Rodan (1956)

In the original version, the title of the movie is called Radon which is short for Pteranodon. When the movie came to America, the name changed to Rodan because there was a brand of soap called Radon.

The movie's symbolism is similar to Godzilla on the dangers of nuclear energy. As Godzilla represents the nuclear threat from America, Rodan represents the nuclear threat from Soviet Union.

Rodan has appeared in 1 solo movie and 6 Godzilla movies (Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster, Godzilla vs Monster Zero, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II, Godzilla: Final Wars, and in the upcoming movie, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters).

In George Takei's autobiography, Rodan was Takei's first professional acting job and all voice dialogues were provided by himself along with three other actors.

The cable supporting Rodan over Sasebo Bridge snapped and caused the stuntman inside the suit to fall 25 feet into the water. This incident was left in the movie as the scene where Rodan dives into the water and submerges. The cables were reattached for the scene where Rodan flies out of the water, but the cables almost snapped again because the suit was waterlogged and doubled in weight.

The city that was destroyed in the original film was Fukuoka. In the U.S.A. release, the city's name was changed to Sasebo because Americans were more familiar with this city since this is where major U.S. military facilities were stationed.

Review:

After mining accident, a swarm of giant insects invade a small mining village. During the investigation of where these bugs originated from, two pterosaurs begin invading Japan.

Rodan is remembered for being Godzilla's rival/ally in the movies. Even in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Rodan is going to be portrayed as a rival for Godzilla based on how director, Mike Dougherty, gave the monster such high praises for the monster. There is no doubt that Rodan is among one of the top fan favorite monsters in the Godzilla series. While his own movie, Rodan, is considered a classic by many it is not all that memorable.

The story of the movie starts off with miners being found dead in the mines. The first body found was blamed on Goro, a miner that was witnessed to have had an argument with another miner before he died. Shigeru doesn't believe that Goro was responsible, but only because he is engaged with Goro's sister, Kiyo. When the shaft flooded with water, two more miners and a police officer go into the mine to look for Goro when all three of them were attacked and dragged into the water. After three more bodies were found, the mining village is then raided by these giant insects called, Meganulon. This whole first half of the film concentrates on finding out where these insects come from and it is sort of slow. The main star of the film doesn't appear until half way into the movie.