There is a new edition of Sora no daikaijû Radon out here in the US, where we know it as Rodan or Rodan, The Flying Monster. It's a 2 disc set. The second Toho monster movie is The War of the Gargantuas. Each movie comes in the original Japanese version and the US version. They are susbstantially different. We watched both Japanese editions in the set tonight. I'd seen Rodan many times over the years. It was Toho's third monster movie after Godzilla and it's sequel The Return of Godzilla. Rodan is in color but not Tohoscope. It was a nice looking print. It takes a while to get to Rodan. A small mining town has some strange deaths going on. People are scared. Turns out they have man eating giant subterranian insects. They are pretty goofy looking but they do kill ya. More talking and some other characters arrive only to have a cave-in open a cavern containing the unhatched egg of Rodan. Guess who gets out of it's egg hungry. I say it's because I don't know if Rodan is a boy or a girl, and I don't want to get close enough to find out. The military shows up and shoots Rodan with bullets. That's no good. Bombs block it in a cave but not only does Rodan excaspe through an underground tunnel, he has a pal. That Toho, not satisfied to just put wings on a monster, they made two. The flying monsters do some damage and head for Tokyo. That's not so good. The city has it's ass kicked. The monsters leave and hold up in their cave. The military bomb the entrance and that accidently unleases a volcano which destroys the creatures.
Furankenshutain no kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira or The War of the Gargantuas is not your best movie. It's got ugly monsters. These guys got nothing much going for them. The differ over diet and that destroys them. The one monster wants to eat people and the other does not. They clash. For a movie with ugly giant fighting monsters it sure moves slowly and is kind of dull. Most everyone watching was falling asleep. It's got all the usual elements but they just aren't as interesting for some reason. It's still nice to have both editions in one package and I'll be sure to pick one up, but mostly for Rodan.
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