Films #097 & #098 - Prince of Space (1959) & Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961)
For me, Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men will forever be linked due to their connected appearances on Mystery Science Theater 3000.* They both feature groups of children who befriend a mysterious outer space super-hero type, who helps save the world from invaders from space.
First up, Prince of Space tells of Wally (Tatsuo Umemiya) and his young wards Mickey and Kimmy, who work as bootblacks. Wally also helps out Professor Macken, whose son Johnny is also a friend of Mickey and Kimmy’s. When the Phantom of Krankor appears and declares that he will conquer the Earth, he is almost immeditely challenged by Prince of Space (secretly Wally), who doggedly pursues him until Phantom is defeated.
Invasion of the Neptune Men, on the other hand, tells of Shinichi Tachibana (Sonny Chiba), a scientist whose young students are the first to discover the invasion. The aliens are challenged by Space Chief (secretly Shinichi) who, with the aid of the children and Earth’s scientists, manages to stave off the invaders.
So, you can see why MST3K would have keyed in on the similarities. Both have (admittedly silly-looking) aliens invading Earth, a costumed hero (really an ordinary guy in disguise) who fights them and kids along to “help”.
I have to disagree with their assessment that Neptune Men is the worse of the two, however. While it is true that Prince of Space has more energy to it and some stronger dialogue, the aliens from Krankor (the chicken people) are much sillier than the Neptunians. Also, there is a real menace to the attack from Neptune that is missing from Prince of Space. When the “air raid” sirens go off, one can feel the sense of dread that must have still has great resonance for Japanese audiences in 1961. The solution used in Neptune Men, a giant shield, also adds to the sense of a people trapped, even in their homes. It’s much more effective than the comedic antics of the Phantom of Krankor.
But both films have positive and negative sides. The visual effects in both films are pretty nice for the day. As simplistic as the space giant in Prince of Space may look today, it is still used effectively in context. On the other hand, there’s those chicken aliens. Neptune Men has some nifty miniature work that is offset by lousy fight choreography. Neither really ever comes across as thrilling as they clearly want to, but neither is a complete waste of time.
If you enjoy old, simple science fiction films or 1960s Godzilla flicks, you’ll find lots of fun to be had with both of these films. If you can’t stand lower-end sci-fi, there’s certainly nothing here to recommend beyond the early glimpse of Sonny Chiba (better known for the super-violent “Street Fighter” films). Both Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men are typical examples of Japanese sci-fi of the day, for good or for bad.
*The recent DVD release that pairs them up would also seem to have been influenced by these appearances.