Fantasia 2010: LES HOMMES D'UNE AUTRE PLANETE (JUMBORG ACE AND GIANT) Review
How's this for a film pedigree for you:
In 1973 Ultraman producers Tsuburaya Productions launched a new Japanese hero show titled Jumborg Ace. Very much based on the Ultraman model, the show would air fifty episodes that year becoming a notable hit not only in Japan but also in Thailand.
In Thailand the series caught the eye of production and distribution outfit Chaiyo Productions who bought rights to both Ultraman and Jumborg Ace - this contract would lead to decades of legal wrangling over who controlled the characters internationally, the lawsuits only being settled in Tsuburaya's favor in 2008 - and paired Jumborg with their own hero Yuk Wud Jaeng - a giant stone idol who had previously featured in their film Ta Tien - for a tokusatsu feature film team up that released theatrically in Thailand in 1974.
From there producer in Taiwan purchased the film for distribution but figured it needed to be punched up a bit for local release and so they re-edited it, cutting in additional action sequences from the Jumborg Ace TV series while also cutting out all of the Thai actors and replacing them with Taiwanese performers directed by Chen Hun-Ming. The results were less than coherent.
Next? French distributors got their hands on the Taiwanese version of the film and had the entire thing redubbed into French, 'solving' the patched together nature of the Taiwanese version by simply writing their own script for the dub - one that had nothing whatsoever to do with the original story or dialogue.
And so Les Hommes D'Une Autre Planete was born: A Thai / Japanese co-production with all Taiwanese actors and a French dub. Not surprisingly the film is mired in such a mess of legal and rights issues that nobody really knows who owns it and it is scarcely available by legal means anywhere int he world. Happily. however, the Cinematheque Francaise has a very nearly pristine print in their vault that they were happy to share with the Fantasia Festival for a rare retrospective screening.
Story? Oh, boy ... we begin with small children playing baseball, one of them driving the ball seemingly behind several buildings and to the top of a mountain where one boy must run - and run, and run - to retrieve it. What he finds with the ball, however, is a secret underground cave where he discovers a small statue and is blasted with light from a glowing gem that knocks him unconscious. When he awakes his friends have called the cops because he's been gone so long but no worries, he just takes the statue home where his father is watching news of a UFO approaching the earth on TV and pronounces the statue very old before some strange radiation from it knocks both father and son out. Daughter- member of a high level space defense agency - arrives home and finds both passed out on the floor and rushes them to the hospital from whence they never emerge or are heard from again. She changes out of her street clothes and into a lovely gold lame jumpsuit - her fiance's has a lightning bolt! - and arrives at work just on time to watch the UFO release a pair of monstrous creatures - one of whom looks like to tokusatsu equivalent of a bad glam rock acid trip, flowing locks and all - who jump around smashing the crap out of a city before finding the cave-crystal themselves and retreating to the moon where they use it to power a death ray capable of burning down entire cities. Which they do. Good thing the statue can grow to giant size and defend the planet with a bit of help from a giant robot called to action by their American allies!
Yes, this movie makes very little sense. Yes, given that I have very limited French and it screened only with the French dub and without subtitles, it made even less sense. No, it didn't matter a bit. This, friends, is a true cult film phenomenon, a picture that propels itself from scene to ludicrous scene with goofy, off the wall energy, constantly leaving the audience wondering what the hell its creators were thinking. Tsuburaya, for their part, are apparently so ashamed of the film that they have never allowed it to be shown in Japan. To me, however, this sort of film defines the festival experience: a rarity of questionable virtue shown to an appreciative audience that dives right in as much for the communal experience as for the film itself. It was an absolute blast.
In 1973 Ultraman producers Tsuburaya Productions launched a new Japanese hero show titled Jumborg Ace. Very much based on the Ultraman model, the show would air fifty episodes that year becoming a notable hit not only in Japan but also in Thailand.
In Thailand the series caught the eye of production and distribution outfit Chaiyo Productions who bought rights to both Ultraman and Jumborg Ace - this contract would lead to decades of legal wrangling over who controlled the characters internationally, the lawsuits only being settled in Tsuburaya's favor in 2008 - and paired Jumborg with their own hero Yuk Wud Jaeng - a giant stone idol who had previously featured in their film Ta Tien - for a tokusatsu feature film team up that released theatrically in Thailand in 1974.
From there producer in Taiwan purchased the film for distribution but figured it needed to be punched up a bit for local release and so they re-edited it, cutting in additional action sequences from the Jumborg Ace TV series while also cutting out all of the Thai actors and replacing them with Taiwanese performers directed by Chen Hun-Ming. The results were less than coherent.
Next? French distributors got their hands on the Taiwanese version of the film and had the entire thing redubbed into French, 'solving' the patched together nature of the Taiwanese version by simply writing their own script for the dub - one that had nothing whatsoever to do with the original story or dialogue.
And so Les Hommes D'Une Autre Planete was born: A Thai / Japanese co-production with all Taiwanese actors and a French dub. Not surprisingly the film is mired in such a mess of legal and rights issues that nobody really knows who owns it and it is scarcely available by legal means anywhere int he world. Happily. however, the Cinematheque Francaise has a very nearly pristine print in their vault that they were happy to share with the Fantasia Festival for a rare retrospective screening.
Story? Oh, boy ... we begin with small children playing baseball, one of them driving the ball seemingly behind several buildings and to the top of a mountain where one boy must run - and run, and run - to retrieve it. What he finds with the ball, however, is a secret underground cave where he discovers a small statue and is blasted with light from a glowing gem that knocks him unconscious. When he awakes his friends have called the cops because he's been gone so long but no worries, he just takes the statue home where his father is watching news of a UFO approaching the earth on TV and pronounces the statue very old before some strange radiation from it knocks both father and son out. Daughter- member of a high level space defense agency - arrives home and finds both passed out on the floor and rushes them to the hospital from whence they never emerge or are heard from again. She changes out of her street clothes and into a lovely gold lame jumpsuit - her fiance's has a lightning bolt! - and arrives at work just on time to watch the UFO release a pair of monstrous creatures - one of whom looks like to tokusatsu equivalent of a bad glam rock acid trip, flowing locks and all - who jump around smashing the crap out of a city before finding the cave-crystal themselves and retreating to the moon where they use it to power a death ray capable of burning down entire cities. Which they do. Good thing the statue can grow to giant size and defend the planet with a bit of help from a giant robot called to action by their American allies!
Yes, this movie makes very little sense. Yes, given that I have very limited French and it screened only with the French dub and without subtitles, it made even less sense. No, it didn't matter a bit. This, friends, is a true cult film phenomenon, a picture that propels itself from scene to ludicrous scene with goofy, off the wall energy, constantly leaving the audience wondering what the hell its creators were thinking. Tsuburaya, for their part, are apparently so ashamed of the film that they have never allowed it to be shown in Japan. To me, however, this sort of film defines the festival experience: a rarity of questionable virtue shown to an appreciative audience that dives right in as much for the communal experience as for the film itself. It was an absolute blast.
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