by Giganfan » Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:14 pm
The original Japanese version is a classic despite its flaws, because being only the third movie of its kind, back in 1956, in Japan, and the first one in color, you have to assume that a lot of trial-and-error was going on. For the most part, Eiji Tsuburaya's effects work is top-notch, but you can tell that he and Akira Ifukube must have been working on a limited amount of time and money. The original Rodan has very much a 'diamond-in-the-rough" quality to it, but Ishiro Honda managed to make it one of the most important films in the entire genre.
That being said, it is the U.S. cut that I fell in love with, when I first saw it back in the day, around the time I had just started to see the Godzilla movies for the first time (late eighties, early nineties). The additions and subtractions that the American distributors made, I think, served to liven things up a bit, and make the movie more entertaining for an American audience. This is an Americanization that I feel holds up really well to it's original counter-part. And, of course, it serves as the introduction to one of Eiji Tsuburaya's very finest of all kaiju-creations, "The Samurai Warrior of the Sky, Radon!!" I don't know where that tag-line came from, but I like it lol! Behind Godzilla, Rodan is my favorite of all Toho's creations, and the movie, in either version, is one of those "monuments of kaiju/tokusatsu cinema" that I have always held in such high regard my whole life. It belongs in the same class as Godzilla '54, Mothra, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Matango, Godzilla vs. The Thing, Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster, Monster Zero, Frankenstein Conquers The World, War of the Gargantuas, King Kong Escapes, and all the rest of the top-tier Toho kaiju-eiga.
"EVERYONE FORGET YOUR TROUBLES! ENJOY YOURSELVES!THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!" - Gigantis The Fire Monster
"It was HUGE...It was...IT WAS LIKE A MONSTER!!! Suddenly the rocks rose...ALIVE!" - Godzilla 1985