Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto (1966)

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writer:

Shinichi Sekizawa (writer)

Release Date:

1969 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Giant Lobster | Sea Monster | Giant Crab | Giant Monster | Godzilla

Cast

Akira Takarada	...	Yoshimura
Kumi Mizuno	...	Daiyo
Chotaro Togin	...	Ichino
Hideo Sunazuka	...	Nita
Toru Watanabe	...	Ryota Kane
Toru Ibuki	...	Yata Kane
Akihiko Hirata	...	Captain Yamoto
Jun Tazaki	...	Red Bamboo Commander
Ikio Sawamura	...	Elderly Slave
Pair Bambi	...	Mothra's Little Beauties
Eisei Amamoto	...	Red Bamboo Naval Officer
Hisaya Ito	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #1
Tadashi Okabe	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #2
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Escaped Slave
Shoichi Hirose	...	Escaped Slave

Also Known As:

Big Duel in the North (International: English title)
Big Duel in the North Sea (International: English title)
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (UK)
Ebirah, Terror of the Deep
Godzilla Versus the Sea Monster (USA)
Operation Robinson Crusoe (International: English title) (working title)
The Great South Seas Duel

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence.

Runtime:

87 min | USA:83 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:PG

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Noriko Takahashi originally started the role of Dayo, but bowed out at the last minute due to appendicitis.

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

Quotes:

Daiyo: Mothra... Awaken, hear us.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gojira: Fainaru uôzu (2004)

Soundtrack:

Samashite Mosura

A notch down from the previous films,but still fun

Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster,to use the most common title,is a disappointment after the great Godzilla films of the early 60s,when the series was arguably at it's artistic peak and also at it's most commercially successful. Declining audiences led to Toho cutting the budgets for their films,therefore this one {and the next instalment,Son Of Godzilla}takes place almost entirely on a Pacific island,thus eliminating the need for big destruction scenes. Oddly enough,the story was originally written for King Kong,with Godzilla rather clumsily replacing him. In one scene,he even shows interest in a human female,something you may expect from Kong but not Godzilla.

Still,the film is still fun,with James Bond and castaway-story elements. Director Jun Fukuda gives the film a different feel to the previous films,aided by Masaro Sato's music {one highlight has Godzilla battle planes to an accompament that sounds like the original Batman theme}and goes for a more juvenile approach than Inoshiro Honda,but he keeps the action constant and the picture moving although the constant chasing around the island becomes a bit repetitive. Godzilla is,interestingly,neither good nor bad,he just exists. His battles with the giant crab are typically fun,with such amusing nonsense as the monsters playing ball! Effects are reasonable.

All in all good fun,and the American version was uncut for once,but a fairly forgettable entry in the lengthy Godzilla series.