is a 1974

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/ terrorist attacks or global catastrophes s ...

by Toshio Masuda, based on a 1973 novel by

Ben Goto Tsutomu “Ben” Goto (五島勉, ''Gotō Ben'', 17 November 1929 – 16 June 2020) was a Japanese journalist and writer best known for his books on Nostradamus. Early life and career Goto was born into a Christian family in Hakodate, Hokkaid ...

, itself inspired by the prophecies of

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book '' Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection ...

Plot

In 1853, Genta Nishiyama begins preaching the prophecies of

Michel de Nostradame Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book '' Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection ...

using a copy of his book ''Centuries''. When Nishiyama is executed by the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

for supposed heresy (after discussing the arrival of "

black ships The Black Ships (in ja, 黒船, translit=kurofune, Edo period term) was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries. In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking ...

" that will end Japan's long isolation), his wife and son flee with the book in hand, passing down the knowledge to future generations. At the onset of World War II, his descendant, Gengaku, is interrogated by an

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

officer about the family's continued preaching of the prophecies, which predicted the rise of Nazism and the defeat of the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. In the present day of 1999, biologist Dr. Ryogen Nishiyama is called in to analyze recent scientific phenomena, such as the appearance of large mutant slugs, children wielding advanced abilities after drinking water near a

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

mine, and large ice packs just north of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. He is also a leading figure in the fight against environmental pollution, natural disasters, and the global arms race. The U.N. sends a research expedition to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

to investigate a radioactive dust cloud that appeared over the island, but the team suddenly goes out of all contact. Nishiyama joins a second team to find them and discover that the area around the team's last known position is now infested by large mutant bats and leeches; one leech renders a team member unconscious and he later turns violently insane after the team sets up camp. He is sedated, but is later feasted on by cannibals. The team fight off the cannibals and chase them into a cave, where they find the remains of the original group, but are disheartened that some of them are barely alive; they are forced to kill and bury the survivors. A SST jet explodes in the atmosphere over Japan, with the explosion puncturing the ozone layer and unleashing ultraviolet radiation below. The polar icecaps melt, triggering massive floods in Japan. After more natural disasters hit the country, the civilian populace turns to looting as rationing takes effect. Society breaks down further, with several people committing suicide. The panic escalates until nuclear war breaks out, devastating humanity. Most of the survivors are left mutated, and fight each other for food among the ruins of civilization. It is revealed that the nuclear war is one of many nightmare scenarios Nishiyama is explaining before the Japanese Cabinet. As the prime minister explains a resolve to find a solution, Nishiyama, his daughter Mariko, and her boyfriend Akira (a globetrotting photographer) leave the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

building.

Cast

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He is best known in the West for his role in the 1967 James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' as Tiger Tanaka. Biography Tamba had a part-time job as an interpreter at Supreme Commander ...

as Dr. Nishiyama * Toshio Kurosawa as Akira Nakagawa *

Kaoru Yumi is a Japanese actress. Filmography Movies * (1966) * (1973) * (1973) * (1974) * (1974) * (1976) * (1976) * (1978) TV Dramas * (1970 NHK) ''as Yaku Hiroko'' * * (1973) * * (1986 TBS) * * (1997 TBS) * References External links ...

as Mariko Nishiyama *

Yoko Tsukasa is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 17th Blue Ribbon Awards for ''Kinokawa (film), Kinokawa''. She is professor at Tokyo University of Social Welfare and serves as the 2nd head of Nihon Taishōmura theme park. Life ...

as Nobuo Nishiyama *

Tappie Shimokawa was a Japanese actor. He attended Musashino Art University, but withdrew before completing his degree. In 1964, he joined Bungakuza Theatre Company but left in 1977. He is well known for his role as Chōsan (Detective Tarō Nozaki) in the det ...

So Yamamura was a Japanese actor and film director. He was also known by the name Satoshi Yamamura, while his actual birth name is Koga Hirosada. Yamamura graduated from University of Tokyo. In 1942, Yamamura and Isao Yamagata formed the ''Bunkaza Theatre ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Katsu Ryuzaki was a Japanese actor. His real name and former stage name is ''Fumiaki Takashima'' (Japanese: 高島史旭; たかしまふみあき). His eldest son is former actor , his eldest daughter is freelance announcer , and his son-in-law is . Biograp ...

as Daikon *

Kyōko Kishida was a Japanese actress, voice actress, and writer of children's books. Career Kishida became an actress in 1950, and starred in a Yukio Mishima production of the 1960 film ''Salome''. Her film and television drama credits number in the hundreds. ...

as the narrator

Production

This was Toho’s second disaster movie following the previous year’s ''

Submersion of Japan is a 1973 film directed by Shiro Moritani. It is based on the 1973 novel ''Japan Sinks'' by Sakyo Komatsu. The film stars Keiju Kobayashi, Hiroshi Fujioka and Ayumi Ishida. Synopsis Two hundred million years ago, the Earth was a single conti ...

''. It was based on Ben Goto’s book ''The Great Prophecy of Nostradamus'', released in November 1973. Shinya Nishimaru, general manager of the Food General Office within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, published a book with Goto presenting a pessimistic view of the future of the food supply and environment. This work inspired part of the film’s development. Some effects sequences were re-used from ''Japan Sinks'' and ''The Last War'', such as nuclear attack and earthquake scenes. Others, such as depicting cedar-covered mountains turning brown from excessive UV radiation, were done by dispersing diluted sulfuric acid on part of the forest. A proposed sequel was to be called ''Prophecies of Nostradamus 2: Lord of Terror.'' The premise was for the audience of a Ben Goto lecture slipping through time to July 1999, witnessing the apocalyptic events of Nostradamus’ quatrains. In May 1974, while shooting a forest fire effects scene, the miniatures ignited and burned out of control. Toho’s Studio 7 in Kinuta, Setagaya-Ku was a total loss, though there were no injuries.

Release

''Prophecies of Nostradamus'' was released theatrically in Japan on 3 August 1974 where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

. Toho released their 90-minute international version in the United States on 13 July 1979. It was later released to television by

United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...

as ''The Last Days of Planet Earth'' with English dubbing. The television print runs 88 minutes in length. It was released on EP VHS in the 1990s by Paramount Home Video. ''Prophecies of Nostradamus'' is infamous for its depiction of mutated human beings. After the film was released, a protest group lodged a complaint with the

Eirin The , also known as , is Japan's self-regulatory film regulator. Eirin was established on the model of the now-defunct American Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association's Production Code Administration in June 1949, succeeding the ...

(the Japanese film ratings board), citing the New Guinea sequence and the post-climactic scene featuring two mutants. Toho publicly apologized, and after briefly pulling the film from theaters, re-issued it in December 1974 with 105 seconds of cuts, including the two offending sequences. After its theatrical release and a 1980 television broadcast, the uncut version of the film was officially pulled from circulation by Toho. Plans were made to release the film, with the 105 seconds of edits, on VHS and

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typical ...

in the spring of 1986, but were ultimately shelved; as such, the film has never seen an official home video release in Japan. While the original, unedited version has never been officially released anywhere since 1974, time-coded bootleg copies are in circulation. The 90-minute re-cut version does occasionally make appearances in re-releases and it is this version which is on file at the Library of Congress.Patrick Macias. ''TokyoScope - The Japanese Cult Film Companion''. Cadence Books, 2001. Pg. 167

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * *
''Last Days Of Planet Earth'' at Manor on Movies
* ''Prophecies of Nostradamus'' (1974), Japanese edit/Japanese language with English subtitles * ''The Last Days of Planet Earth'' (1979), US edit/English language {{DEFAULTSORT:Prophecies Of Nostradamus 1974 films 1970s science fiction films 1970s monster movies Apocalyptic films Films about prophets Films scored by Isao Tomita Japanese science fiction films 1970s Japanese-language films Toho tokusatsu films UPA films Films directed by Toshio Masuda Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films set in the 1830s Fiction set in 1835 Films set in the future Films set in 1999 Films set in Indonesia Films set in Japan Films set in Papua New Guinea Films set on the home front during World War II Films shot in Tokyo Obscenity controversies in film 1970s Japanese films