BLOOD WORK: THE SAGA OF THE KING OF THE MONSTERS ~ PART 7: GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER (1966)

From 1954 to 1965 only one man had directorial control over the Godzilla franchise: Ishiro Honda. After devoting much of his life over the previous two years to the tokusatsu genre, giving audiences such incredible films as Mothra Vs Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster, and Invasion Of Astro-Monster as well as Dogora and Frankenstein Conquers The World (five monster movies in two years!) Ishiro Honda stepped away from Godzilla. In 1966 the Godzilla reins were handed off to a man named Jun Fukuda: the second most prolific director of the Showa Era Godzilla series.

The Godzilla series had just finished a trilogy in which the king of the monsters battled Mothra, then teamed-up with Mothra and Rodan to save the Earth, and finally saved the galaxy from the Xilian threat. The stakes and scale of the Godzilla series climbed higher and higher. Rather than attempt to top Honda's Astro-Monster, Jun Fukuda ended up taking Godzilla down a different direction and arguably onto a fresh path for audiences to enjoy.

GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER a.k.a. EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP was nearly a complete shift from any Godzilla film prior, in story, tone, setting and more.

THE PLOT

Ryota's brother, Yata, was lost at sea and presumed dead. Despite everything Ryota dedicated himself to finding his brother going so far as to steal a boat in the harbor and setting sail. Accompanied by two friends and master thief, Ryota sails into the very waters where his brother was believed to have died. A tropical storm erupts around them. In the middle of the storm Ryota and the others see a massive claw rise out of the ocean. The boat capsizes and all four of them are thrown into the sea.

When they awake they find themselves washed ashore on an island ruled by a terrorist organization arming for war. The waters around the island are guarded by a colossal lobster kaiju named Ebirah. And slumbering deep within a cave beneath the island's mountain peak, unbeknownst to the terrorists, is Godzilla. On the run from the terrorists and facing certain death, Ryota and the others take it upon themselves to wake Godzilla in hopes that the monster may inadvertently destroy the terrorists and defeat Ebirah.

THE GOOD

Genre Melding. When director Jun Fukuda first stepped into the Godzilla series, the franchise had already reached a crescendo in storytelling. Fukuda was left with the question of where does one go after saving the universe from a dire alien threat? Instead of trying to top anything Ishiro Honda had done with the series Fukuda takes a completely new approach. And wisely so. Fukuda blends multiple genres here, many of which hadn't been seen in a Godzilla movie prior. The film starts with a shipwreck and then shifts to a teen beach party-like film complete with music that could've been composed by The Ventures. Then our heroes are stranded on a tropical island figuring out how to survive on the run villainous characters vaguely reminiscent of a Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson adventure film.

The terrorists, known as the Red Bamboo, take on a whole new level of evil once it is revealed they are stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. This film was made in 1966 when the world was still locked in the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis was only four years prior. Writer Shinichi Sekizawa immediately legitimizes the Red Bamboo threat by drawing parallels with real world events. By doing this Sekizawa creates a world ending threat without repeating any beats from past Godzilla films, keeping the story fresh and unique all the while maintaining the Godzilla-worthy scope. It's already an exciting movie without Godzilla. Bring Godzilla into the mix and the movie goes above and beyond.

Ebirah. Of all the water based kaiju out there none have been as scary or as convincingly realized as Ebirah in this 1966 film. Hiroshi Sekita, the suit actor playing Ebirah, must've had one of the most difficult kaiju to portray. Not only was the suit elaborate but he had to perform all his scenes soaking wet, adding even more weight to an already heavy costume, and performing sometimes fully submerged in a tank of water. Then there is the amazing suit design and construction that puts the 2004 Ebirah suit to shame. Eiji Tsuburaya, Teruyoshi Nakano, and Sadamasa Arikawa put forth one of the best looking kaiju in the Showa Era.

THE BAD

While containing one of the best looking kaiju in the Showa Era, the film also contains one of the worst looking kaiju in the Showa Era: The Giant Condor. This minor kaiju was realized completely through puppetry as was the only choice available to them given the size of the creature compared to Godzilla. Some shots are convincing while others come across static. Mothra's brief appearance as well suffered from a stiff puppetry performance at times. Sadamasa Arikawa would go on to perfect his puppetry in the following film, Son of Godzilla, producing some truly amazing effects. In addition to the spotty realization, the giant condor is also superfluous to the plot. Overall it is a minor complaint in an otherwise well done kaiju film. Toho also cut Arikawa's budget for the film too. Had he a larger budget these effects would no doubt look far superior.

THE VERDICT

Jun Fukuda took over directorial duties in this film taking the Godzilla franchise in a new direction. Shinichi Sekizawa keeps the story fresh and exciting by introducing real world parallels and a different style of story while maintaining the signature Godzilla-size scale. Godzilla's involvement too is circumstantial rather than the kaiju acting on behalf of Earth. It's as if the main characters deliberately steer the plot towards an oncoming storm, that storm in this case being Godzilla. It's a wonderful atypical plot device employed by Sekizawa. Add in a wonderfully designed and realized kaiju in Ebirah and the next phase of the Godzilla franchise is off to a good start.

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10

Category: Transcendence

(a film enjoyed by both the adolescent and adult Godzilla fan)

Ode To What Might Have Been

King Kong was originally supposed to be the hero kaiju of the film. The 1933 King Kong has been said to be Eiji Tsuburaya's favorite movie and Toho had been involved with Rankin/Bass Productions to make a new King Kong film. This movie was one of Toho's pitches that Rankin/Bass passed on, later agreeing on what would become the movie KING KONG ESCAPES. Obviously Toho still went ahead with the original pitch, swapping Kong for their own kaiju instead.

When viewing the film from this perspective, much of the movie feels more befitting a Kong epic rather than a Godzilla film. The island setting for starters, an element more common in Kong films than Godzilla. Finding Godzilla asleep in a cave within a mountain, awaking him with a bolt of lightning (similar to what happened in King Kong Vs Godzilla), and Godzilla's attraction to Kumi Mizuno's character all ring of Kong and make less sense with Godzilla. The battle against the giant condor feels like an homage to the Kong/Pterodactyl battle from the original 1933 King Kong film. Even Haruo Nakajima's overly animated performance during the airplane attack would fit Kong's character.

Watch Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster looking for all the little details that would better suit King Kong. It makes for an interesting viewing as well as fun. I wonder, if Kong had been in the film, would he have encountered Mothra at the end too or would a different monster have been substituted instead?

Art by Four Green.

VHS/DVD/BLU RAY

There have a been a number of VHS releases in the past, all containing the original English dub. These however have been re-edited and don't represent the original Japanese version. There have been two DVD releases so far, both containing the original Japanese version and a mere trailer for special features. The Blu Ray is virtually identical to the DVDs with a higher quality picture and sound. The English dub present on the DVDs and the Blu Ray however is a Toho produced international dub and is far inferior to the English dub present on the VHS. The re-edited version on the VHS, the version many of us grew up watching, is not present on any DVD or Blu Ray.

If you're like me and grew up with the VHS version, hang onto your VHS. The DVDs and Blu Ray contain a widescreen presentation, original Japanese version, and higher quality picture and sound. But the English dub is absolutely terrible, almost as if it were done by Mystery Science Theater 3000. A superior DVD/Blu Ray the likes of Classic Media's Toho Master Collection or Media Blasters Tokyo Shock editions has yet to surface. Again, if you're like me and want an edition containing both the original Japanese version and the original US version you grew up with along with some decent special features... keep waiting and hold onto to your old VHS.