The Last War (1961, Toho Studios). Staring Akira Takarada and Yuriko Hoshi. (Available for wi-fi TV viewing on YouTube.)
This is a terrific movie with a heart and a powerful
message. The main thread is the story of a very nice family in Tokyo. There’s a
slightly goofy father and a sweet mom, with three children. Two of the kids are
young, and the big sister is Seiko, played by Yuriko Hoshi, looking radiant as
usual. Yuriko’s boyfriend is the ubiquitous Akira Takarada, a lavishly handsome
and very talented actor. Mixed in with the family’s story are many scenes of
war-games and minor conflicts between the major powers around the world.
There are excellent miniatures of the war sequences and
many views of old Tokyo, only fifteen years after World War II. The
full-daylight miniature scenes of missiles and planes are beautifully done and
naturalistic. There are great vehicles in general, planes, tanks and ships in
the battle scenes and real cars in the Tokyo scenes, including the father’s 1959
Chevy.
The family scenes are touching. Dad tries to be the
boss but he’s a soft touch. He’s very easy going with the young children and mom,
and his concern for his eldest daughter never runs to scolding or bombast. He’s
a guy that likes a drink, and it’s very sweet to watch his wife and daughter
work diligently to keep his glass full. In one sequence, he starts out with a
small sake cup but the girls switch him to a water glass when they get tired of
all of that filling.
There are two major military powers in the world as it
is presented, as there were in the real world at the time. They are not named.
One side is dressed in very Nazi looking brown uniforms, with riding breeches
tucked into tall, black boots and heavy leather belts with a strap over one shoulder.
They wear hats with long peaks and the officers bark orders with gusto. The
other side seems much more casual. Their uniforms are grey and comfortable
looking, and their leadership style is very cooperative. This casual side
includes some diversity, with black soldiers in evidence.
I’ll refer to them as the Nazis and the Casuals. I
think it’s clear that the Nazis are meant to be the Soviets and the Casuals are
the Americans.
The “Casuals” vs. The “Nazis”
These are, I repeat, optical illusion Nazis who are
meant to be the Soviets. You can’t tell the authoritarians apart without a
scorecard! Neither side is identified.
There’s a close call malfunction on the Casual side. It’s
a two-second “oooops!” moment where an accidental launch on an ICBM farm is
barely avoided. The world, we are shown, is dangerously close to a military
catastrophe.
Asians are involved with the problematic military
displays. South East Asia is a hot-zone. There’s a proxy conflict in progress.
There’s a miscalculation, and nuclear weapons are detonated half by accident. This
is allowed to pass.
Danger! The film now tours the world showing miniature
scenes of world capitals! This is a certain call-back to later destruction in
these movies.
Yuriko Hoshi (“Seiko”) is a kindergarten teacher back
in Tokyo. There’s a big set up, and then the kids all get together and sing, “It’s
a Small World After All.” It’s meant to tug at our heartstrings and it kind of
does.
Oh! Another big “oooops!” moment! The Nazi team is up
at some Artic base and soldiers are trying to remove ice so that a helicopter
can take off. They’re using light explosive charges. The boss is running early,
or late, and he wants to leave, so stern orders are given to “double the
explosives!” The boss cannot be held up! This is a terrible mistake, because the
base is a kind of doomsday device. The stronger explosions set off the device,
but again the process is halted with moments to spare. The boss is a fat Herman
Goering type. His relief is almost comical, almost.
We don’t have to wait long for the actual triggering of
the catastrophe. It takes place in that Arctic setting. There’s some kind of
mutual war games and an encounter between fighter planes and drones from both
sides goes hot and becomes a furious air battle. Nuclear weapons are deployed
first by the Nazi side, and the Casuals respond in kind. It all escalates from
there.
There’s great panic in Tokyo, and the city is ordered
evacuated. Dad feels like it’s pointless to run, though. The family gathers for
a very sad last dinner in their Tokyo home. They prepare all of the food in the
house and have it all on the table. The younger children are delighted to see
all of their favorite foods present at the same time. “That’s it, children,”
says dad. “Eat all you want.” Mom, dad and Seiko are somber. All of the ICBMs
are soon in the air, and there it goes, air-burst, sayonara! Sure enough, the
miniature capitals are all destroyed.
Akira Takarida is in the merchant marine, and he’s out
at sea when all of this happens. His ship is a dramatic device to allow the
unspoken hope that someone will be left to rebuild the world.
The voice over at the end is an excerpt from John
Kennedy’s speech about the “nuclear sword of Damocles.”
These Days
In our world today we live with more abstract threats
that are just as terrible but somehow more mundane. There’s global climate
change, overpopulation, and the menace of the soft-fascism of unregulated
capitalism, with the possibility of a nuclear side-show to add color to the
doom. By now it appears that the world will end with a whimper, not with a
bang. You can decide for yourself which one you would prefer. I preferred the
bang, myself.
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