Rodan

One of Toho's best gets the respect it deserves
Following the release of GOJIRA (Godzilla, King of the Monsters, before Raymond Burr was cut in) and it's sequel, Toho made their first color giant monster movie: RODAN(aka Radon, and Rodan ,The Flying Monster).Unlike most creature features of the time RODAN doesn't make you wait 2/3's of the movie for a monster to show up .Meganurons, giant prehistoric dragonfly larva make their appearance rather early in the film.It's this part of the film that's often compared to "Them".However,in RODAN the giant insects are only the set up.In the most memorable scene, when the character comes out of shock, he not only remembers being trapped underground with the Meganurons but also the hatching of a Rodan chick from it's egg.Having the audience already in on the size of the larva provides instant scale, as the hatchling devours the Meganurons.To add to the excitement of the rest of the picture we learn that in fact two Rodans have hatched.

The film is played straight, unlike later...

Flawed But Still A Must-Have
RODAN and THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS are two of Toho's best giant monster films, and both were subjected to awkward and unnecessary Americanization jobs. With this welcome release, USA fans can now easily and cheaply make their comparisons, as Japanese and USA versions of both films are generously included.

GARGANTUAS is especially long-awaited, but, sadly, Classic Media's transfer of the Toho version is a letdown. Toho's print has always been darker, with less-saturated color than the UPA (not AIP!) print. This transfer, however, is WAY too dark, and not terribly sharp; in the scenes with Gailah vs. the military, he often looks like little more than a shadow...just awful! No, my TV settings are not to blame- this transfer is plain inferior to Toho's Laserdisc and DVD releases, which is odd when you consider how many nice DVDs of the Godzilla titles have been released by Classic Media. All the more unfortunate is that the Japanese version of GARGANTUAS works much better as a...

Yes!!!! At last!
Rodan's great, but War of the Gargantuas is the treat here. With all very due respect to the original Godzilla and King Kong, I'm just going to throw out there that there is no better giant monster movie than WOTG. I've seen it many times since it gave me nightmares the first time I saw it when I was 5 or so, and it's still nearly perfect. At least in the American version, there are almost no slow spots, some genuine terror and horror, and the monsters are onscreen for an amazing amount of time. Of course there's no putting a movie like this together without some cheeziness, but even that fits perfectly with it being a sixties film.

It's all in there: an almost funnily disinterested performance by Russ Tamblyn (looking a little unenthused and questioning whether he should have taken this gig) as the lead scientist, his babe-aliciuos assistant Kumi Mizuno, the chick lounge singer crooning, Gargantua vs octopus, Gargantua vs military (including masers), Gargantua vs...

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