Toho's theatrical
pamphlet for the 1974 disaster film Prophecies of Nostradamus.
Due to the unavailability of the publication's subject,
which has been under a long standing self-imposed ban
due to its portrayal of victims of a nuclear strike, this
pamphlet tends to fetch a higher price then most from
collectors. As followers of the movie know, the self-imposed
ban has also spread to books and other media in recent
years, as finding any official Japanese book dated after
1998 that even acknowledges the film is nearly impossible.
Unfortunately, those looking for a "fix" in
regards to nice production stills from the movie will
be undoubtedly disappointed with this pamphlet. It does
contain four pages of color photos, with several nice
shots, but that's it from the 24 page publication. Most
of the photos deal more with set locations and disasters
as well, as opposed to shots of the actors or the menagerie
of monsters and mutants that were seen. The rest of the
book is filled with small black and white production stills
and information on the film. It ends with some "behind
the scenes" information and photos, along with further
details about the small amount of on location shooting
in places like New Guinea that took place. On a side note,
this pamphlet has a odd, almost patch like feel and look
to the cover. I'm not sure if there was a brief period
in which they produced the pamphlets like this or if this
is unique to this one in particular, but I sure haven't
seen another like it to date. |