Rodan
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Written by Takeshi Kimura, Takeo Murata, and Ken Kuronuma; English version by David Duncan
1956/Japan
Toho Film (Eiga) Company Ltd.
First viewing/Amazon Instant
Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, that is their tragedy. — Ishirô Honda
Color doesn’t do the special effects in this kaijû movie any favors.
Another H-bomb test awakens not one but two different species of prehistoric monster. Deep in a mine under a dormant volcano (?), miners are dying of horrific injuries. A survivor finally identifies the culprit as a huge insect, later discovered to be a species extinct for million of years. Then gigantic eggs begin to hatch. The good news is that the hatchlings eat the insects. The bad news is that they promptly take wing and fly like supersonic jets. Mass destruction ensues.
This movie is in the Godzilla series but with an oddly comic looking giant lizard/chicken in the lead. The tanks are clearly models and I think I saw jet trails coming out of the flying pterodactyl. I watched the dubbed version which probably also detracted.
Trailer
