Prophecies of Nostradamus
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| Prophecies of Nostradamus | |
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| Directed by | Toshio Masuda |
| Produced by | Osamu Tanaka Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Written by | Tsutomu Goto (story) Toshi Yasumi (earlier screenplay) Yoshimitsu Banno |
| Narrated by | Kyōko Kishida (Japan) Jack Ryland (US) |
| Starring | Tetsuro Tamba Toshio Kurosawa Kaoru Yumi Yôko Tsukasa |
| Music by | Isao Tomita |
| Cinematography | Rokuro Nishigaki |
| Editing by | Nobuo Ogawa |
| Distributed by | Toho United Productions of America (UPA) (USA) |
| Release date(s) | Japan: August 3, 1974 United States: July 13, 1979 |
| Running time | 114 min. (Japan) 88 min. (US) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Preceded by | The Last War |
| All Movie Guide profile alternate Allmovie profile |
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| IMDb profile | |
Prophecies of Nostradamus (ノストラダムスの大予言 Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen?) also known as The Last Days of Planet Earth or Catastrophe: 1999 is an experimental 1974 feature film by Toshio Masuda, inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The film credits Toshio Yasumi as principal screenwriter, though Yasumi did not actually work on the film. Instead, Yoshimitsu Banno revised his script for The Last War (1961) and Yasumi was credited out of respect.
The uncut version of the film was banned from some countries, including Japan originally when it was made, because of its atomic mutant scene being viewed as an insult to atomic bomb survivors.
[edit] Synopsis
The film centers around the family of a scientist, Dr. Nishiyama (Tetsuro Tamba), who are essentially the same roles as those in the 1961 film. While the former film emphasized family melodrama, the new film reduced these scenes to a string, concentrating on hallucinogenic international imagery in a manner looking forward to such films as Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka.
In the film, scientific advances cause an outbreak of giant slugs, oversized bats, children with genetic mutations enhancing their physical or mental abilities, and bizarre changes in weather, such as snow falling on the pyramids. The film gets bleaker and bleaker, until Dr. Nishiyama hypothesizes a scenario that re-edits the climactic war footage from The Last War, augmenting them with a scene of the surviving humans, looking like sufferers of neurofibromatosis, fighting over who gets to eat a snake.
Also notable in the film is the symphonic score composed and conducted by Isao Tomita, with Tomita overdubbing his performances on a synthesizer as a solo instrument.
Although the film does utilize stock footage, primarily drawn from the film's little-seen ur-film, the film has its own unique special effects. One shot in particular, featuring a chain reaction of exploding vehicles, can be seen in nearly every subsequent Toho science fiction film, up to and including The Return of Godzilla, where the shot was printed in reverse and was finally retired. In this film, the shot is intercut with scenes of human tragedy, as a mad driver tries to force his way through a traffic jam.
[edit] Cast
- Gentetsu/Gengaku/Dr. Ryougen Nishiyama - Tetsuro Tamba
- Akira Nakagawa - Toshio Kurosawa
- Mariko Nishiyama - Kaoru Yumi
- Nobuo Nishiyama - Youko Tsukasa
- Orin（Gentetsu's Wife） - Kaoru Taniguchi
- Genbu（Gentetsu's son） -Minoru Dendou
- Errand of the Shogunate - Shirou Kuno
- Errand of the Shogunate - Kunji Harada
- Errand of the Shogunate - Gou Ogasawara
- Major Kashiwao, Imperial Japanese Army - Yoshirou Aoki
- Oone - Masaru Ryuuzaki
- Yoshihama - Katsuhiko Sasaki
- Ihara - Akio Mutou
- Kida - Jun Hamamura
- Kida’s Wife - Kumeko Otowa
- Daughter of Kida - Tomoe Mari（Yasuko Agawa）
- Daughter’s husband - Kousei Torii
- Captain of Self-Defense Force -Tappei Shimokawa
- Botanist - Akihiko Hirata
- Zoologist - Hiroshi Koizumi
- Bus guide of Shikoku - Sayoko Katou
- Sanji，Nakagawa's Father - Mikizou Hirata
- Katsuko，Sanji's Wife - Tatsu Nakamura
- Hospital Director - Takashi Shimura
- Tayama - Masahiko Tanimura
- Hamako - Kazuko Inano
- Scholar - Kazuo Katou
- Scholar - Kuniyasu Atsumi
- Scholar - Akira Kitazawa
- Scholar - Keisuke Yukioka
- Western country representative - George・A・Grim（Voice actor：Ichirou Murakoshi）
- African representative - Willie Dorsey（Voice actor：Tetsuya Kaji）
- New Guinea investigating group members - Tony Cetera, Rolf Jeter, Franz Gruber, Riner Geshman, Ousmane Yusef
- Policeman - Haruo Suzuki
- Policeman - Toshio Aoki
- Nantai-Ningen - Isamu Sugii
- Nantai-Ningen - Nobuyuki Nakano
- Prime Minister - Sou Yamamura
- Development Minister - Syoutarou Sera
- Secretary of Environmental Agency - Mizuho Suzuki
- Chief Cabinet Secretary - Taketoshi Naitou
- Voice of the Prophesies - Kyouko Kishida
- Narrator - Shinji Nakae
- Kazuo Oota（TV Anchorman） - Gorō Naya
- Announcer - Osamu Ichikawa
- Narrator (US version) - Jack Ryland
