Godzilla Versus the Sea Monster (1966)
"Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto" (original title)

A young man steals a boat to find his brother, but he and his shipmates become shipwrecked on a mysterious island inhabited by a giant sea monster and a slumbering Godzilla.

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writer:

Shin'ichi Sekizawa

Stars:

Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chôtarô Tôgin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Takarada	...	Yoshimura
Kumi Mizuno	...	Daiyo
Chôtarô Tôgin	...	Ichino
Hideo Sunazuka	...	Nita
Tôru Watanabe	...	Ryôta Kane
Tôru Ibuki	...	Yata Kane
Akihiko Hirata	...	Captain Yamoto
Jun Tazaki	...	Red Bamboo Commander
Ikio Sawamura	...	Elderly Slave
Pair Bambi	...	Mothra's Little Beauties
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Red Bamboo Naval Officer
Hisaya Itô	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #1
Tadashi Okabe	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #2
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Escaped Slave
Shôichi Hirose	...	Escaped Slave

Storyline

Some teenagers want to obtain a boat to find a brother. When they look around a boat without permission, they find a thief who takes them on his escape. They are caught in a storm and arrive at Letchi Island where natives of Infant Island have been enslaved by the terrorist organisation Red Bamboo. Red Bamboo runs a heavy water factory to process a juice which holds off the monster, Ebirah, which otherwise traps them on the island. The young men meet beautiful but tough Daiyo and wake up Godzilla to put an end to the Red Bamboo.

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Plot Keywords:

island | boat | godzilla | monster | giant crab | 

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Taglines:

This is one lobster you don't want to order!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla, Mothra, and Ebira, Horror of the Deep

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After destroying the Giant Condor (Dai-Kondoru), Godzilla rubs his nose. This is an homage to Yûzô Kayama's popular "Yuichi Tanuma" character (from Toho's popular Wakadaishô/Young Guy movies, starting with Sir Galahad in Campus), who did the same thing.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the American version, there is a scene supposedly showing Yata's boat being destroyed. Yoshimura is on the boat which is called "Yahlen" and is the boat Ryota steals later in the film.

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Quotes

Yoshimura: [he has just opened a giant safe-like door] I did it, it's unlocked! Hurry! Let's go inside!
Ichino: [everyone scrambles to go inside until they hear Ichino] Ow! Don't come in! It's a nuclear reactor!
Yoshimura: So that's it, it's a heavy water factory.
Nita: Huh? What can they do with that?
Yoshimura: Atom bombs are made with it.
Nita: Huh? I'm getting out of here!

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Crazy Credits

For the Columbia/Tri-Star U.S. DVD release, which uses the original uncut Japanese version, the English language credits list the noted composer Masaru Sato as "Mararu Sato."

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Connections

Featured in Godzilla and Other Movie Monsters (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Samashite Mosura"
(Mothra Awake)
Written and Arranged by Masaru Satô
Performed by Pair Bambi

User Reviews

a delight!

This is one of my favorite Toho monster movies. The action makes sense, the rubber monsters are terrific and the Kenny factor is zero. It also has the Twins of Infant Island singing a duet and, at the very beginning, a boss dance marathon. I often regret the fact that we have never gotten to see Ebirah (the MAMMOTH LOBSTER! as one character calls him) from that day to this -- Toho could profitably have spent years developing a vision of the world's oceans filled with crawdads the size of aircraft carriers, but for some reason they never went ahead with it. The showdown (or is it a handball tournament?) between Godzilla and Ebirah is one of the finest action-comedy scenes ever. This movie also features a spectacular safecracking scene in which the bank robber jimmies a lock on what looks like the door to a bank vault, the plucky castaways nip inside -- and then nip outside even faster, saying, "It's a nuclear reactor!!!" I would recommend this film to anyone.