Prophecies of Nostradamus (ノストラダムスの大予言 Nosutoradamusu no Daiyogen, lit. "The Great Prophecies of Nostradamus") is a 1974 disaster film directed by Toshio Masuda and written by Toshio Masuda and Yoshimitsu Banno, basing the script off of a 1973 novel of the same name by Tsutomu Goto.
Dubbing History[]
After The Prophecies Of Nostradamus was released in Japan in 1974, It proved to be yet another success in the growing boom of Japanese disaster films that has been kickstarted by Submersion Of Japan, an even more successful film that had been released the previous year. However, The Prophecies Of Nostradamus would receive backlash due to its portrayals of people scarred by the effects of nuclear bombs. Mainly, two scenes in which indigenous papuans affected by nuclear fallout attack and eat an expedition crew and another in which two mutated humans have reverted to a primitive state due to a nuclear apocalypse. Toho responded to this backlash by editing a minute and 45 seconds of the controversial material out of the theatrical cut, with the most notable edit being a line added during the New Guinea attack scene where Dr. Nishiyama pleas “They are human beings! Don’t shoot!” as the affected indigenous papuans are killed off by the expedition crew.
However, even with the film becoming controversial in Japan, this didn’t mean that Toho believed the film wouldn’t do well in international markets. The film’s international cut would remove several scenes, most of which are insignificant. However, the removal of some scenes are controversial, with the two most infamous cuts being the removal of Kida's emotional outburst at seeing his grandson die in childbirth from a genetic disease and the Japanese prime minister’s plea to his country to move forward that serves as the climax of the film. Sometime in 1974, Toho would commission Matthew and Elizabeth Oram to produce dubs for Prophecies Of Nostradamus, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, Submersion Of Japan, ESPY, and Evil Of Dracula. This is a curious move by Toho, as they had commissioned Axis International to record their english export dubs recorded in Hong Kong for fourteen years. Although Toho’s reasoning for this is unknown, It is speculated that Matthew and Elizabeth were simply cheaper to commission dubs for and Toho wanted to cut costs. It is also unknown if the english export dub was recorded over the original theatrical cut or if it was recorded over the international cut. This is because the minute and 45 seconds cut out of the original theatrical release are present in the international cut.
The English dub cast consists of Matthew Oram. Barry Haigh, Linda Masson, Michael Ross, an unknown voice actress of Northern English descent (seen below as "Unknown 1"), and an unknown voice actor of Southern US descent (seen below as "Unknown 2"). The unknown voice actor and voice actress have roles in films directed by both Matthew Oram and Barry Haigh, but they both disappear before the end of the 1970s.
With the international English dub being recorded and shopped around, the film ended up being released internationally throughout the 1970s in France, West Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and Italy. All of the available releases are based off of the international cut and use dubs based off the dialogue in the international English dub for their country’s respective language. As the film was officially seen in Japan for the last time in a November of 1980 broadcast on TV Asashi's "Holiday Special" block, Toho had been working with United Productions of America to get the film released in the United States. In 1981, a re-edited version of the film using the international English dub would be syndicated on television in the United States where it was retitled The Last Days Of Planet Earth. Although this version uses the international English dub, the English dub's audio is incomplete due to it both removing scenes from the international cut and adding scenes from the theatrical cut that are not present in the international cut. This version also includes some extra voice walla and new Narration by Jack Ryland.
The uncut English export dub would remain publicly unreleased for a couple more years before Panorama Video, a Danish home video distributor, would release the international cut on VHS in Denmark in 1987. This release and the US cut would remain fairly obscure before the US cut was released on home video in the early-mid 90s, where it would become the most well-known source for the international English dub. Coincidentally, a year before, Toho Video would announce that the original theatrical cut would be released on VHS and Laserdisc, with telecines being made around the same time. However, this release would be shelved.
In the late 90s, a VHS rip of the theatrical cut would be leaked to the public, presumably from the shelved 1986 release. The theatrical cut would become more and more circulated as underground film collector circles sprouted up on the early days of the internet, with it eventually finding its way to North America, with those familiar with the US cut inciting great interest in watching the uncut English dub. Shocking Videos, a bootleg home video distributor based in West Virginia, would release a DVD+R recording of the Danish VHS tape sometime in the mid 2000s. This copy would be circulated around for years in underground film circles, with it gaining major traction around 2015 - 2016 when it was released in a bootleg boxset by WTF-Film that compiled every available version synced up to the Japanese VHS rip. As of today, 576i rips of the original Japanese, Danish, and French VHS tapes can all be found on Internet Archive, uploaded by the user vhs_collecteur.
Cast[]
Character | Original Actor | International Dub | US Version |
---|---|---|---|
Dr. Nishiyama | Tetsurō Tamba | Matthew Oram | |
Akira | Toshio Kurosawa | Barry Haigh | |
Mariko | Kaoru Yumi | Linda Masson | |
Nobue | Yoko Tsukasa | ¿? | |
Prime Minister Kuroki | So Yamamura | Barry Haigh | |
Voice of Nostradamus' Prophecies |
Kyoko Kishida | ¿? | |
Kida | Jun Hamamura | Michael Ross | |
Director of the Environmental Agency |
Mizuho Suzuki | ||
Dr. Wilson | Franz Gruber | ||
Oone | Katsu Ryuzaki | ||
Newsman | Gorō Naya | Barry Haigh | |
Zoologist | Hiroshi Koizumi | ||
Hospital Director | Takashi Shimura | ¿? | |
Lead Rioter | Sachio Fujino | Matthew Oram | |
Akira's Father | Mikizo Hirata | Michael Ross | |
Second Newsman | ¿? | ¿? | |
Narrator | Shinji Nakae | ¿? | Jack Ryland |
Additional Voices (US Version)[]
- Riley Jackson - Sportscaster on Radio, Leader in Crowd
External Links[]
- Prophecies of Nostradamus at the Internet Movie Database