The Ultra Yellow Brick Road
Phil Congleton returns to write a new series of posts on Digging Star Wars this year. Check it out....
 |
| The Cheese Whiz pictured above plays a part in Phil's Shin Ultraman (2022) story. Photo by Phil Congleton. |
Hello All. Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I also hope all you movie-buffs made a resolution this year, to watch a lot of movies. This year on Digging Star Wars, I want to explore the film industry's, now, 129-year history, from top to bottom, start to present, in as many areas of film as we can. As always, we will attempt to mention Star Wars as much as possible too. While I was trying to come up with a theme for this year, I kept thinking about old movies and new movies. What about great movies or bad movies? What about bad movies, but only because it's missing one or two things? As I tried to brainstorm this idea, the word "NOBLE" kept popping up in my head. It was an acronym for New, Old, Best, Least and Effort. I'll talk about a new movie, an old movie, a best movie and a least movie (aka: a bad movie), but not always in that order. Along with those films, we also can finish things off, talking about a film, that I rated an E for Effort (I'll explain this later). We will call this list your movie-watching homework for the month. So without further adieu, let's begin.
We will call this month .....
Film #1 - Old Film
So, I am going to start with an old movie first. It is part of the main theme for this month. I'll explain why. Two years ago, a friend of mine gave me this cool movie-buff present for Christmas. It was a poster that had movie titles all over it. The movie titles on the board were covered up with that stuff you see on scratch-off lottery tickets. Basically, every time you see a movie, you scratch off the title to reveal a tiny poster of the movie. Of course, I had to take it one step further and wouldn't scratch off the title, until I reviewed it on the IMDB and Letterboxd. Hence the fact, two years later, I still, maybe, have half the board uncovered. Anyway, this film list on the poster was the 20th century version. On the top row they had early silent classic films. However, they also had The Wizard of Oz (1939), listed. I was a little bit confused by this, but when I looked closer, I noticed they had Wizard of Oz dated as 1910-1939. So, I looked it up. Did you know there were six or seven Oz films produced, even before the 1939 classic? I was blown-away by this revelation, so I had to look into it further.
Quick List: Oz 1910 to 1939
There actually were more Oz films, produced before 1939, but three or four of those films are lost to the sands of time. It is a commentary on the brittle design of film stock. The earliest Oz film available, can be found on YouTube. This 1910 silent classic offers the earliest known interpretation of L. Frank Baum's magical world of Oz. As with all silent films, in most cases, 99% of them were designed to be accompanied by music in the theater. Make sure you find a version of this film on YouTube, that contains music on it. Since this film is over 100 years old, it falls under the heading of public domain, so many YouTube creators have uploaded many different versions with music to choose from. You can even just play your own music in the background if you want. It doesn't really matter. Just make sure you watch silent films with music. For the sake of authenticity though, you might want to watch one of the versions with music from the time period. So, place yourself into an early 20th century frame of mind and explore the earliest known version of the Wizard of Oz.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)
Changes in the story involved, Dorothy meeting the Scarecrow on her farm and not in the land of Oz. Also, in this version, Dorothy's farm is in Omaha, not Kansas. There are a couple things to note here. Being as it was 1910, the motion picture industry was still in its infancy. This is the era of silent films, that still clung to theater. Filmmakers were still experimenting mostly with a single camera angle, that included documentaries and the recordings of theater plays. You can see it plainly in this film. It appears the only surviving version of this film is missing the very beginning, as evidenced by the first title card seen. I have a feeling there was a title card, introducing us to Dorothy also, but that is missing. This film is an artifact, that needs to be seen by movie-buffs and students of film. It isn't a great movie, but It isn't a terrible movie either. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), however is an important one for fans of film to see. Plus, it's only 13 minutes long.
PMTM Grade: 5.9 (D) = 6 IMDB, 3 Stars Letterboxd
Colorized version of the film with music on YouTube:
Film #2 - Best Film
For film #2, in this case, it's best to go with a great film. I bet you know where I am heading with this next. We leave 1910 and jump to 1939, with the exceptionally great Wizard of Oz (1939). This film is part of my yearly Film366 film list for January. Wizard of Oz (1939), has been noted as being an influential source for the Star Wars films over the years, too. From the evil antagonist, dressed in black, to the swarm of flying monkeys resembling Tie-Fighters, zipping around the Millennium Falcon. This film was influential across the board.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Chris has already done a previous entry for this film on Digging Star Wars and it sounds like he needed some time, in order to come around to this movie.
Chris' DSW Review of Wizard of Oz (1939), from June, 2019:
The Wizard of Oz Trailer on YouTube:
Wizard of Oz (1939), is one of the best musicals ever and looks even better in HD or 4k Blu-ray found on streaming services today. It's more colorful, the background effects pop, the black and white scenes look great in their composition and the audio has been sweetened to perfection. If you haven't seen the Wizard of Oz (1939), this is the time of the year to do it. There are two important locations found in this film. One is the magical land of Oz and the other one is the state of Kansas, the home of Dorothy. Kansas was admitted to the union on January 29th, 1861, 78 years before this film was released and a mere 49 years before the 1910 version of WOZ was released. Actor Ray Bulger, who plays the one, who only wanted a brain, the Scarecrow, was born on January 10th, 1904. MGM acquired the rights to L. Frank Baum's books and characters in January of 1938.
PMTM Grade: 9.4 (A) = 9 IMDB, 4 1/2 Stars Letterboxd
As we move on, I have a cool segue, that involves the Wizard of Oz (1939) and connections to the next film. It shows the influence this film has had all over the world.
Film #3 - New Film
Let's move onto film #3. There also are some similarities between Star Wars and our next film too, which I will explain about later. The New film for January is brand new and it comes from a 60 year old, TV and film franchise from Japan. Before I get into the new movie, I first have to give you a little bit of a backstory here. Ultraman debuted in 1966 on Japanese television and was an immediate success. It was the brainstorm idea of Godzilla creator Eiji Tsuburaya, who produced the show with his new company, Tsuburaya productions. Ultraman is a super being from a star known as Nebula M78. The 1966 Ultraman series was preceded by a prequel series called Ultra-Q (1965-1966).
Ultra-Q (1965) Ep 01 - Defeat Gomess! Japanese Version English Subtitles on YouTube:
Ultra-Q (1965-1966), followed the adventures of newspaper reporters and their airplane pilot buddies, chasing down giant monsters, in various different stories, perfect for us science fiction nerds to enjoy. It was part of the kaiju film sub-genre of Japan, that was all started with Godzilla in 1954. Ultra-Q led to the idea, that if giant monsters are creating havoc everywhere, this means, that we need a superhero big enough to take care of the kaiju's threat. Thus, Ultraman was born.
Ultraman (1966) Opening Credits American Version on YouTube:
Sure, Ultraman consisted of guys in rubber costumes, fighting over miniature cities and towns, but if you understand the amount of work it took to make the creative environments, landscapes and cityscapes, that these creatures inhabited, with the sole goal of destroying it all, is something special and worth appreciation. It is an artform, that has now generated multi-billions of dollars, with TV shows, theatrical films, video games and toys, which is something Tsuburaya productions can really brag about. Roughly ten years ago, Ultraman made the Guinness Book for having the most television spin-offs of any TV series in history. Trust me, I'm not going to count them all, but it could be near 40. I have also had the pleasure of sampling a few of the other incarnations of Ultraman, released since the 1960s.
Ultraman Tiga (1996) Opening Credits Japanese w/English Subtitles on YouTube:
This brings me to the connections I noticed between Ultraman and the Wizard of Oz (1939). I grew up watching Ultraman in the mid-1970s and I have always liked it. As I grew older, I learned to appreciate it even more. All the work it took to make those shows, seemed like an incredible undertaking. So, I have rewatched it many times over in my life. The story of a man from space, who uses the power of light to fight the menacing kaiju, has always been a thrilling idea. Ultraman's essence is encased inside the body of a human being, named Hayata, the Science Patrol's (Earth's Kaiju Defense Force), second in command. Hayata transforms into Ultraman using his Beta-Capsule. The Beta-Capsule is a rod, that has a button on it. When he pushes the button, he turns into Ultraman.
While preparing for this blog post, images from the old Ultraman series came into my head and I remembered moments of the show, that reminded me of the Wizard of Oz (1939). Case in point, episode 17, Passport to Infinity (1966), has the Science Patrol stacked up against an alien monster, that has the abilities to bend time and space. In one scene, the Science Patrol weapons inventor, Ito, is trying to escape from the alien and doesn't realize the creature has made the steps Ito is running on continue to go up. Ito keeps running up the steps. The image looks every bit like the steps of the yellow brick road reaching up to the Emerald City. Ito then falls over a cliff and reappears with his head in a grey plastic trash bucket, oddly resembling the Tin Woodsman.
Ultraman: Episode 17: Passport to Infinity (1966) Japanese w/English Subs - (The Ito scene on the steps is at 15:45) on YouTube:
In episode #25, Typhon, The Strange Comet (1967), which aired in early January on Japanese TV, Ultraman has to break up a fight between three other monsters or the world could be destroyed. Hayata, in a desperate attempt to stop them, takes off on a run, that leads him up a snowy, dirt path, flanked by tall, yellowish-colored grass. It is another classic example, of images resembling the yellow brick road.
Ultraman: Episode 25: Typhon, The Strange Comet (1967) Japanese w/English Subs - (The Hayata scene on the trail is at 18:25) on YouTube:
Many other similarities abound between the Wizard of Oz (1939) and one of Japan's classic intellectual properties. In another episode, Ultraman dispatches a monster, that can be killed by water, ala' the Wicked Witch of the West. The comparisons between the original Ultraman (1966) and Star Wars (1977), are fun to talk about too. The most eye-popping one is the retracted lightsaber of a Jedi Knight, resembling the design of Hayata's Beta-Capsule. Another one is Jar Jar Binks' resemblance to the sea creature in episode four, Detonation: Five Seconds, (1966). The monster in that Ultraman episode scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. This episode truly captures the horrific idea of what it would be like in the real world, if giant monsters walked the Earth, albeit with a limited budget, rubber costumes and miniature cities. This episode used to give me nightmares when I was a kid.
Ultraman: Episode 4: Five Seconds Before the Explosion (1966) - Japanese w/English Subtitles on YouTube:
There are many other comparisons I could point out, between Ultraman, Star Wars, and The Wizard of Oz (1939), but I wanted to move onto a film from the 21st century and a film perfect for January..
Shin Ultraman (2022)
Shin Ultraman (2022) Trailer on YouTube:
Shin Ultraman (2022), is the latest incarnation of the Japanese television and film franchise known as, Ultraman. It's ready to hit the movie theaters in the United States. The film hit movie theaters in Japan in 2022 and the United States in 2023. It had some small theatrical releases in the United States, at a couple of famous science fiction film festivals. The film came out in the United States during the month of January, which makes it perfect for this article.
This was a great time at the movies. It was the first time I ever saw an Ultraman film in the movie theaters. I waited 50 years for this moment. Unfortunately, we had to watch the English dubbed version. The subtitled version was shown the night before and I couldn't make that one. Oh, and I also put the right heel of my shoe into my cheese whiz, that was sitting on the floor in my pretzel bites container. Whoops!
PMTM Grade: 7.9 (B-) = 8 IMDB, 4 Stars Letterboxd
As we move onto film #4, I will explain the "E For Effort" grade more. Also, we will see a lot of ties between the next film and Star Wars (1977), plus a short-lived, sub-genre would be spawned, in the wake of the release of that film.
Film #4 - E For Effort Film
Let's move onto film #4. I rated this film an E. The rating is called an E for Effort. When I was a kid, just starting high school in the 1980s, the high school I was attending came up with a new grade, that they implemented into the district's grading system. It was an E. An E is worse than a D, but better than an F. An E is technically also an F, but if you scored an E, you were allowed to retake the class in summer school, in order to pass the year or graduate. If you got an F, you failed the class. So, I used this model, in order to come up with my E For Effort, when grading certain movies. I still recommend seeing these films, because a film might have the right idea, but the execution ends up being bad. They are films, that the filmmakers clearly showed to the audience, that they tried their best, but for some reason or another, the film fails in the end. Another thing that makes these movies recommendable, is the idea that they usually have something interesting to film buffs, have a historical significance (in film history or real-world history), or a technical gimmick, that still keeps these films as a "need to be seen", type-of film classification. It also could be, they are just good enough to be "middle of the road" (nothing great, but nothing terrible either). They have those one or two blemishes, that if they could fix them or re-shoot a scene (the summer school parachute), it would be the difference between a bad movie or a really good film.
Starcrash (1978)
Our next film was completely influenced by the huge success of Star Wars (1977). It became part of a sub-genre, simply called the Star Wars Rip-Off sub-genre. Many films were made in the late-1970s, that followed the template set-forth by George Lucas and many of them were really low-budget. The leader of the B-movie industry, at the time, was Roger Corman. Corman has been hailed as being the most successful B-movie producer in film history. His films were cheaply made, but he knew how to exploit their money-making potential, through the drive-in sector, double-billings, direct-to-video releases, over-seas distribution, you name it. Then, Star Wars came along and he saw another huge money-making prospect just waiting to be made.
Starcrash (1978) Trailer on YouTube:
Starcrash (1978), was released in Italy on January 3rd, 1979 and in the United States on March 9th, 1979. In 1980, at the 7th annual Saturn Awards, this film was nominated for the Best International Film of the Year. In 2015, Starcrash (1978), was chosen by Rolling Stone Magazine Online as one of the 50 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1970s. This film was featured on the movie-bashing, comedy TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 2017.
Starcrash (1978) Full Movie on YouTube:
I wonder if Lucasfilm decided to go with the slave-Leia outfit in Return of the Jedi (1983), because of movies like this. Was Lucas trying to say that his leading lady was the hottest of them all? That, his films were the best for science fiction nerd-dom, in every facet of the description? In the first two films, Leia is covered up tastefully, dainty, but drab attire, fit for a princess of a rebellion. Also, most of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes place, in a cold winter climate. Then, all of a sudden, these Star Wars imitations came out, with space babes in bikinis, not really dressed well for a fight and the next thing you know, slave-Leia was born in Return of the Jedi (1983). I don't have problems with any of this, but it does create interesting questions about artistic influences. Other major similarities between Star Wars and Starcrash (1978), involve lightsabers in both movies, the robot Elle, sounding like a country western C-3PO and Christopher Plummer, as the Emperor, making his appearance, out of a temporal puff of smoke. It was a puff of smoke, just like Obi-Wan Kenobi's (Sir Alec Guinness), appearance in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It was the birth of a new sub-genre, known as, the Star Wars Rip-Off.
PMTM Grade: 4.6 (E) = 5 IMDB, 2 1/2 Stars Letterboxd
Film #5 - Bad Film
Let's move onto film #5. This film is on my UNWATCHABLES List. It could be a cultural barrier, a clash between production companies or the fact, that the execution, across-the-board on this film, didn't succeed. This is a bad movie. Its only charm, is it is the first theatrical film, that Ultraman appeared in (he is in others before this, but they are mostly compilation films). The other reason to see Hanuman and the 7 Ultramen (1974), is the sheer, stark, ridiculous, images, that flash onto the screen.
Hanuman and the 7 Ultramen (1974) - aka: The 6 Ultra Brothers vs the Monster Army (1979)
Hanuman and the 7 Ultramen (1974) - Thai Theatrical Version with English Subtitles on YouTube)
This film has crazy stuff in it and it's head-scratching too. So, I challenge you to watch Hanuman and the 7 Ultramen (1974). I'd be interested hearing how far people got into this film. Maybe you will like it more than I did. Maybe you will agree with my UNWATCHABLE tag, that I labeled it with. The film could be interesting to movie-junkies and it is definitely must-see for Ultraman aficionados. You will now have a measuring stick for the worst Ultraman movie, ever made, but it gets better with the franchise from here.
PMTM Grade: 2.1 (U) = 2 IMDB, 1 Star Letterboxd
Have a great January my fellow film-fans and remember, go to your theaters, as much as possible.
About the Author
Phil Congleton is a lifelong film buff, who worked in television for 30 years and produced a few, small independent films in the 1990s. He is co-creator of Film366 with Chris Mich and curator of Phil Meets the Movies. Now retired, Phil commits his time to promoting the movies and the art of film. You can read more about Phil's film reviews on Letterboxd.
Comments
Post a Comment