Kaiju Friday: Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (1966)

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep AKA Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (1966)


Plot Summary

A fisherman named Yata winds up missing after the boat he is working on sinks. His younger brother Ryota decides to search for him, but when the authorities refuse to help him he tries to enter a dance contest to win a boat to go search for Yata. When Ryota arrives at the contest he finds out he is too late by a few days, but meets up with two contestants who had already been eliminated named Nita and Ichino. The three youths then head for the marina to look at different boats. After they board one, they meet a rifle toting man named Yoshimura, whom they assume is the owner. However, he is a bank robber who is using the boat to hide out. After a few minutes, Yoshimura decides to let the youths stay the night. The next morning they wake up to find out that Ryota has set sail with them on it to search for his brother. A few days into their trip they are caught in a storm and as the boys try to keep the boat from sinking they see a giant claw emerge from the water. The next morning they wake up on Lechti Island, which serves as the base for a group of international terrorists called Red Bamboo, who have a heavy water factory on the island. They also observe as a boat belonging to the group arrive with slaves from Infant Island, the home of Mothra. Some of the natives try to make a break for it, but they are caught and eaten by the same monster that wrecked the boys boat, a giant lobster named Ebirah. During the commotion, a slave girl named Daiyo manages to sneak away and runs into the boys. They then find a cave where they hide out. But also in the cave is Godzilla, who is hibernating. They then try to head for the base to see if they can save the slaves, but their plans are thwarted and Ichino becomes a prisoner while Ryota gets caught in an observation balloon and drifts towards Infant Island where he is reunited with Yata. In the meantime, Nita gets an idea to awaken Godzilla with lightning to not only distract the soldiers but to fight Ebirah

Bit of a over detailed summary eh? Although it's the only one that really captures the essence of the storyline so oh well what ya gonna do? Least it leaves me to delve into what I liked and didn't like about this movie.

First of all, this isn't the strongest Godzilla movie in terms of structure and Godzilla rampaging around as the movie was originally meant to be a Japanese King Kong flick but I think that's one of the aspects that I like the most about the movie. The premise is pretty strong though the execution of said premise is a bit goofy. Ryota comes across as a bit bonkers in trying to get himself a boat so he can find his older brother and the whole meeting up with Nita and Ichino is a bit forced as they basically take him out to the marina to see boats owned by other people for shits and giggles. Nonetheless once you get passed that silliness the movie is actually quite good with the main characters having strong characteristics. Ryota is slavish in his determination to find his brother, Ichino is a reasonably smart guy while his friend Nita is the comic foil. The thief Yoshimura is street smart and savvy. I especially liked the scene where they're inside the heavy water facility and he's using his skeleton key while Nita is commenting on how easy it seems to pick locks etc etc. Although the scene directly preceding that is straight out of scooby doo as the guys and Daiyo are behind a bush and moving it towards the facility to evade notice by the security.

Another thing that I like a lot about the movie is how it ties a lot of different plot points into a pretty neat bow. You have Ryota looking for his brother, the Red Bamboo terrorist group and their slaving of natives from Infant Island and their development of nukes and of course Ebirah guarding the island with Godzilla more or less helping to save everyone at the end by getting rid of Ebirah and laying waste to the heavy water facility.

Even through the subtitles I could tell this was one of the more better acted Godzilla movies as well as Akira Takarada (in his last Godzilla film until 1992's Godzilla Vs. Mosura) showed his chameleon like ability to be a completely different character than he was in his previous Godzilla films. He was very credible and had a tough, yet not overly macho persona to him. The Komedy! aspect actually isn't too annoying and actually has a payoff. Earlier in the film Yoshimura tells everyone (Nita especially) that they have to use their brains rather than going half cocked into some dangerous situation. The payoff to this comes when Nita is thrown in with the other Infant Island slaves by the Red Bamboo and he persuades them to use trickery rather than making the yellow liquid they make a fake version of it by pulping the leaves rather than the fruit which leads to the Red Bamboo people getting their comeuppance by Ebirah towards the end of the movie.

There's only one thing I really don't like about this movie and that's Ryota's brother Yata. If I thought Ryota acted irrationally at the beginning of the film than it's nothing compared to his brother who acted like a crazy man first by trying to save the Infant Island slaves without a plan and then later on when Godzilla is in a pique of rage he meets up with the slaves when they've freed themselves. He came across as a guy who had rocks for brains and only did things at the spur of the moment. Nita even comments on how crazy Yata is!

As for Godzilla? The fighting was actually quite well done. I really enjoyed the skirmishes with Ebirah and there were a couple of underwater shots as well. Seeing Godzilla eating Ebirah's claw while looking a bit fake was a good idea and then him ripping them off was an inspired choice. There's also another scene where Godzilla has to save Daiyo from a condor like bird who starts attacking him and that came across rather well too.

Sadly, things are about to get a bit weird in the Godzilla movies as the next flick is Son of Godzilla. Yikes!

I give this **. It's an interesting melding of low key sci-fi, "trapped on a desert island" and monster movie wrapped into one. I rather enjoyed it.