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Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
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Godzilla versus the Sea Monster (the only film in the series in which "versus" is spelled out), released in Japan as , is a 1966 tokusatsu film directed by Jun Fukuda and written by Shinichi Sekizawa. It was the seventh film to be released in the Godzilla franchise. The film is also known by its English title, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. The special effects were directed by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The film features the monsters: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra, and the Giant Condor.
r Yata is lost at sea, his brother Ryota steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber.
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Encyclopedia
Godzilla versus the Sea Monster (the only film in the series in which "versus" is spelled out), released in Japan as , is a 1966 tokusatsu film directed by Jun Fukuda and written by Shinichi Sekizawa. It was the seventh film to be released in the Godzilla franchise. The film is also known by its English title, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. The special effects were directed by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The film features the monsters: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra, and the Giant Condor.
Plot
After Yata is lost at sea, his brother Ryota steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber. The crew runs afoul of the giant lobster Ebirah, and washes up on the shore of an island, where a terrorist organization manufactures heavy water for their purposes, as well as a chemical that keeps Ebirah at bay. The organization, known as the Red Bamboo, has enslaved natives from Infant Island to help them, but the natives hope to awaken Mothra to rescue them. In their efforts to avoid capture, Ryota and his friends, aided by a beautiful native girl, stumble across Godzilla sleeping, who is resting from his battles with King Ghidorah from the previous two years, within a cliffside cavern. The group devises a plan to defeat the Red Bamboo and escape from the island. In the process, they wake Godzilla using a lightning rod, retrieve the missing Yata, free the enslaved natives and destroy the base, but in the process the island becomes unstable. As Godzilla fights Ebirah, the natives summon Mothra to save everyone, and everyone is saved.
Cast
Production
- The film was originally written for Toho's version of King Kong, but when Toho lost the rights to the character they switched Kong with another popular character at the time, Godzilla. This would explain Godzilla's crush on Kumi Mizuno's character among other things.
- The US television version and early video versions have a different opening to the film. The opening scenes of Ryota at the Maritime Safety Agency searching for news of his brother have been replaced with a scene supposedly showing Ebirah destroying Yata's boat. This sequence was created by editing a later scene in the movie. The current DVD version of the film restores the Japanese cut.
English version
In 1967, the film was released directly to television in North America by the Walter Reade Organization. It was the first Godzilla film to not receive North American theatrical distribution.
There were several small alterations made:
- Dialogue was dubbed to English.
- Deleted: The opening credits sequence. This version features only the title card, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.
- Deleted: A scene where Ryoto goes to the Maritime Safety office and sees a poster on the wall for a dance contest.
- Deleted: Rock music that played in the Japanese version during Godzilla and Ebirah's battle.
The English version runs 83 minutes, four minutes shorter than the Japanese version.
Box office
In Japan, the film was released on December 17th and sold approximately 3,450,000 tickets. It was re-released on July 22nd, 1972 and sold approximately 760,000 tickets.
DVD release
Sony Pictures
- Released: February 8, 2005
- Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
- Sound: Japanese (2.0), English (2.0)
- Note: Contain's Toho's International Version
- MPAA Rating: PG for sci-fi monster violence
External links
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