Mysterians, The (English Language Version) (1957)

aka's: Chikyu Boeigun/Defence Force Of The Earth/Earth Defense Force/ Phantom 7000/地球防衛軍

Aliens arrive on Earth and ask permission to be given a certain tract of land for their people to live on. But, when they are discovered to be invaders, responsible for the giant robot (Haruo Nakajima) that is destroying cities, the armed forces attempt to stop them with every weapon known to man. Features an excellent display of miniatures and pyrotechnics directed by special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya and his team. Stars Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kôchi and Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Tsuchiya, George Furness and Harold Conway.

NOTE: This is the very rare RKO Pictures English language version of the film, which features a much superior audio dub than the 2005 DVD release.

Trivia: This film was originally released in U.S. theaters on May 15th, 1959, on a double bill with First Man Into Space (1959), but later released on a triple bill with the East German film First Spaceship On Venus (1960) and the Italian film Assignment Outer Space (1960).

Mogera, the giant robot that was later added to the film because producer Tomoyuki Tanaka felt it needed a giant monster, was created to be a Gojira-like mechanical monster, including spines along the back and a large tail. In the final edit of the film, most of the selected shots hide the fact that the robot does have a tail.

The Mogera suit, originally worn by Haruo Nakajima, was after filming, kept in storage on one of Toho's visual effects sound stages until 1974, when it was destroyed in a fire on the lot, caused by a pyrotechnical accident during the filming of Nosutoradamusu No Daiyogen (1974).