Warning from Space Blu-ray - Keizô Kawasaki

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Cosmic Man Appears in Tokyo" or "The Mysterious Satellite" or "Space Men Appear in Tokyo" or "Spacepeople Appear in Tokyo"

or "Unknown Satellite Over Tokyo" or "Uchûjin Tôkyô ni arawaru" or "Warning From Space")

Directed by Kôji Shima
Japan 1956

The first Japanese science fiction film to be made in color, Koji Shima's Warning From Space features eye-popping special effects from the same team at Daiei Studios that would bring Gamera to life a decade later.

As Japan is rocked by mysterious sightings of UFOs over Tokyo and large one-eyed aliens attempting contact, scientists collaborate to investigate the unexpected rise in extraterrestrial activity. Unbeknownst to them, one of the aliens has already assumed human form and is about to deliver a very important message that could be humanity s last hope for survival.

With a witty script by Hideo Oguni (screenwriter of several Akira Kurosawa classics including Seven Samurai) and iconic starfish-like aliens designed by avant-garde artist Taro Okamoto, the original Japanese version of Warning From Space finally makes its official English-language video debut.

***

The citizens of Tokyo panic when they see UFOs in the sky. The aliens are benign, however, and have come to warn of a meteor on a collision course with Earth. As the meteor approaches, the Earth's atmosphere begins to heat up, and mankind must race to construct a weapon to destroy it.

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 29th, 1956

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Review: Arrow Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Arrow Video - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	Japanese Version: 1:26:38.376 English Version: 1:28:01.692
Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,128, 835, 584 bytes Japanese Version: 23,623,626,571 bytes English Version: 21,766,572,520 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	LPCM Audio Japanese 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bitt) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Arrow Video 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,128, 835, 584 bytes Japanese Version: 23,623,626,571 bytes English Version: 21,766,572,520 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Brand new select-scene commentary by Stuart Galbraith IV, author of Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! (Japanese Version only) • First-ever HD transfer of the American release version of the film, including a newly restored English dub track (1:28:01) • Theatrical trailers (Teaser - 2:28, Theatrical - 3:05) • Image galleries (8:00) Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring an essay on artist Taro Okamoto by Japanese art historian Nick West, and an essay on the production of the American edit of the film by David Cairns Blu-ray Release Date: October 13th, 2020 Transparent Blu-ray Case inside slipcase Chapters 9

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Video Blu-ray (October 2020): Arrow Video have transferred Kôji Shima's Warning From Space (aka "Uchûjin Tôkyô ni arawaru" or a number of other alternate titles) to Blu-ray. It is not a premium HD appearance although the heavy grain is appealing. Any digital issues stem from the sources poor treatment and scenes with the alien subtitles (part of the image) shows the weakest aspects. It has a bit of inconsistency but colors carry impressive depth and overall 1080P is very watchable but not the height of the format. As our matched captures indicate - when the scenes is the same (not text screen alternations - see samples below) the image quality of the English version is a near duplicate, only a notch below in technical transfer size.

NOTE: We have added 48 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow Video use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Japanese language (English DUB for the English version.) There are some pretty funky effect sounds from aliens to spaceships and a typical score by prolific composer Seitarô Ômori (Zatoichi and the Doomed Man and Seijun Suzuki's 1951 Tokyo Knights among his many credits), sounding authentically flat but consistent. Arrow Video offer optional English (of English DUB titles for dubbed version) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray offers a new hour-long commentary (on the Japanese version only) by Stuart Galbraith IV, author of Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!. He discusses this obscure sci-fi title providing background on the cast and crew trying to put it in some historical context in terms of its sub-genre including some surprising connections to other films and filmmakers. He talks about the novelty of being 'in color' in Japan and how it went straight to TV in America (via the US version.) He is excellent with his interesting comments and it runs about 1 hour 4-minutes from the start of the film. As discussed Arrow include the first-ever HD transfer of the American release version of the film, including a newly restored English dub track (it runs about 1.5 minutes longer than the Japanese 'cut'.) There are also a teaser and theatrical trailer and an extensive image gallery of stills, posters and advertisement glossies. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin (see bottom of review) and for the first pressing an illustrated collector's booklet featuring an essay on artist Taro Okamoto by Japanese art historian Nick West, and an essay on the production of the American edit of the film by David Cairns is included.

Kôji Shima's Warning From Space is no where near his 1951 drama "Golden Demon" but it does have the cache of being the first Japanese science fiction film to be made in color and part of that cool, inventive 50's and 60's genre that we adore. It has a great plot - not brilliantly realized but its problem are those hokey alien costumes - perhaps the inspiration for Patrick Star's character on SpongeBob SquarePants. They are amusingly transparent and while Mieko Nagai is a cutie pie, Toyomi Karita does not resemble an appealing lounge act performer, imo. The Arrow Video Blu-ray is up to their standards in terms of the best digital version available and it includes the valuable, if not full-length, Galbraith commentary plus the lesser-seen US version but this would again be for completists of the genre or devout lovers of Japanese science fiction cinema.

Gary Tooze

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