Warning From Space kind of works in the same goofy, ham-handed fashion that most American sci-fi films of that period worked. Despite a low budget and predictable script, it manages to have a fairly suspenseful ending, even if the majority of the film was kind of uninteresting.

Warning concerns a threat to Earth in the form of a planetoid that’s on a collision course with us; it’s also apparently a threat to another alien world, on the opposite side of the sun from us (so we never detect them, see). A bunch of oddly-cool-looking aliens pay us a visit to warn of the impending doom. (If you’ve ever seen the star-shaped costumes with the eye in the center in an old Japanese sci-fi book, that’s them.) Despite their advanced technology, our hopes seem to lie with an explosives formula designed by an Earth scientist, who is unfortunately kidnapped by gangsters who also want the formula. Time starts to run out as the atmosphere becomes increasingly hotter, and the oceans erupt in tidal waves.

This film is very reminiscent of some famous American science fiction classics, most notably When Earths Collide in its main impending-doom plot. It’s also similar to The Day the Earth Stood Still in that one of the aliens disguises himself (herself?) as a human to walk among us and warn us of the threat. The explosives formula is at first shown to be a threat to humankind, which is similar to the theme of many Cold War-era sci-fi films. The Japanese, in particular, are certainly entitled to speak of mankind’s ultra-destructive weaponry as a threat to the future of us all.

This film is dated, of course, but this just adds to its goofy charm; besides, I like postwar Japanese films because – despite the fact that I know many people of that period faced harsh poverty – it seems like a terribly inviting place. Maybe it’s me being a big Western goon, or some little Luddite bit of me that likes the old wooden rural scenery, but postwar Japan just looks very serene and hopeful to me.

Anyway. Message From Space. If you like classic old sci-fi films, and aren’t some kind of film snob, then you’ll probably enjoy this – it’s worth a single viewing, at least.