Movielogr
The Last War (1961)
Directed by Shûe Matsubayashi
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
A Japanese family is torn apart by the tensions of an avoidable nuclear world war between the superpowers.
Length 110 minutes
Actors
Frankie Sakai | Akira Takarada | Yuriko Hoshi | Nobuko Otowa | Yumi Shirakawa | Chishū Ryū | Jerry Itô | Eijirô Tôno | Sô Yamamura | Ken Uehara | Seizaburô Kawazu | Nobuo Nakamura | Chieko Nakakita | Minoru Takada | Shigeki Ishida | Naoko Sakabe | Kôzô Nomura | Masao Oda | Yutaka Sada | Nadao Kirino | Kôji Uno | Toshihiko Furuta | Kyoko Mori | Teruko Mita | Jiro Kumagaya | Sôji Ubukata | Shirô Tsuchiya | Keiichirô Katsumoto | Naoya Kusakawa | Wataru Ômae | Yoshio Katsuda | Masaki Shinohara | Yutaka Oka | Kôji Uruki | Yuki Shimizu | Tazue Ichimanji | Toshiko Nakano | Ed Keane | Hank Brown | Daniel Jones | Hans Horneff | Harold Conway | Osman Yusuf | Robert Dunham
Viewing History (seen 2 times)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/13/2021 | TV | Broadcast | Other | 7 stars |
| 05/02/2019 | Computer | Broadcast | Other | 6.5 stars |
| (Average) 6.75 stars |
Viewing Notes
This has been on my holy grail list for a long time but it’s never been made available in the US. There are grey market DVDs, torrents (I guess), and foreign releases (non-subbed) so it’s eluded me for a while. Was pleased that Daikaiju TV programmed it this week to celebrate Akira Takarada’s 85th birthday (along with a few other of his films during the week). Def was not gonna miss this.
All in all this isn’t a great movie by any stretch. I believe it has an infamous reputation bc of the subject matter; thru various misunderstandings between world powers (mainly US and Japan) the precipice of World War III is reached causing annihilation of all major cities across the globe.
Can a movie be both drama and thriller? I believe so given that much of this is a drama until the final act when the bombs are dropped. At the heart of this (and the main reason for watching - besides the warning that this could happen) is the two main characters Takano and Saeko, portrayed marvelously by Takarada and Yuriko Hoshi. Takarada is the military man that wants to settle down and Hoshi is his beautiful girlfriend that wants to be a wife and mother. The attention is placed on this relationship as way to magnify what is lost in a crazy war. Of course there are other side stories that pull at the heart strings as well knowing all these people will be killed by the devastation.
Since this is Toho release I’m guessing that Tsubaraya did the models and FX, which is another reason to watch since they are very good. Jet fighters in a dogfight fight to cities being blown up.
Despite not being a great film I’m very happy to see it and now want to go back and read up on it again. It’s been a few years and I’m curious why Toho hasn’t made this more available. Initially I thought the plot was a big reason but really this movie serves as a warning, an anti-war message.
Wouldn’t mind owning it bc of the wonderful performances by Takarada and Hoshi.
No comments yet. Log in and be the first!