Movielogr
The Last War (1961)
Directed by Shûe Matsubayashi
Twitter Facebook Google+Melodrama | War | Science Fiction
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
DKU did this cool double feature tonight for Jeopardy in July that included this film and GORATH, both Toho tokusatsu flicks. I’d seen both before but neither on my TV back when we could only view via a PC/Laptop. I like this movie a little more than that previous viewing. Seeing it on the larger screen really amplifies the melodrama and seriousness of the situation. Akira Takarada and Yuriko Hoshi are true stars here and have great chemistry.
It’s fascinating how Japan (and its film industry) was obsessed with nuclear war and atomic bombs following the war. I only say this bc it would seem that after the horrific events that led to the surrender of that nation the last thing they would want to focus on would be reminders of that period. There’s probably a good book out there that addresses this topic. Would love to read it. Anyways, this movie is about the onset of WWIII a mere 16 years after WWII. It also follows Toei’s film THE FINAL WAR with the same premise. Whereas that film is more disaster exploitation, this one is heavy melodrama. Has some nice Tsubaraya FX that were repurposed many times over the decades. Too bad that Toho is holding this one as it would be a great film for a home video release.
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