Ebirah, Terror of the Deep [Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto] ** (1966, Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chôtarô Tôgin) – Classic Movie Review 9947

Director Jun Fukuda’s Japanese horror movie 1966 Ebirah, Terror of the Deep [Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto] [Ebirah, Horror of the Deep] [Godzilla vs the Sea Monster] showcases the giant Sea Monster Ebirâ/ Ebirah, the massive mollusk who tries to put one over on a fire-breathing friend, the no longer slumbering Gojira/ Godzilla, on a mysterious island where the locals have been enslaved by the Red Bamboo terrorist organisation. Some teenagers seeking a missing brother become shipwrecked there.

And now there is trouble everywhere. But help is at hand in the flapping form of a mighty moth (Mosura/ Mothra) and the six-inch siblings it is set to protect. Now everyone is in a flap, right?

Jun Tazaki plays the Red Bamboo Commander, Haruo Nakajima is Gojira and Yû Sekita is Ebirah. Also in the cast are Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chôtarô Tôgin, Toru Watanabe, Hideo Sunazuka and Akihiko Hirata.

Confused? You will be while watching more jolly Sixties monster mayhem, with lots of high-spirited action and adventure, and cheesy effects, including the visible strings holding up various parts of the monsters, such as Ebirah’s claw.

Ebirah, Terror of the Deep [Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto] is directed by Jun Fukuda, runs 87 minutes, is made by Toho Company, is released by Continental Distributing (1969) (US) and Orb Films (1969) (UK), is written by Shin’ichi Sekizawa, is shot by Kazuo Yamada (Eastmancolor), is produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, is scored by Masaru Satô and designed by Takeo Kita.

It is the first of five films in the series directed by Jun Fukuda, followed by Son of Godzilla (1967), War of the Monsters (1972), Godzilla vs Megalon (1973) and Godzilla vs Cosmic Monster (1974).

Ebirah in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).

Ebirah (Ebirâ) first appears in Ebirah, Terror of the Deep and also appears in All Monsters Attack and Godzilla: Final Wars.

Mothra (1961).

Mothra (Mosura) first appeared in the 1961 film Mothra. The fictional monster, or kaiju, Mothra is second only to Godzilla in her number of film appearances.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9947

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