I picked up this beauty just over a year ago and, finding myself with a bit of free time this morning, decided to scan it for your amusement.

This small Thai theatrical poster (it measures just 15 1/2 by 21 inches) for Toho’s The Last War dates back to 1962 and is a nice variation on the art produced by the studio for the film’s domestic release, showing an ominous red-saturated mushroom cloud looming over decimated Tokyo.  The artwork features Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Nobuko Otawa and even the American actor who first pushes the button quite prominently, while top-billed Frankie Sakai is suspiciously absent.

Typical of Thai posters from this time period, the colors are bold and vibrant even if fine detail is lacking (as in the rather crude renditions of the Eiji Tsuburaya effects set pieces featured at the bottom).  The title conveniently appears in Thai, Japanese and English, lest anyone be confused as to what film they’re going to see.

The Last War was marketed broadly and was picked up for most international markets and was picked up by Brenco Pictures (along with Gorath and The Human Vapor) for theatrical release in the United States.  With the failure of the other two properties and the folding of Brenco itself The Last War never made it to US cinemas, and its considerably abbreviated English language edit remains one of the harder to find of Toho effects imports.