Talkback Thread: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

[Poe Ghostal]

I have a question for anyone who's watched the original Japanese version - and I'm particularly interested in the spoken dialogue, not necessarily the English subtitles.

In the English dub, Yoshimura tells the three guys they can stay in the boat overnight, but they have to leave in the morning. I've never understood this. Why doesn't he just kick them out? Is there something in the Japanese dialogue that explains this better - such as, it's too late for them to safely drive home, or something?

[Follinollante]

I have a question for anyone who's watched the original Japanese version - and I'm particularly interested in the spoken dialogue, not necessarily the English subtitles.

In the English dub, Yoshimura tells the three guys they can stay in the boat overnight, but they have to leave in the morning. I've never understood this. Why doesn't he just kick them out? Is there something in the Japanese dialogue that explains this better - such as, it's too late for them to safely drive home, or something?

If I had to guess, it would be to avert suspicion; "Fine, I'll be the nice, neighborly fellow that I am, not the secret criminal that I totally am not. Not like I desperately want you to leave."

[edgaguirus]

In a scenario where they do get kicked off....

Radio reports a yacht known as the Yahlen was stolen. The guys go the police and discover the real owner of the yacht. " Then who was that guy that claimed to be the owner?" The coast guard goes after the Yahlen, and our bank robber spends years in a cell.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I have a question for anyone who's watched the original Japanese version - and I'm particularly interested in the spoken dialogue, not necessarily the English subtitles.

In the English dub, Yoshimura tells the three guys they can stay in the boat overnight, but they have to leave in the morning. I've never understood this. Why doesn't he just kick them out? Is there something in the Japanese dialogue that explains this better - such as, it's too late for them to safely drive home, or something?

If I had to guess, it would be to avert suspicion; "Fine, I'll be the nice, neighborly fellow that I am, not the secret criminal that I totally am not. Not like I desperately want you to leave."

He'd have every right as the owner to kick them off. It wouldn't be suspicious to say, "Get off my boat!" if you were the boat owner and someone showed up in the middle of the night.

However, I think in the moment he was worried that this would cause a ruckus, some sort of confrontation, and draw attention to the boat.

[Poe Ghostal]

I could buy all that, but they came in a car - why don’t they just go home?

The only explanation I can think of is how they talk about how the one guy is obsessed with boats, so maybe Yoshimura is bemused and decides, on a whim, to let the kid stay on the boat as a thrill. (He’s still pretty grumpy if that’s the case, though.)

[LSD Jellyfish]

I could buy all that, but they came in a car - why don’t they just go home?

The only explanation I can think of is how they talk about how the one guy is obsessed with boats, so maybe Yoshimura is bemused and decides, on a whim, to let the kid stay on the boat as a thrill. (He’s still pretty grumpy if that’s the case, though.)

Oh! You're talking about from the perspective of the people going on the boat, not the robber.

Yeah that's a good question. Maybe they were dancing for two days and were too tired to drive?

[edgaguirus]

It's also possible that they had traveled from another city or area to compete in the dance. Getting home would involve an all night drive or longer. Of course, this is all just speculation.

[LSD Jellyfish]

It's also possible that they had traveled from another city or area to compete in the dance. Getting home would involve an all night drive or longer. Of course, this is all just speculation.

This was also in the 1960's, where cellphones didn't exist. Might sound like a silly thing to say, but it makes getting lost or any sort of difficulties that might arise from night driving a lot more difficult to solve. I imagine night driving has been historically a much more riskier and rare thing.

[KingSkeetorah]

This movie is close to my soul. It has a dream/nightmare-like quality. Ebirah remains one of the creepiest kaiju. Godzilla distributes one of his most decisive ass-whoopings in the series. Love the decrepit cookie monster suit. The characters are genuinely fun and well-acted. Everything is tied together seamlessly by Masaru Sato's magical score.

It's Toho monster madness meets Gilligan's Island meets James Bond. What more could you possibly ask for?

[edgaguirus]

It's Toho monster madness meets Gilligan's Island meets James Bond. What more could you possibly ask for?

It would have been nice to see the Ito twins in this one, but Pair Bambi did a good job as the Shobijin.

[Gailah 1966]

One of the showa movies that gets better with every time you watch it.

[JAGzilla]

I'm twelve minutes into my third watch of this movie; the last viewing was in 2015. I'm watching the Criterion disk this time. Nice enough picture, it does a good job of showing off the lively colors this movie is known for. Loving Sato's adventurous score so far. The shrinking stock of rations was a fun way to show the passage of time on the sea voyage. Akira Takarada's thief character is as entertaining as I'd remembered. "A skeleton key?" "You have your girlfriends, I have this."

EDIT: The storm/Ebirah attack scene is one of the greatest effects sequences Toho ever made, honestly. It's as convincing as you can ask practical effects to be.

EDIT: This movie charges along at a very brisk pace. We have all the pieces in place, with plenty of action, musical spectacle, and monster screentime by the 32 minute mark. You're certainly never bored through the first act.

EDIT: Done. Yeah, it stays high octane throughout. Action, monsters, and excitement of some form basically nonstop. I won't pretend I don't see why most fans look down on it; it's smaller scale and lower stakes than a lot of the other Showa movies, and Sato doesn't bring the epic drama like Ifukube. It's just silly fun, a cast of goofy everymen running around in Scooby-Doo shenanigans with cheesy Bond villains set to surf music while an ugly, deformed Godzilla ogles girls, falls asleep, and beats the shit out of a lobster and a bird. Also Mothra is there, and mostly just sleeps. It just feels like a weird side story among the more eventful Honda entries. And that's great.

[Legion1979]

It's a terrific film. The only real dud of an effects sequence is Godzilla's attack on the Red Bamboo base.

[edgaguirus]

This film may have a smaller scale when it comes to story, but it's still a great narrative and cast of characters. I love that the criminal becomes an impromptu leader and hero when on the island, and that all our characters play some part in defeating the Red Bamboo. One guy comes up with the idea of waking Godzilla; Daiyo, who could be relegated to damsel in distress, shows the same courage and cleverness as the men, and the goofy guy has the idea to use the leaves instead of the fruit. Also, the brisk pace is fitting for the spy/chase side of the story.

It's one of my favorites.

[Arbok]

This movie charges along at a very brisk pace.

This is an aspect that I feel Jun Fukuda does not get enough credit for. His pacing was generally a lot better than his peers in the science fiction genre in Japan. Some of that is through sacrificing character development or more complex plot details, but in general his movies feel more in-line with modern cinematic pacing than others from this period. Even weaker entries, like The War in Space, at least move along with the plot rather than meander.

[Angilasman]

Watching this on stream. Two thoughts:

1) I love that part in the middle where our separated heroes are coming up with different plans to save the day (and they basically all end up working!)
2) This originally being a Kong script and featuring both Mothra and the return of Kong's relationship with electricity would have placed the movie more deeply in continuity than other non-Godzilla kaiju movies Toho was making. I suppose that's Sekizawa's doing!

[edgaguirus]

Watching this on stream. Two thoughts:

1) I love that part in the middle where our separated heroes are coming up with different plans to save the day (and they basically all end up working!)

I like that aspect of it too. These are everyday people, and they somehow end up outwitting a group of well-armed villains that clearly outnumber them.

[daveblackeye15]

It's like a kaiju less-graphic Inglorious Basters when you think of it.

[Coobzilla03]

TokuSHOUTsu is running a marathon on YouTube (they cycle between All Monsters Attack, this one, Invasion of the Astro-Monster, Terror of Mechagodzilla, The War of the Gargantuas) so I gave this one a full watch, as the only one of the bunch I hadn't watched the entirety of at some point in my life. It was subbed, though the rest of the movies they show vary between subbed and dubbed.

I don't think it's totally fantastic, but it's far from bad. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like with King Kong instead of Godzilla. Ebirah was a huge threat to people (as evidenced in the awesome scenes where he smashes some ships!), but not so much to Godzilla. Maybe he would've been to King Kong. Not like Ebirah was a pushover, as I mentioned the scenes of him targeting human vessels were all great. Particularly the initial crashing of the stolen yacht. The sense of scale is excellent, it really looked as though there was a giant claw out at sea. That is one thing that cannot be overlooked about this film.

As far as acting goes, solid performance by all. Akihiko Hirata as the Red Bamboo captain was my favorite acting job of the movie. He's a legend. The main cast were all good as well, especially Yoshimura. None of them got on my nerves or felt like a nuisance or drag on the story. Even the "comic relief" type character wasn't there just to be funny. He ended up captured along with the Infant Islanders, and had the idea to make a phony batch of the yellow substance that allowed the Red Bamboo to operate without being attacked by Ebirah. They would've escaped the island otherwise. His role was subdued compared to many of the comic relief characters you see in other films of any genre, really. A breath of fresh air in that regard. Every one of the main group had a purpose or contributed to push the plot along.

This movie really toes the line with Godzilla as the hero. He isn't some totally benevolent force that has psychic knowledge of when evil is afoot like would come to be in future installments. He's used sort of like a living tool by the heroes. They express some trepidation with it when initially discussed (Yoshimura, the thief, who is my favorite of the main group as well as a sort of de facto "leader" believes that Godzilla will destroy the world if released.) Definitely the way to treat Godzilla as opposed to "Yay, Godzilla is here to save the day!" Humanity just wasn't quite there yet with Godzilla, and for good reason. They "turn him loose" on the Red Bamboo and Ebirah, he does what he does best, and the end sequence shows that he's still not exactly a friend as much as a controlled natural disaster. He attacks Mothra, who is attempting to save everyone from the atom bomb rigged to blow up the island.

After the initial fight with Ebirah, Godzilla shows up to scare off the Red Bamboo chasing our female lead, Daiyo. Godzilla kinda watches her, then takes a nap, then the Giant Condor attacks him. Straight after that some Red Bamboo jets get after him. The pacing of this bit is a little strange; back to back attacks like that isn't something you see too often, but the point it served was to allow the rest of the crew to rescue Daiyo out from under Godzilla. This part really made me wonder how or why Ebirah and the Condor exist at all; I think both went without explanation, which works well in the case of Ebirah. The Condor, eh, could have done without it. I feel like it makes more sense to just go right into the jet attack, but it's an interesting "WTF!" moment when birdbrain attacks and leads to some more kaiju mayhem. The second battle, Godzilla really dismantles Ebirah. Literally. It was cool to see Mothra, even as brief as it was. Her puppet was gorgeous as usual, and the painting of her on the ranged shots was cool to see as well. Got to give her credit for handling Godzilla so well and showing some tremendous intelligence in saving her people. Truly the Queen of the Monsters. The Godzilla suit itself is pretty ugly in my eyes, but it didn't detract from the experience too much. Ebirah's suit was well created and super detailed I thought. Ridges and bumps abound, plus a gnarly looking mouth. He's a very believable crustaceous monster. The Condor, is a condor. Nothing crazy about him visually, just a big bird and that's cool. He wasn't The Giant Claw, that's for sure.

Overall, not too silly, not too serious, not too dramatic, just a fairly entertaining movie. The plot wasn't too "deep" or too "heavy," and that is certainly alright. Not every movie needs to have Japan at immediate risk. Though I wonder what the Red Bamboo's ultimate goal was. Conquer the world?

I'll definitely watch it again soon. One viewing of a movie isn't enough to make a fully comprehensive review. This is sort of off the cuff, gut feeling.

[LSD Jellyfish]

As far as acting goes, solid performance by all. Akihiko Hirata as the Red Bamboo captain was my favorite acting job of the movie. He's a legend. The main cast were all good as well, especially Yoshimura. None of them got on my nerves or felt like a nuisance or drag on the story. Even the "comic relief" type character wasn't there just to be funny. He ended up captured along with the Infant Islanders, and had the idea to make a phony batch of the yellow substance that allowed the Red Bamboo to operate without being attacked by Ebirah. They would've escaped the island otherwise. His role was subdued compared to many of the comic relief characters you see in other films of any genre, really. A breath of fresh air in that regard. Every one of the main group had a purpose or contributed to push the plot along.

This movie really toes the line with Godzilla as the hero. He isn't some totally benevolent force that has psychic knowledge of when evil is afoot like would come to be in future installments. He's used sort of like a living tool by the heroes. They express some trepidation with it when initially discussed (Yoshimura, the thief, who is my favorite of the main group as well as a sort of de facto "leader" believes that Godzilla will destroy the world if released.) Definitely the way to treat Godzilla as opposed to "Yay, Godzilla is here to save the day!" Humanity just wasn't quite there yet with Godzilla, and for good reason. They "turn him loose" on the Red Bamboo and Ebirah, he does what he does best, and the end sequence shows that he's still not exactly a friend as much as a controlled natural disaster. He attacks Mothra, who is attempting to save everyone from the atom bomb rigged to blow up the island.[/quote]
Yeah, I really like the cast of the film too. All of them are entertaining and add something, and I like the films overarching thesis of “using our brains” to stop the Red Bamboo. That’s why I’m more forgiving of Godzilla clearly being way more powerful than anything else in the film. It’s not his struggle, it’s the casts, and by the time Godzilla awakens they’ve set everything in motion to save the day. And still, with those brief scenes at the end, Godzilla might as well be as much a threat to the cast as he is to the Red Bamboo and Ebirah.

The Condor, eh, could have done without it. I feel like it makes more sense to just go right into the jet attack, but it's an interesting "WTF!" moment when birdbrain attacks and leads to some more kaiju mayhem.

As random as it is, I’ve grown to appreciate it as a change of pace. It’s not said in the movie, but I can buy the extra explanations given in guidebooks that the Giant Condor and Ebirah were mutated by the Red Bamboo’s nuclear plant.

Overall, not too silly, not too serious, not too dramatic, just a fairly entertaining movie. The plot wasn't too "deep" or too "heavy," and that is certainly alright. Not every movie needs to have Japan at immediate risk. Though I wonder what the Red Bamboo's ultimate goal was. Conquer the world?

It’s a perfect adventure film. It has the right balance of tension, humor, and spectacle. This might seem ridiculous to some, but I think it’s better than a lot of the adventure films at the time, and on par with a lot of the classic James Bond and other films, which Fukuda was very clearly influenced by.

In terms of the Red Bamboo’s goals, I think they’re some sort of private military, and they’re very clearly an unsubtle reference to some sort of communist/chinese/North Korean group. Remember, this film was made in the 60s where everyone was very much worried about nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation.