Rodan (1956)

Starring Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata, Akio Kobori, Yasuko Nakata

Directed by Ishiro Honda
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A mining accident breaks opens a sealed cavern containing prehistoric creatures, including two giant flying reptiles that cause disasters and terrorize nearby cities.

Honda's followup to his successful Gojira is another fine Japanese monster picture, with an intriguing story and good production values.  Although the special effects are primitive by today's standards, they're well-done for the era, and distinctive and memorable, especially a sequence in which one of the Rodans hatches from a massive egg.  Honda efficiently builds suspense by keeping his monsters off screen for as long as possible, and the screenwriters wisely keep the subplots of the human characters secondary to keep the film moving at a lively pace.