Memories of Movies, 1956-1960

John R. Rogers

Mystery Science Theater 1957

by Ed Mauget

One Saturday Bob Parry and I saw Rodan (pronounced: Row `Dan) at Spokane's Orpheum Theater in 1957 of our sophomore year. The film was produced and directed by Ishiro Honda, the creator of the Godzilla releases that began before the Rodan movie and continued releases through 2002. He only produced about two Rodan movies, but the formula was the same.

Unlike the giant upright lizard Godzilla, Rodan was a giant pterodactyl. Both creatures were the product of Japanese radioactivity. Remember, Japan had been nuked. The scary film opening involves the discovery of Rodan's egg in a cave by soon-to-die miners.

The adult Rodan's wings created destructive winds as it flew, wreaking havoc on Japanese cities. There were actually two Rodan's: a male and female. They got together after destroying several Japanese cities. This raised the possibility of new Rodan hatchings subsequent to this film.

For Bob and I the core entertainment value was in poking fun at the film as it played out. We enjoyed the actor's mouths moving out of sync with the dubbed English translation. My favorite part involved the seemingly terrified masses of people swarming through the cities in advance of Rodan's passage. Why? Because a closer inspection showed the extras in this cast of thousands to be laughing and smiling as they ran. I remember hearing Bob's guffaw echoing through the Orpheum over the sound of the screaming masses. I think we pioneered the idea for Mystery Science theater, where the audience supplies their own real-time wise-cracking interpretations for cheesy science fiction scenes.

The next Monday was business as usual at Rogers.

- Ed Mauget