6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Greedy sailors capture a giant lizard off the coast of Ireland and sell it to a London circus. Then its mother shows up.
Starring: Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Bruce Seton, Joseph O'ConorHorror | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM Mono
French: LPCM Mono
Music: LPCM 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
One of the sad facts of the history of cinema is that we have many so-called “lost films” that were either never curated properly, suffered from nitrate disintegration or were destroyed through the years either due to tragedy or simple negligence. And yet Gorgo survives. But Gorgo has its own claim to “lost” significance, albeit on a decidedly smaller screen. Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 know that the television series’ send up of this 1961 science fiction “spectacular” has been one of the harder episodes to find, at least prior to the YouTube generation. Gorgo is one of those films that seems to have been created solely to parody. A hilarious combination of elements from King Kong and Godzilla, Gorgo was the “brainchild” of Eugène Lourié, one of the relatively few Art Directors who matriculated into the world of “real” directing. Lourié’s production design expertise got him plum assignments through the years working with such legends as Jean Renoir and Charlie Chaplin, but his directorial oeuvre was decidedly less prestigious, and included one of Gorgo’s most direct ancestors, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. That film at least had the imprimatur of Ray Harryhausen creating its special effects as well as Warner Brothers distributing it, but Gorgo could barely muster enough clout to proclaim itself a somewhat notorious King Brothers production (albeit with distribution by M-G-M). For those of you who haven’t yet experienced the “joy” of a King Brothers outing, they were an infamously cheap set of producers who did a lot of bargain basement work at Poverty Row’s Monogram Studios before setting out on their putative “own”. (My favorite King Brothers anecdote deals with their little remembered 1943 opus I Escaped From the Gestapo. This was the film that legendary actress Frances Farmer was hired to star in—after her fall from Paramount grace—and the film where she completed only one partial day’s filming before she assaulted her hairdresser and soon spent the rest of the decade in and out of various mental institutions. The King Brothers were so stingy they actually utilized a few seconds of what looks almost like a test shot of Farmer lying in a bed as part of a montage sequence late in the film. Let’s not let even a second or two of celluloid go to waste, even if it’s of an obviously troubled actress who’s now locked away in a psycho ward.) For those of you who love to peruse credits in films, keep your eyes peeled early in Gorgo for one of the first (of many) laughs, as the King Brothers' names are prominently displayed, albeit with a very peculiar addendum appending Maurice's name.
Gorgo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with an MPEG-2 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. There are two criteria by which Gorgo should be measured, The first of these is how good the film looks compared to previous shoddy home video releases or even broadcast prints, and in that regard the answer is rather spectacular. The restoration demonstration shows that the film has undergone some significant color timing improvement (water is no longer pea green) as well as a deepening of contrast, which helps the many fog enshrouded or otherwise dark sequences. However, on a more objective level, one has to admit that Gorgo still looks pretty ragged. The overall image here is fairly soft, though it's obviously been digitally sharpened to the point that there's persistent ringing in more brightly lit scenes. The blue screen work here also reveals its seams, especially around foreground characters' hair, while the rear projection and stock footage just look pretty shoddy overall. While the film has obviously been cleaned of scratches and other debris, the good news is that there doesn't appear to have been any over aggressive DNR applied, since grain is more than evident throughout this presentation, especially in the ubiquitous opticals. Fans of Gorgo will no doubt be thrilled with this upgrade, however minimal it may seem to those who don't have a long history with the film.
Gorgo features an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 track, though I personally could not detect any real stereo separation and am thus assuming that this is simply a mono track pumped out over two channels (any definitive word to the contrary would be appreciated and I am happy to update the review). There's some persistent distortion in the upper midrange of this track which is especially apparent in some of the music cues (strangely, it's noticeably largely absent from the music only track). Otherwise, though, this sounds fairly spry, if awfully boxy. A decided lack of fullness on the low end keeps Gorgo's rampage (not mention dear old Mom's) sounding perhaps a bit less visceral than some might have hoped. Dialogue is clear for the most part, though it's occasionally obscured by effects.
Fans of Gorgo (and they are legion) will rejoice that this Blu-ray offers the best looking edition of this film ever seen on home video, which may be a backhanded compliment. Probably the best thing about this release is the excellent supplementary package, which is really pretty impressive (at least by the usually modest VCI standards). Lovers of giant monster movies will probably get a bigger kick out of either King Kong or Godzilla than they will from Gorgo, but the film still has a certain cheeky allure that will appeal to lovers of low rent cheese-fests.
2009
2010
2002
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1961
1957
2010
Behemoth the Sea Monster / Warner Archive Collection
1959
1955
1953
1957
2019
2014
1956
Roger Corman's Cult Classics
1978
Special Edition
1959
Includes "Drácula"
1931
1961
Monster Shark / Shark: Rosso nell'oceano
1984
1936
1982