“Rodan” was the first technicolor kaiju film that Toho Studios produced. Shown in the U.S. as both “Rodan! The Flying Monster” and “Gigantis the Fire Monster,” it was the beginning of Japanese monster flicks having success in America.
Kaiju translates to “strange beast.” Kaiju films are marked by bigass monsters fighting other bigass monsters usually in a city with the military trying to intervene. Re: “Godzilla” – Toho Studios’ most famous creation.
“Rodan” was written by Ken Kuronuma, who was inspired by the crash of Captain Thomas F. Mantell. Mantell, a pilot for the Kentucky National Guard, died in a 1948 plane wreck after chasing an alleged UFO.
Patty Templeton
