Title: Ebirah Horror of the Deep aka Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster
Director: Jun Fukuda
Released: 1966
Starring: Akira Takarada, Toru Wantanabe, Toru Ibuki, Choutarou Tougin, Hideo Sunazuka, Kumi Mizuno, Pair Bambi, Jun Tazaki, Akihiko Hirata, Haruo Nakajima, Yu Sekida
Plot: Ryota (Wantanabe) and his friends steal a boat
belonging to bank robber, to try and find Ryota’s brother Yata (Ibuki) who is
presumed to be lost at sea. However when their boat is destroyed by the giant
lobster Ebirah/ Washing up on the shores of a mysterious island which is also
the base of operations for terrorist organisation “The Red Bamboo” who have
enslaved the natives from Infant Island to help them manufacture nuclear
weapons.
Review: Arriving at a cross roads
for the series, with Godzilla still yet to become the defender of Japan but no
longer the monstrous threat he was in his early films but rather a monster defending
his territory, this film would only be a step further (if a confused one)
closer to the popular vision of Godzilla as an anthropomorphic superhero that
most people have. However despite starting on this path in “Ghidorah, The
Three-Headed Monster” this film would still find Godzilla’s intentions still in something
of a confused state no doubt due to the fact that the film had originally been
intended as a vehicle for King Kong under the proposed title “Operation
Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs Ebirah” in what would be his second appearance outside
of the US, having four years previous been given the Kaiju treatment by Toho
when he was pitted against Godzilla in there series misstep “King Kong Vs.
Godzilla”. It would however be during production that last minute changes would see the film would be changed
to a Godzilla film leaving Kong to return to battle Mechi-Kong in “King Kong
Escapes”.
While this film might not be a favourite of many Godzilla fans,
thanks largely to the horrible dub track which for certain characters seems to
have been done for comedic effect (atleast that’s what I hope it was) but
despite this I have always held a fondness for this film, perhaps because it
was the first Godzilla film I ever saw and while at the time I might not have
been aware it was part of a larger series of films, I loved watching this giant
dinosaur destroying buildings and battling with an over grown shrimp and it was
from here that my life long obsession with not only Godzilla but Kaiju cinema on a whole would begin.
A light hearted adventure movie at its core and it is really a sense of fun
that director Fukuda brings to the series after series mainstay Ishiro Honda
decided to take another break from directing the series leaving Fukuda to pick
up the directing reins with this film being the first of the five films he
would direct for the series. Godzilla’s presence here though is more as a
supporting character than a main lead as he would become in the films which
followed, the same can also be said for Mothra who spends most of the movie
being worshiped by the natives of Infant island who are trying to wake her up
from the coma she seems to in until she suddenly decides to wake up in time to
help Ryota and his friends escape the island with the natives enslaved by the
Red Bamboo. This is however not to say that Godzilla isn’t given anything to
do, as he does get to have a couple of memorable brawls with Ebirah who would
following this film be phased out of the Toho monster catalogue until making a surprise
appearance in “Godzilla: Final Wars”. Godzilla also gets to fight a random
giant condor, but I think this creature was another carry over from the
original Kong plotting, much like Godzilla’s strange interest in native girl
Dayo (Mizuno) and throwing boulders as memorably seen during the random game of
boulder tennis Godzilla engages in with Ebirah.
Equally noteworthy about this film is the level on violence
here, which while perhaps featuring none of the blood spurts of “Godzilla Vs.
Gigan” or the shocking jaw snapping scene in “Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, this
film does feature humans being eaten by Ebirah (to date the only monster to do
this) aswell as Godzilla brutally tearing the claws off Ebirah and using them
to taunt her further at the end of their battle. Unlike "Gamera" Godzilla has never been a series interested in gore and bloody brawls, outside of a few sporadic moments throughout the series and while this film features some of these moments of violence it is never to the point were it distracts from the film or stops being a Godzilla movie.
As far as Toho monsters go Ebirah is possibly one of the
more outlandish, after all she is less of your typical monster design and
really just a giant shrimp after all, as further confirmed by the fact that her
name is derived fro the Japanese word ebi, meaning “shrimp” (thank you IMDB for
that one). Despite this she is still one of the better opponents with her
aquatic nature also giving us one of the rarer underwater fight scenes, while
proving herself equally tasty as a brawler.
The main plotline following Ryota and his friends trying to
stop the dastardly Red Bamboo is one of the more entertaining ones and their appearance
here makes a change from the usual alien plotlines. It only makes it more of
shame that this would be their only appearance in the series. Still despite
giving the impression of a well organised fighting force they are still surprisingly
easy to fool as seen by the outlandish tactics the group use to elude them, let
alone the fact that they essentially toppled by a plan formulated by the group’s
resident comic relief.
True this film might have some minor plot holes, such as why
Godzilla is unconscious on the island or why Mothra spends most of the film having a nap, but for newcomers this film provides the perfect starting point like so many of the films from this point in the Showa era, with its fun plotting and zero knowledge of the other films being required to enjoy it, this one is just wholesome Kaiju fun!
Next time: "Godzilla Vs. Gigan" - With the Showa era hitting its stride with an established format of pitting Godzilla against a roster of giant monsters Director Fukuda with his third film for the series while providing possibly the best tag team match to date as Godzilla and Anguirus team up to battle King Ghidorah and Gigan.
Next time: "Godzilla Vs. Gigan" - With the Showa era hitting its stride with an established format of pitting Godzilla against a roster of giant monsters Director Fukuda with his third film for the series while providing possibly the best tag team match to date as Godzilla and Anguirus team up to battle King Ghidorah and Gigan.
I also have a soft spot for this movie, no matter how silly it is, and feel Ebirah should have been given more outings than this.
ReplyDeleteGreat review :)
Ash
I guess like Mandra, no one really considered her that much of a threat, combined with the her being an aquatic villain (though this would seem not to be the cast judging on "Final Wars") makes her a harder one to write.
DeleteStill as a one shot villain she is far more memorable than King Kong was.