Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)

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Overview

Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (also known as Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and released in Japan as Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas), is the seventh Godzilla film.

Plot Summary

Ichino, Ryota, and Eita

Ryota's brother, Yata, has been lost at sea, and the ship he was on found wrecked. Acting on the advice of a psychic so says that Yata is still alive, Ryota tries to get help to continue the search for his brother, but he is turned away by both the authorities and the press. He sees a poster for a endurance dance contest, with the grand prize being a yacht, but arrives too late to join. There, he meets Ichino and Nita. Amused by Ryota, who is a bit of a country bumpkin, they take him to a marina to show him boats. They board a good looking yacht to show Ryota, only to find that the owner of the boat, Yoshimura, is on board, and armed. After quickly explaining that they had no intention of stealing anything, Yoshimura says they can spend the night on-board, so long as they leave quietly in the morning.

Yoshimaru

However, when morning comes, the boat is out to sea: during the night, Ryota launched the boat, as well as "accidentally" breaking Yoshimura's rifle, which turned out to be a toy. With no idea where they are, and with Ryota being the only one who knows how to pilot the vessel, the men sail on. Listening to a radio, Ichino, Nita, and Yoshimura here a news report of a fully stocked yacht being stolen by a thief whom had stolen 4 million yen in cash earlier that day. As the yacht they are on matches the description of the stolen one, and because Yoshimura gets up to turn off the radio, it quickly becomes apparent that Yoshimura is the thief.

The Giant Claw

Ryota explains to the rest of the group that he has taken the ship to search for his brother. As time passes and supplies run low, Ryota still refuses to turn the ship around. As the rest of the group plans ways to turn the boat around, they are caught in a storm. In the storm, the ship is damaged, the helm destroyed. As they lose control of the ship, a giant claw appears from the water, and smashes the yacht.

Ebirah

All four men survive the wreck, and wash up on a tropical island. To get a good view of the island, they climb the mountain on it. As they climb, Nita finds a machete, indicating that the island is inhabited. As they continue their exploration of the island, they see a ship, spraying a yellow liquid, coming to dock in a bay. As run to see where the ship is docking, they find a modern facility on the island. Yoshimaru senses there is something around about the set up, and he is quickly proven right: the ship unloads a group of natives to the island. Some of the natives try to escape. Some are cut down by machine gun fire, but two escape to a canoe, and make for open ocean. However, the canoe is attacked by the same giant monster that sank the yacht. The monster is called Ebirah by the natives. Ebirah destroys the canoe, and devours the two men who were on-board it.

In the chaos of the escape attempt, a female prisoner, Daiyo manages to escape into the jungle. She runs into Yoshimaru and company, who convince her they are not with the other men on the island. The men from the ship realize that Daiyo has escape, and follow her using a search balloon, and chase her and the rest of the group. Cornered on a rock outcropping, the group jumps to a lower ledge, making it look like to their pursuers that they jumped into the ocean. As another storm rolls in, they seek shelter in a cave. Once they are safe, Daiyo reveals that she is from Infant Island, the home of Mothra. Ryota asks about his brother, and Daiyo confirms that Yata came to Infant Island after his ship wrecked. She explains that many natives of Infant Island have been taken away by a group calling itself the Red Bamboo. Between the Red Bamboo and Ebirah, escape is impossible until Mothra, who is in a deep sleep, awakens to save her people.

Sleeping Godzilla

Yoshimaru decides that the best hope for staying alive on the island is to find out what the Red Bamboo is up to. As the group prepares to leave the cave, they make a startling discovery: Godzilla is unconscious in the cave. That night, the group approaches the Red Bamboo base. Yoshimaru uses his thievery skills to pick the lock on the gate, and they gain access to the base. There, they discover the purpose of the facility: it's a heavy water factory. Shortly after they make this discovery, they are caught by the the head of security for the Red Bamboo, Captain Yamoto. However, using smoke bombs they had found before, the group makes a break for it. Ichino, Yoshimura, and Daiyo escape, Ryota gets tangled in one of the Red Bamboo's search balloons and floats away, and Nita is captured. Yoshimaru's group returns to the cave where Godzilla is, with the Red Bamboo searching for them. Nita is thrown into captivity with the natives of Infant Island. There, he learns that the natives are being used to produce the yellow liquid the Red Bamboo ship was spraying, and that it is used to keep Ebirah away from their ships.

Meanwhile, Ryota drifts onto Infant Island, where the natives are trying to awaken Mothra. There, he reunites with Yata. Back on Devil's Island, the Red Bamboo intensify their search for Yoshimura's group. Ichino comes up with a desperate plan: use a lightning strike to awaken Godzilla. Using the machete as a lightning rod, and wire they stole from the Red Bamboo base, they set it up so that the electricity from lightning will strike Godzilla. As they set up the lightning rod, Nita comes up with a plan: he tells the Infant Island natives to throw away the fruit used to make the yellow liquid, and that they will make a fake batch. On Infant Island, Ryota and Yata take a canoe to return to Devil's Island to save the natives. The Shobijin, the twin fairies of Mothra, give the men some of the yellow liquid so they can get past Ebirah, and tell them to give the natives of Infant Island a message: build a giant net and wait.

Three days pass. Yoshimaru, Ichino, and Daiyo are still hiding from the Red Bamboo, and Ryota and Yata arrive at Devil's Island. That night, a storm strikes. It makes it difficult for Ryota and Yata, who lose the barrels of yellow liquid in the storm, and they are attacked by Ebirah. At the same time, lightning strikes the makeshift lightning rod, and Godzilla awakens. He breaks out of the mountain, and attacks Ebirah before the other monster can kill Ryota and Yata, and the two men make it to shore. After throwing rocks at Ebirah, Godzilla wades into the ocean and they two monsters fight. After a short battle, Ebirah retreats, and Godzilla returns to the island.

Random Giant Condor

During the battle Yoshimaru set up several traps to keep the Red Bamboo at bay. However, instead of catching the Red Bamboo, they catch Ryota and Yata. Shortly after, they are discovered and chased by the Red Bamboo again. The group is forced to scatter. Daiyo is chased by Captain Yamot. However, she accidentally leads them to Godzilla. The Red Bamboo flees, but Godzilla takes an interest in Daiyo, and stays close to her, trapping her. Eventually, sits down and falls asleep, allowing Daiyo to escape. As she flees, however, a giant condor appears, and swoops down on Godzilla. Daiyo screams to warn Godzilla, and he wakes up in time to fight the giant bird. After a brief struggle, Godzilla uses his atomic breath to defeat the giant bird. Before the smoke can clear from that battle, fighter jets, dispatched by the Red Bamboo, arrive and attack Godzilla. In the chaos of the battle, Daiyo escapes, and reunites with the rest of her group. They flee as Godzilla finishes off the Red Bamboo air force.

Godzilla then turns his attention to the Red Bamboo base. The heavy weapon emplacements of the Red Bamboo aren't even to drive Godzilla away, and he proceeds to destroy the base. As Godzilla attacks, Yata runs down into the base, with Yoshimaru chasing him. The Red Bamboo, knowing they are done for on the island, set the place to explode with a nuclear bomb, take the last batch of yellow liquid made, and lock the Infant Island natives in as they escape. Yoshimaru and Yata arrive shortly after, and free the natives. As they escape, they learn of the nuclear bomb, and one of the Red Bamboo, caught under debris and dying, tells them they have two hours before the bomb destroys the island. The natives, Yata, and Yoshimaru escape, and they being to build a net, as ordered by the Shobijin.

The surviving Red Bamboo forces make it to their boat, fleeing while Godzilla is still preoccupied with destroying the base. However, they are using the fake batch of yellow liquid. Without the liquid to keep Ebirah at bay, the giant monster appears, and destroys their ship. Godzilla sees Ebirah, and the two monsters fight again. As the two kaiju struggle, the Infant Island natives finish building the net. On Infant Island, Mothra finally awakens, and takes flight to Devil's Island.

Godzilla vs Ebirah

The battle between Godzilla and Ebirah comes to an end when Godzilla tears the arms off of Ebirah, forcing the sea monster to retreat. Shortly after, Mothra arrives, which attracts Godzilla's attention. The Shobijin, which accompanied Mothra, tells everyone to get into the net. As they do so, Godzilla attacks Mothra, and the two monsters do battle. Mothra manages to knock Godzilla down, which gives her time to return to the net, and uses it to carry the natives of Infant Island, as well as Yoshimaru's group, to safety. Godzilla, after watching Mothra retreat, jumps into the ocean seconds before the bomb goes off, destroying the island, and he is seen by the group swimming safely away.

Production

The End

Godzilla vs the Sea Monster was originally slated to start King Kong instead of Godzilla (reportedly under the name of Operation Robinson Crusoe). This helps to explain why lightning was used to awaken Godzilla (as Toho King Kong is empowered by electricity), as well as the scene where Godzilla is interested in Daiyo.

Reception

During the first one of the movie in Japan in December of 1966, 3,450,000 tickets were sold. The movie was re-leased in 1972, and sold 760,000 tickets.