Gorgo Movie Review

An undersea explosion off the coast of Ireland brings to the surface a prehistoric sea monster, which is captured and brought to a London circus. All seems well, until scientists learn that Gorgo is but an infant. Its irate (and much larger) mother appears looking for her baby, creating havoc in her wake. Though London had been used as a setting for monster rampages before (director Eugene Lourie had done so just two years before in The Giant Behemoth), never has the destruction been quite as spectacular – although the monsters are portrayed by stiff costumes, the miniatures and matte work are impressive. Commonly mistaken by critics as the only monster movie where “the monster wins” – giant movie monsters seem to get away with their rampages quite often, even as far back as 1925's The Lost World.

1961 76m/C GB Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Bruce Seton, Christopher Rhodes, Joseph O'Conor; D: Eugene Lourie; W: John Loring, Daniel Hyatt; C: Frederick A. (Freddie) Young. VHS, Beta, LV NOS, MRV, VCI