Gorgo |
UK • 1961 • 78m •
  • Directed by: Eugène Lourié. • Starring: Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Christopher Rhodes, Joseph O'Conor, Bruce Seton, Martin Benson, Maurice Kaufmann, Basil Dignam, Barry Keegan, Tommy Duggan, Howard Lang, Dervis Ward. • Music by: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.      A salvage vessle is nearly sunk off the Irish coast by an undersea earthquake. A few nights later, a walking sea monster tangles with the fishing boats and enters the town. The salvage vessel captures Gorgo and takes it to London for display. Gorgo's mother, who is upset and significantly larger follows his trail to London leaving a wake of destruction in her path.
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Review:
Gorgo is the story involving the discovery of a prehistoric mythical creature Gorgo, another name for Gorgon. The 60 foot giant occasionally attacks boats at sea but is flushed onto the mainland by some villagers. Eventually he is subdued and brought to England for study, only to be placed at a circus as a cash cow (not to self: do not exploit monsters you can barely control, if King Kong and Gorgo are any indication). It is revealed thereafter that Gorgo is a baby, practically in its infancy. The nearly 200 foot tall mother raids England in search of her offspring, gathers it, and the two depart for the sea once again.
This monster movie has a lighter, more pleasing ending for the audience than most monster movies. Generally the misunderstood beast has to be killed, but not here. That was done on purpose as the director's daughter was upset by the ending of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Gorgo is a pretty short movie, only running 76 minutes long. As a result, the film is fast paced and never has dull moments. Monster movie fans will also be pleased to see plenty of monster action in the movie, as Gorgo appears often and within the first 10 or 15 minutes.
Speaking of Gorgo, he looks pretty good. His glowing eyes and a few other touches give away the fact that it's fake, but for its time the suit looks great. Also great is his iconic roar. It's rather ironic that Gorgo is an obvious imitation of Toho's Godzilla, yet Toho produced a monster rather similar to Gorgo almost 15 years later. Titanosaurus starred in the last Godzilla film of the Showa series and has the fins at the back of the head like Gorgo and is a general bipedal aquatic dinosaur. While Toho maybe didn't directly rip off Gorgo, it's still interesting to see the similarities from Godzill to Gorgo to Titanosaurus come full circle.
Outside of Gorgo, the special effects were above par for the time. The acting is acceptable too. We have no outstanding performances, but no one annoys you or gives a bad performance here. The plot itself works well too. It's nothing that original, but the story of a misunderstood creature on the basis of its size is effective here. The boy who is nearly enchanted by the monster and its mother is a nice touch, showing how children sometimes have a better concept of what we should be doing instead of what we adults sometimes are thinking of (money!).
All in all, Gorgo is a pleasing movie to watch and its quick paceshort time makes it a movie you can watch often if you want. A lack of graphic scenes or strong language also make this a movie that is something of a family please. It's not campy and childish so as to put dad off, yet his son can appreciate the movie as well. Gorgo has stood the test of time, having come out some 50 years ago and still having a pretty loyal following. He received his own magazines and toys, etc. Pretty impressive for a monster that starred in only one movie. I rate this movie a 610. That may not seem very high, but it's a solid movie worth seeing if you're a giant monster movie fan. If you aren't, then this movie won't appeal to you in the way a movie like Cloverfield or Monsters will. Fine by a monster movie fan like me, it's just that it doesn't have as widespread appeal. But again, if you like monster movies, this is a classic!
Review by FilmExpertWannabe from the Internet Movie Database.
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