Radon, Giant Monster of the Sky

Radon, Giant Monster of the Sky
[[Image: Poster 1 ; Poster 2; \|220px\|]] ; Japanese Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ishirō Honda
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Running time	84 minutes
Budget	???

Giant Monster of the Sky, Radon (Also known as Rodan) is an 1956 toho kaiju film,Directed by ishiro Honda

Released in the US under the title of Rodan! The Flying Monster! on a double bill with Gigantis the Fire Monster.

Plot[]

Mount Aso, Kyushu, a siren echoes across mine and the associated village, it is shift change. A fight breaks out as the two crews change over.

In another part of the installation the main office is informed that mine number 8 has filled with water. One of the engineers Shigeru Kwamura (Kenji Sahara) goes down to investigate; the last survey didnt reveal any problems. When he arrives at the shaft he discovers two of the miners are trapped by the water

Shigeru calls for a couple of volunteers and they head down the tunnel to rescue the men. Yoshi is the first one found; he appears unconscious and close to death. Hes quickly rushed to the hospital and the doctors are concerned about a strange head wound they have found.

There is no news about the other man, Goro. Some of the miners think Goro tried to kill Yoshi because of the earlier fight in the assembly area. Leaving the hospital Shigeru encounters his girlfriend Kiyo (Yumi Shirakawa) who is also Goro's sister. She fears the stories of his crime are true bit Shirakawa insists that she wait till more information is available

Back in the flooded tunnel the search for Goro goes on. One of the men thinks they hear something and investigate. Getting closer to the source of the noise they hear other strange sounds. Suddenly two of the men are dragged below the water but a third escapes. He tries to phone for help but is killed.

Later the bodies of the three men are recovered. They seem to have suffered the same injuries as Yoshi. The doctor seems to doubt Goro could have committed the murders; the strength involved would be beyond anything he was capable of.

That night Shigeru goes and comforts Kiyo as rumors spread through the village about her brother. As they sit and talk a huge caterpillar like creature crashes into the house, the couple escape and summon the police. They confront the creature but a forced back.

The village is alerted to the danger and the mine workers go to try and stem the threat. They spot the creature climbing a hill outside the village and head off in pursuit. Thinking they have the creature cornered they open fire, with little effect. The creature attacks two of the men and kills them, but in the process it loses its footing and slides down the hill into darkness and escapes.

Later it is reported the creature was seen entering one of the older mine shafts. The police begin sealing the entrance as they wait for the military to arrive. A detachment of soldiers arrives and confidently enters the tunnel in search of the creature. Finding Goro's body they set up a machine gun while the creature advances. Despite their best efforts the creature continues to advance. Shigeru hits on the idea of sending one of the mine trains into the tunnel. At first his plan seems to work but the creature revives. The machine gun opens fire again causing a cave in that traps Shigeru and apparently kill the creature.

Later Professor Kashiwagi arrives and reviews the evidence. He believes the creature is a "meganuron", the nymph of a dragonfly, possibly hatched from an egg buried somehow in the mine

An earthquake hits the area and substantial sections of the local mountains subside destroying the only road to the mines. Amid one of the landslides, Shigeru is found, dazed and with a broken arm. At the hospital Shigeru appears non responsive as if in some kind of shock. A doctor suggests he is suffering from amnesia The doctors try to trigger his memory by showing him images of the monster he may have encountered in the mine.

At the same time an air force pilot encounters a UFO and as he is pursuing it he informs his base that the object is performing incredible manuvers. Unfortunately as the pilot is chasing the object it does a sharp u-turn and flies so close that the plane breaks up and the only things recovered are his oxygen mask and bloody helmet. They then are informed that a BOAC flight was also attacked by the UFO and was destroyed leaving no survivors. Soon there are reports of the UFO attacking various cities throughout Asia; including Beijing and Manilla.
Back in Kyushu, two honeymooners head off for a trip after being recently married. Both are friends of Sunagawa, the seismologist who first informed Kashiwagi and the authorities of the mysterious new activity at Mt. Aso. They stop at a volcanic crater and begin photographing each other, when suddenly a bird-like creature flies low overhead killing them instantly. The camera the couple where using is retrieved and an image of the creature has been captured.
The next day the police and Kashiwagi question Sunagawa about his friend and as they are talking to him one of the lab attendants come out with the freshly developed roll and as they are looking at it they see a mysterious shadow and when they make a print of it they see that it is the wing tip of a gigantic bird. Kashiwagi, who happened to have some pictures with him from his recent visit to Shigeru, takes out the drawing of a pteranadon and compares it to the pic and it is almost identical. However, Kashiwagi knows that Shigeru is the key and he is the one who can tell the authorities what he saw.
At the hospital Shigeru has a breakthrough when his girlfriend shows him a nest with eggs hatching. He begins to recall seeing a nest with large numbers of odd creatures as well as one giant egg off by itself. As he watches the egg hatches and a Rodan is born. It immediately begins eating the other creatures in the cave. The scientists return to the mineshaft to try and gather more information, if what Shigeru says is correct they should be in no danger from the caterpillar-like creatures, and they believe Rodan has left the nest. They return to the spot indicated by Shigeru and find a piece of eggshell before having to leave due to a cave in.
They study the shell fragment and discover the original egg was massive. At a briefing they give details of the size of a fully grown Rodan. Its wingspan should be upwards of 270 meters and have a body weight in excess of 100 tons. Aside from the danger of being eaten they realize the sonic boom created when the creature flies will be fatal to huge numbers of people.
Professor Kashiwagi goes on to explain that he believes Rodan now exists because of atomic tests. He explains that radioactive rainwater may have seeped into the underground caverns and caused a mutation. He then suggests a probable search area based around the two mines that had suffered previous attacks
Following up on the lead the army sends a team to investigate. They witness Rodan breaking through to the surface and taking flight. His supersonic flight is as dangerous as predicted and he destroys a vehicle trying to flee
The Japanese Air Force attempt to intercept the creature and a dog fight ensues but Rodan clearly out flies the pilots destroying a number of aircraft in the process.
Alarms sound in nearby towns as Rodan flies off and the jets try to keep up. The jets close on the creature and seem to shoot it down. As the pilots go in to confirm the kill Rodan takes flight again, apparently uninjured. Surrounding towns again set their alarms and people try to make for any shelter they can. The creature lands in the center of the city and begins to level everything with its powerful wings. The army sees a chance and deploys a number of tanks and rocket launchers to fight the animal.
After absorbing a frightful barrage from the army units Rodan again flaps its wings cause cyclonic winds to sweep everything before it. A second Rodan arrives and begins circling the city helping to spread the destruction. As quickly as they came they fly off as night falls
Later at a planning meeting, it is agreed that both animals are nesting somewhere in the Mount Aso area, probably close to the volcanoes. A helicopter is dispatched and a sighting of both birds roosting in the crater are confirmed
A plan is organized to bombard the crater; the hope is to bury both Rodans in the throat of the volcano. Military vehicles move into position as the remaining population is evacuated. Once everyone is too safety the attack begins
Part way through the attack reports come in that the intense bombardment is weakening the mountain and the volcano may erupt.

Ultimately the volcano does explode and the two creatures take flight, one is caught by the eruption and killed. Its mate goes back to try and help and it is also consumed by the inferno.

Cast[]

Kenji Sahara as Shigeru Kawamura, mine engineer
Yumi Shirakawa as Kiyo
Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Kyuichiro Kashiwagi, paleontologist
Akio Kobori as Nishimura, police inspector
Yoshibumi Tajima as Izeki, journalist
Minosuke Yamada as Osaki, mine director
Ren Imaizumi as Sunagawa, seismologist
Fuyuki Murakami as Professor Minami, physicist
Koji Uno as Journalist
Akio Kusama as Suda, chief engineer
Fumindo Matsuo as Hayama
Mitsuo Matsumoto as Professor Isokawa
Kiyoshi Takagi as Minakami
Rinsaku Ogata as Goro
Jiro Suzukawa as Yoshizo
Katao Kawasaki as Tsunesan
Kanta Kisaragi as Suteyan
Ichiro Nakatani as Senkichi
Keiji Sakakida as Tahei
Hideo Mihara as Air Self-Defense Force commander
Yoshio Katsube as Self-Defense Force signaler
Mitsuo Tsuda as Takeuchi
Ichiro Chiba as Chief constable
Jiro Kumagai as Tashiro
Saeko Kuroiwa as Nurse
Yasuko Nakada as Female honeymooner
Seiji Onaka as Nakagawa, male honeymooner
Kiyomi Ichinoya as Otami
Shoichi Hirose as Fighter pilot / Meganulon
Haruo Nakajima as Rodan / Meganulon
Katsumi Tezuka as Hotel manager / Rodan / Meganulon
Tokio Okawa as Meganulon

English dub[]

Keye Luke as Shigeru Kawamura / policeman
George Takei as Dr. Kyuichiro Kashiwagi / male honeymooner
Paul Frees as Nishimura / Osaki / Dr. Tanaka / Air Force officer / Kitahara, pilot / newsreader
James Yagi as Professor Minami / hotel manager / farmer

Staff[]

Directed by Ishiro Honda
Written by Takeshi Kimura, Takeo Murata
Based on a story by Ken Kuronuma
Executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by Akira Ifukube
Cinematography by Isamu Ashida
Edited by Koichi Iwashita
Production design by Tatsuo Kita
1st assistant director Jun Fukuda
Director of special effects Eiji Tsuburaya

Monsters[]

Rodan
Meganulon

Production[]

The original story for Rodan was penned by novelist Ken Kuronuma. He was inspired by the death of Captain Thomas F. Mantell of the Kentucky Air National Guard, who blacked out and crashed his P-51 Mustang while pursuing a UFO in 1948. Takeo Murata and Kaoru Mabuchi, the latter making his genre debut under the pen name Takeshi Kimura, wrote the script, adding the Meganulon and the Rodans' Fukuoka rampage. Their first draft called for a single Rodan, who would be injured by American planes above Okinawa and killed at Mt. Aso by a dynamiting team led by Shigeru. Initially, the monsters were based on the winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx, but the final design was closer to Pteranodon.

Rodan was Toho's first tokusatsu kaiju film filmed in color, though Toho's first color tokusatsu film, The Legend of the White Serpent, was released earlier in 1956. Kenji Sahara played mine engineer Shigeru Kawamura in his first major role. He took his character's amnesia seriously: he studied the condition's causes, practiced making his eyes go out of focus, and at one point worked himself into such a state that he "kicked a table, suffered bumps and bruises, and ripped his pants[.]" Director Ishiro Honda took an immediate liking to the actor, and would cast him in his films over and over again.

Haruo Nakajima played Rodan, his first kaiju role after Godzilla, with Katsumi Tezuka as a backup. The cables lifting up Nakajima during the scene where one Rodan bursts out of Harioseto Strait gave out during a take, when he was 20 feet off the ground. Fortunately, the suit's wings and the water broke his fall. A slew of scale flying models and a puppet of Rodan's upper half helped bring the pair to life. Nakajima and Tezuka were also among the actors who inhabited the massive six-legged Meganulon suit, along with Shoichi Hirose and Tokio Okawa.

Titles[]

Giant Monster of the Sky Radon (Japanese title)
Radon (called Ladon) the Great Monster in the Sky (Original Japanese title)
Mach Monster Rodan (マッハ怪獣ラドン Mahha Kaijū Radon, Japanese 8mm title)
Rodan: Bird of Death (Rodan: Ptak Smierci; Poland)
Rodan!... The Space Monster (Rodan!... O Monstro do Espaço; Brazil)
Flying Monster Vulture (飛天怪鷲 Fēitiān Guàijiù; Taiwan)
Bloodthirsty Hawk (Taiwanese English title)
Rodan! The Flying Monster (original us release title)
Rodan: Terror of the Skys! (early US title)

U.S. release[]

Released by the Distributors Corporation of America after taking over distribution from RKO Radio Pictures (who were still granted European distribution), Rodan was successful in its first theatrical run in the United States. It was the first Japanese movie to receive a successful general release on the West Coast. It was given the biggest TV advertising campaign given to a film at the time on New York's NBC flagship station WRCA-TV. 10-, 20- and 60-second commercials were shown on the station for a week before the film's opening. It grossed an estimated $450,000 to $500,000 during its opening weekend at 79 theaters in the New York City metropolitan area. Multiple distributors, including RKO, announced that Rodan performed better than any of their previous science-fiction films. The English dub was recorded at a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios soundstage over the course of three days. Four men and one woman voiced all the parts, including George Takei, better known as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, and prolific Chinese-American actor Keye Luke. It was Takei's first professional acting role. In his 1994 autobiography To the Stars, he describes the dubbing process in detail:

The English version overseen by the King Brothers is a complete overhaul with innumerable editorial and creative differences. It runs 10 minutes shorter than its Japanese counterpart. The story is now presented as an account told from the perspective of its protagonist, Shigeru, much in the same vein as the role of the character Steve Martin in the earlier Americanized Toho film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. Additions include unused Toho special effects footage and a prologue made up of American nuclear test footage to link the monsters' emergence with the Atomic Age more transparently. U.S. newspaper ads for the film highlighted the presence of American-made Sabre jets and Honest John rockets.

DVD[]

In 2002, Classic Media released the American version of Rodan to DVD for the first time. Six years later, they released the original Japanese version of the film to DVD, along with the American edit, packaged with The War of the Gargantuas and the documentary Bringing Godzilla Down to Size.