Rodan (1956)

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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 Nakada

Female Honeymooner

Minosuke Yamada

Colliery Chief Osaki

Yoshifumi Tajima

Izeki, reporter of Seibu Nippou

Kiyoharu Onaka

Male Honeymooner, Sunagawa's friend
(as Kiyoharu Ohnaka)

Hiroshi Akitsu

Reporter

Ichirô Chiba

Chief of police station

Mike Danning

American Soldier Typing
(as Mike Daneen)

Kazuo Hinata

Tsurue Ichimanji

Haru, Kiyo's neighbor
(as Tazue Ichimanji)

Saburô Iketani

News Reader

Saburô Kadowaki

Sunagawa's colleague

Yoshio Katsube

Correspondent

Tateo Kawasaki

Tsunesan, miner

Kanta Kisaragi

Suteyan, miner

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Trivia
The cable supporting Rodan over Sasebo Bridge snapped, causing suit actor Haruo Nakajima to fall 25 feet into the water. The incident is left in the movie as the scene where Rodan dives into the water near the bridge and submerges. The cables were re-attached for the scene where Rodan lifts off out of the water, but they almost broke again because the suit became waterlogged and doubled in weight.

Goofs
The opening title says "Rodan © COPYRIGHT MCMXXX1V TOHO CO. LTD." This 1956 film was not copyrighted in 1934.

Quotes
Professor Kyuichiro Kashiwagi (biology): Judging from a piece of its eggshell that we discovered, this one, which we've named Rodan, has a wingspan of 270 feet and weights over 100 tons.

Crazy credits
In the U.S. version, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya's name is misspelled "Eiji Tsuburya."

Alternate versions
In the original Japanese version, there is no dialogue prior to Rodan's attack on the two honeymooners. The American version later added dialogue in which the young woman was joking about her husband taking pictures of the volcano rather than her. Also, in the original version the scene plays a little longer with Rodan making a pass above the couple, with his shadow passing over them, before he swoops in to carry the couple off.

Connections
Edited into Prehistoric Valley (1961)

Another Couple Weeks of Hell for the Japanese

When I was in fourth grade (around 1957), I had seen ads for this movie on television. I cut out a movie ad from the newspaper, and put it on my wall. There was no way I could see the movie because we would have had to go to the big city. I was surprised when I finally viewed it late at night, many years later. It's not a bad film There is a good deal of suspense, A romantic plot. A man falsely accused of murder. And some pretty neat monsters. Now, Pterosaurs weren't all that big, not like this, but these are mutants from messing with nuclear material. The movie has a nice pacing to it. When we get to the destruction scenes, we don't feel like they just threw all that at us like they did in future films (all those Godzilla versus whatever films). There is a kinship between the monsters (a mated pair) that would be a fact in the animal kingdom. The most creative thing is that the Rodans use the hurricane force of their enormous wings to level the city. I may just watch this again.