The Last War (1961 film)

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The Last War

Directed by	Shuei Matsubayashi
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Takeshi Kimura Toshio Yasumi
Starring	Frankie Sakai Akira Takarada Yuriko Hoshi Nobuko Otowa Yumi Shirakawa
Music by	Ikuma Dan
Cinematography	Rokuro Nishigaki
Editing by	Koichi Iwashita
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	August 10, 1961 January 8, 1967
Running time	110 min. 79 min. (USA)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese English
IMDb profile

The Last War, known in Japan as Sekai Daisen'sō (世界大戦争, lit. "Great World War"^?), is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1961. Its special effects were created by Eiji Tsuburaya who is also known for working on Godzilla and Ultraman.

Toshio Yasumi's script for the film was reused for Prophecies of Nostradamus, which also included re-edits much of the film's special effects, in addition to its family melodrama center.

[edit] Plot

This movie covers the day to day goings on of several people in a family that is helplessly caught up in the drama of heightening Cold War tensions between two nuclear-armed superpowers, the Federation and the Alliance (fictitious stand-ins for the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.) Addressing the everyday concerns and everyday existence of people who are about to be violently parted with their existence, this film is a sobering one to watch. It depicts major landmarks the world over meeting with nuclear devastation, with the conclusion consisting of a written warning to mankind never to let this happen.