Sora no daikaijû Radon (1956)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

David Duncan (U.S. version)
Takeshi Kimura (writer)

Release Date:

August 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Never a Horror Like It!

Plot:

When a village is besieged by giant caterpillars, a more horrifying discovery is made in their underground home...

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Rodan | Pterodactyl | Miner | Creature Feature

Cast

Kenji Sahara	...	Shigeru Kawamura, colliery engineer (as Kenji Sawara)
Yumi Shirakawa	...	Kiyo, Shigeru's lover
Akihiko Hirata	...	Professor KYUichiro Kashiwagi (biology)
Akio Kobori	...	Police Chief Nishimura
Yasuko Nakata	...	Female Honeymooner
Minosuke Yamada	...	Colliery Chief Osaki
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Izeki, reporter of Seibu Nippou
Kiyoharu Onaka	...	Male Honeymooner, Sunagawa's friend (as Kiyoharu Ohnaka)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ichirô Chiba	...	Chief of police station
Mike Daneen	...	American Soldier Typing
Tazue Ichimanji	...	Haru, Kiyo's neighbor
Saburo Iketani	...	News Reader
Saburo Kadowaki	...	Sunagawa's colleague
Tateo Kawasaki	...	Tsunesan, miner
Kanta Kisaragi	...	Suteyan, miner
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Policeman Tashiro (as Jirô Kumagai)
Saeko Kuroiwa	...	Nurse
Tsuruko Mano	...	Osumi, Kiyo's neighbor
Mitsuo Matsumoto	...	Professor Isokawa
Hideo Mihara	...	Commander of JASDF
Kiyomi Mizunoya	...	Otami, Yoshizo's wife
Junichirô Mukai	...	Military officer
Toshiko Nakano	...	Kiyo's neighbor
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Goro, miner, Kiyo's older brother
Keiji Sakakida	...	Tahei, miner
Yasuhiro Shigenobu	...	Sabu, miner
Junnosuke Suda	...	Coroner
Shigemi Sunagawa	...	F-86F pilot
Jirô Suzukawa	...	Yoshizo, miner
Masaaki Tachibana	...	Policeman
Bontaro Taira	...	Laborer
Kiyoshi Takagi	...	Dr.Minakami (colliery)
Kamayuki Tsubono	...	Policeman of the crime laboratory
Mitsuo Tsuda	...	Staff officer Takeuchi
Hideo Unagami
Akira Yamada	...	Radio operator on jeep

Also Known As:

Radon
Radon, Monster from the Sky (literal English title)
Rodan
Rodan! The Flying Monster (USA)
Die fliegenden Monster von Osaka (West Germany) (TV title) [de]
Radon (West Germany) [de]
Rodan (France) [fr]
Rodan il mostro alato (Italy) [it]
Rodan, tuntematon vihollinen (Finland) [fi]
Rodan. Los hijos del volcán (Spain) [es]
Skräck över Japan (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

82 min | USA:70 min (16 mm television syndication prints) | USA:72 min (English dubbed version) | USA:74 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Mandarin | Tagalog

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

Company:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

The original Japanese film's climactic monster invasion was filmed around, and set in, Fukuoka, the largest city on Japan's southernmost island of Kyushu. However, the American version relocated the action in the dubbing to another city in Kyushu, Sasebo, perhaps concerned that their dubbing actors would sorely mispronounce the word "Fukuoka" at inappropriate moments.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The two shots of the Rodans in their lairs are actually the same shot flipped horizontally.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo (#10.23)" (1999)

Rodan rules.

This is a really well made movie. The colors are great and the effects are pretty coll for 50 years ago. I love to watch these sort of movies with my six year old. Todays kids cannot see horror movies anymore because of the gore. So I have introduced him to the classics and as such enjoy the hell out of watching these sort of movies with him. The modern world has really lost that special something that comes with engaging the imagination as many of us did in the sixties and even the seventies. Rodan is probably the best of all the old toho movies. At least I know it's my favorite. Now soon comes the last in the series this Christmas and it should prove to be waesome.