From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rodan, released in Japan as
Giant Monster of the Sky Radon (空の大怪獣 ラドン, Sora no
Daikaijū Radon
?), is a 1956 tokusatsu film produced by Toho
Studios. It was the studio's first daikaiju eiga filmed in color (though Toho's first
color tokusatsu film, Madame White
Snake, was released earlier that year). It is one of a
series of "giant monster" movies that found an audience outside Japan, especially in America.
The first were serious horror and adventure stories, before the
genre devolved to the level of "kiddie" entertainment in the 1960s
and 1970s. For a time the film was released in the U.S. under the
title Rodan! The Flying Monster!.
Plot
Rodan follows in the footsteps of other Japanese
monster movies, such as Godzilla, which involve a giant monster
being awoken from an ancient hibernation by human beings. In
Rodan, miners digging far into the earth stumble across a
clutch of giant, prehistoric insects called Meganulon, which viciously attack several of
the miners and prompt a government investigation into the matter in
the year 1957. The giant bugs turn out to be little more than food
for two gigantic flying beasts called Rodans, similar to pteranodons but far larger and more
powerful, who hatch from giant eggs and proceed to terrorize the
entire world.
U.S.
release
Lobby card to the 1957 US release of
Rodan
The King Brothers' theatrical release of Rodan was
quite successful in its first run in the United States. It was the
first Japanese movie to receive general release on the West Coast
to make a strong showing at the box-office.1 It later received the biggest TV
advertising campaign given to a film to that date on New York's NBC flagship station WRCA-TV. 10-, 20- and 60-second commercials were
shown for a week before the film's opening.2
It grossed an estimated $450,000 to $500,000 during its opening
weekend at 79 theaters in the New York City metropolitan area. Several
theatrical circuits, including RKO, announced that Rodan broke
the records for a science-fiction film.3
George Takei,
better known as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek
series, was one of the many voice actors employed for this film.
The only other Kaiju film for
which he performed voice work was Godzilla
Raids Again. The main narration provided by the character
of Shigeru was voiced by actor Keye Luke with additional voices provided by
veteran voice actor Paul
Frees.
Changes to the Japanese version :
- Some of Akira
Ifukube's music was replaced with stock music.
- A prologue showing footage of American nuclear tests was
added.
- Extensive narration was added throughout the film.
- A brief shot showing mine cars traveling up a mine shaft was
taken out.
- A scene of miners names being called was cut short.
- The scene leading up to when Meganulon kills a cop and two
miners is shortened.
- The scene where the Meganulon attacks the village is cut short.
A brief shot showing a Meganulon walking through people's backyards
was taken out for the American version. When Shigeru and the
soldiers walk up the incline, it shows the setting through
Shigeru's eyes. He looks up the incline, and then the camera moves
to the left showing the mountain, and then sees the Meganulon. A
shot of Meganulon escaping afterwards is also cut.
- The scene where Professor Kashiwagi analyzes a photo of the
yet-unnamed monster's wing was cut short. Kashiwagi matches the
wing in the photo to that of a picture of a Pteranodon, which he truncates to "Radon" to
name the monster.
- A brief scene showing doctors walking Shigeru into the hospital
after he is recovered was taken out.
- The scene where the honeymooners are eaten is much shorter,
with about 30 seconds of footage removed, including a shot of
Rodan's shadow passing overhead.
- The American version makes the second Rodan appear more
throughout the movie. In the original Japanese version, the second
Rodan does not show up until the attack on Fukuoka.
- A scene of fighter jets taking off was added.
- The scene were a helicopter investigates the Rodans' lair was
re-arranged. In the Japanese version, the scene appears appears
after the assault on Fukuoka by the Rodans and just before they are
killed by the volcanic eruption caused by the JSDF. In the US
version, the scene is shown shortly before Rodan first emerges from
Mount Aso.
- The King Brothers changed the name of the city destroyed by
Rodan from Fukuoka to Sasebo because the U.S.A. had a lot of
diplomatic facilities there.
Cast
- Shigeru Kawamura (coal mine shaft engineer) - Kenji Sahara
- Kiyo (coal mine shaft office worker) - Yumi
Shirakawa
- Dr. Kyuuichirou Kashiwagi - Akihiko Hirata
- Nishimura (Police inspector) - Akio Kobori
- Izeki (Seibu Journalist) - Yoshifumi Tajima
- Oosaki (coal mine executive officer) - Minosuke Yamada
- Ishikawa (Earthquake Research Institute engineer) - Ren
Imaizumi
- Earthquake Research Institute engineer - Saburou Kadowaki
- Minami - Fuyuki Murakami
- Journalist - Kouji Uno
- Suda - Akio Kusama
- Hayama - Fumindo Matsuo
- Military Commander - Hideo Mihara
- Professor Isokawa - Mitsuo Matsumoto
- Minakami - Kiyoshi Takagi
- Gorou (Miner/Kiyo's older brother) - Rinsaku Ogata
- Yoshizou (miner) - Jirou Suzukawa
- Tsunesan (miner) - Tateo Kawasaki
- Suteyan (miner) - Kanta Kisaragi
- Senkichi (miner) - Ichirou Nakaya
- Tahei (miner) - Keiji Sakakida
- Air Self-Defense Force commander - Hideo Mihara
- Self-Defense Force signaler - Yoshio Katsube
- Takeuchi (Air Self-Defense Force staff officer) - Mitsuo
Tsuda
- Chief constable - Ichirou Chiba
- Tashiro (policeman) - Jirou Kumagai
- Nurse - Saeko Kuroiwa
- Female Honeymooner - Yasuko Nakata
- Male Honeymooner - Kiyoharu Oonaka
- Otami (Yoshizou's wife) - Kiyomi Ichinoya
- Radon - Haruo
Nakajima,Katsumi Tezuka
- Meganuron - Haruo Nakajima (top), Katsumi
Tezuka/Others (body)
Trivia
- Many promotional stills and posters for the film depicted a
Rodan that looked radically different from the one in the actual
movie. Rather than the appearance of a slightly larger, more
upright version of the traditional Pterodactyl, this
version bore more of a resemblance to the bird-like Azhdarchidae
family.
- The giant insects featured in this film, the Meganula, would
later go on to appear in the 2000 film Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
- This film marks the only time in which Rodan is seen to emit a
strange burst of concentrated gas from its mouth as a form of
weapon. The inclusion of this seemingly tangential ability was most
likely meant to answer the popularity of Godzilla's atomic heat ray. This could also be
a sonic wind similar to Anguirus's in the Atari video game
franchise.
- In the original Japanese
version this daikaiju is called "Radon", a truncation of
"pteranodon"). While it is
commonly believed that the Japanese Radon became
Rodan for the international release due to a translation error, it
is likely that the name was deliberately changed to avoid confusion
with the chemical element radon. The name Radon is, however, preserved in
the English-dubbed version of Terror of
Mechagodzilla.
DVD
release
Classic Media
- Released: September 9, 2008
- Aspect Ratio: Full screen 1.33:1
- Sound: Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0
Mono)
- Region 1
- Note: A double feature with War of
the Gargantuas. Features both Japanese and English
versions of both films. Special Features: "Bringing Godzilla Down
to Size" documentary (69 minutes).
- Note 1: "Toho's
Science-Fiction Team Completes Another Thriller; Tint Entitled 'The
H-Man'" Far East Film News May 30, 1958, p. 15.
- Note 2: "Rodan"
Far East Film News April 4, 1958, p. 4.
- Note 3: "Toho's
'Rodan' Hits Jackpot in New York" Far East Film News March
28, 1958, p. 15.
External
links
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