Toho's Disaster Films

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

So, I really don't know where these could be discussed, but I figured here was as good as any. Has anyone seen these? I think they're really damn good! Submersion of Japan (1973) is pretty solid, and the political fallout of that situation is pretty entertaining to me. Though of course the big selling point is NAKANO'S HUGE MEGA EXPLOSIONS!

Any others you've seen?

[H-Man]

Submersion is great. I put it in (at least) my top ten tokusatsu movies.

The others that I've seen are:
The Last War - Not my favorite but it's a strong production. The climatic SFX scene is one of Tsuburaya's best.

Prophecies of Nostradamus - Pretty bad. IMO, any attempt at trying to seriously discuss the threat of pollution is undermined by the outrageous exploitative elements. I prefer the baffling American release, The Last Days of Planet Earth because it's funnier. I'd still like to see a DVD (or higher) quality version of the original cut.

Conflagration - I can't really comment on the unsubtitled Japanese version but the American version (High Seas Hijack) with Peter Graves and Gigi Perreau is entertaining. I wish it had been dumped on DVD when Captain Phillips was in theaters.

Deathquake - Probably the least of all Toho disaster movies. It's a soap opera with a giant earthquake towards the end. I have the Japanese version but I've never watched it, only the much shorter international version.

My favorite Japanese disaster film made outside of Toho was Toei's The Bullet Train. It's an early version of Speed (1994) on a bullet train (duh) with an all-star Japanese cast. Sonny Chiba is the conductor, Ken Utsui is the manager of railway service, Ken Takakura is the bomber. Look up the rest of the cast on IMDb, it's awesome. I think in that respect, this one feels most like all-star American disaster movies of the '70s.