But is it enough to get the Earth out of the path of Gorath?One scene that most Americans have never seen is the appearance of MAGMA, a giant prehistoric walrus which was awakened by the heat generated at the South Pole by the massive engines. After some initial destruction, the monster is killed by beams fired from a VTOL vehicle (which would see a new life in the TV series, "Ultraman" as the "Jet Beetle.")Kumi Mizuno shines as one of the female leads with a great bathtub scene when Akira Kubo comes knocking on her door.

This movie just proves that the main theme of Science Fiction movies in 1997 is not a new thing. The idea of large planetary bodies crashing into Earth has been a sci-fi movie idea since the time of When World's Collide.Gorath is a planet (which looks like a small star) that is on a collision course with the Earth. Mankind unites to come up with a rather unique way to avert total destruction. It's not Armageddon or Deep Impact...but if often seems better acted than either of those huge-budgeted B-movies.