Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, released in Japan as Godzilla Ebirah Mothra: Nankai no Daikettō (ゴジラ・エビラ・モスラ　南海の大決闘, lit. "Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Sea"), is a 1966 Toho tokusatsu film and the seventh Godzilla film, directed by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and Sadamasa Arikawa. The movie is also known by its International English title, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. It was the first Godzilla film since Godzilla Raids Again not directed by Ishiro Honda and shows a turn toward a more action-adventure approach to the Godzilla films instead of Honda's customary science-fiction approach. Set mostly on a tropical island, the film also required fewer miniatures and therefore had a lower budget than the previous Godzilla films.

Plot
After his brother Yata is lost at sea, young Ryota steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber. This motley crew runs afoul of sea monster Ebirah, and washes up on the shore of Devil's Island, where a terrorist organization manufactures heavy water for their nefarious purposes, as well as a chemical that keeps Ebirah at bay. The organization, Red Bamboo, has enslaved natives from Infant Island to help them, but the natives hope to awaken a dormant Mothra to rescue them. In their efforts to avoid capture, Ryota and his friends, aided by the beautiful native girl Daiyo, stumble across a sleeping Godzilla within a cliffside cavern. The group formulates 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, and free the enslaved natives. Godzilla defeats Ebirah, and everyone is freed.

Trivia

 * The film originally didn't involve Godzilla, but was meant for King Kong. That explains why Godzilla was revived by lightning and why the opposing kaiju in the film have no special abilities.
 * The Godzilla suit used for this film is the same "Daisensogoji" suit used the previous year for Invasion of the Astro-Monster.
 * In the original Japanese trailer a remix of A Night on Bald Mountain is used as the trailers BGM (Background Music).
 * This film represents a change in the direction of the series as a whole. This is mostly due to the new faces behind the scenes. Although Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Sinichi Sekizawa returned to produce, direct the special effects, and pen the screenplay (respectively), the film features new director Jun Fukuda, who would direct the next year's Son of Godzilla, and return to direct Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla' in the 1070's. Musical composer Masaru Sato, who had scored Godzilla Raids Again in 1955 (as well as many of Akira Kurosawa's films) returns to provide the jazzy and contemporary score for this film. Sato, like Fukuda, would return to write music for Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Cast
Akira Takarada as Yoshimura

Tooru Watanabe as Ryota Kane

Tooru Ibuki as Yata Kane

Choutarou Tougin as Ichino

Hideo Sunazuka as Nita

Kumi Mizuno as Dayo

Pair Bambi as Shobijin

Jun Tazaki as Red Bamboo Commander

Akihiko Hirata as Captain Ryuui (Yamoto in English version)

Eisei Amamoto as Carrier Captain

Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla

Yū Sekida as Ebirah

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.

Captain Ryuui's name was changed to Yamoto.

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, and was featured in an episode of the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.