Director: Eugene Lourie
Year: 1961
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Giant Monster; Tokusatsu
Plot:
Stranded at sea, two fishermen find themselves stuck on Nara Island off the coast of Ireland. When they go ashore looking for help, only a local kid is willing to help them, and soon learn that there's a giant monster in the water. Offering to get rid of it, they successfully capture the monster and bring it back to England, enclosing it as an exhibit in a local zoo. When they lose contact with Nara Island, it's revealed that the monster they captured, named Gorgo for the exhibit, is only an early-born infant, making them realize that the mother monster should be closing in and is soon spotted closing in on London. Despite the Navy's best efforts, they are unable to stop the creature from landing in the city, causing untold destruction and devastation as it looks around for the infant.
Story:
On the surface a pretty simplistic tale, there’s not much to really get into with this one. The basic premise of a creature appearing in the world, getting captured and then brought back to civilization only to find another monster arriving and going on a rampage in a major city features plenty of beats and specific points that are found in numerous other genre entries before and since. While the majority of the ones that followed used this as inspiration making it seem a lot less innovating that it really is, the fact that much of what happens here is basically hitting all the specific points as best it can. The initial appearance, the discovery of its infantile nature and the eventual rampage in the major city all manage to be readily familiar and accessible storyline points.
Within the film itself, several other familiar storyline beats emerge. The appearance of the creature with a diving bell under the sea to lure the creature into a trap is a direct ploy of an earlier film, much like the mother’s initial appearance on the island showing it standing alongside a massive lighthouse. Likewise, the creature’s travels to a major metropolitan area as a form of exhibition directly rips off a major genre picture, and a secondary scene involving the reporter awakening the creature with a flashbulb is from the same effort. The final rampage of the beast appearing from the river Thames to ravage London is a ploy of the directors’ previous work and is a retread itself of nearly every other entry in the style.
However, one of the finest aspects of the story here is an impressive and admittedly clever utilization of the ending where we have both creatures surviving and leaving the city together. Most every monster movie up til that point had featured the beast killed off at the end through either military might or a radical invention that manages to do the creature in, and instead, the film decides to change this around by having the mother rescue the infant and return to the sea. It's a truly fun and enjoyable change of pace, offering a goodhearted feel for the creatures by making the entire rampage a simple matter of motherhood ferocity to seek it’s missing child rather than a mindless beast of nature. That this has been readopted into several other films following its release is a testament to the originality of the film to use it first.
Special Effects:
This is one of the greatest monster movies ever. One of the things it gets right is that the monster here is a credible beast. The head is unique, with fins pointing backward with an appropriate amphibian-look, and display a range of realism by wriggling when the creature is irritated or annoyed. This really compliments the rest of the fish-like head in creating a memorable monster, with a smooth head, deep red eyes and a huge mouth of teeth. The belly skin is really loose, with a remarkable amount of flexibility as it twists and turns quite effectively with large, destructive claws and whip-like tail used to good effect in a couple of scenes.
That it's done through a combination of a spectacular-looking suit and a full-scale prop for human interaction allows it to look incredible when interacting with the cast. There's plenty of sequences with the creature amongst the people, from a fantastic first appearance on the small town that requires them to chase it off with flaming logs to the scenes on the ship with the trapped creature being inspected and the simply amazing scene where the creature is carted around London during its inaugural voyage through the city. The undersea scenes are quite fun, with the creative and fun capture being a highlight, especially once the nets are dropped down onto it.
Once inside the city, it's even better due to the monster's habit of walking through the buildings rather than down the street, lending more destruction like the fact that it features a large number of scenes where the rubble is clearly falling onto the fleeing citizens. There's also the jaw-dropping scene where one huge wall falls down onto a crowd in the middle of a town square, which is an image that is nearly impossible to believe isn't real. It's nearly impossible not to love it, as there's too much goodness to come from the destruction, with the jet attack, the destruction of the Ferris ground that includes the roller coaster, and the full-on fun of the electrical tower attack that is simply spectacular to watch.
There is also plenty to like outside the remarkable action, as it features high-quality stampedes through the city that rival anything ever done, giving it a really effective sense of chaos that comes with the situation. Also top-notch is the matte work in here, as there's just one simply outstanding sequence where the monster knocks over a large sign advertisement onto a fleeing crowd below in the streets, and it's just part of the better works in the film, which is also the sequence where the baby is forced into the pen with flame-throwers. It's hardly noticeable, which is a real drawing power for the film.
Elsewhere, other impressive work is handled with the miniature work throughout the film. The opening shots of the volcano emerging from underneath the water and thrusting thousands of gallons of water onto the ship nearby while composite shots showing the crew in danger work incredibly well. As well, the baby’s first appearance emerging out of the water on the island is an impressive sequence getting the full-scale prop-claw on-screen with the stunt-actors diving just out of the way to safety.
The biggest success in the film, outside of the creature’s impressive costume, is the utterly cool and unique full-scale prop used for the scenes of the infants’ capture and transportation by boat and then through central London. Done in full size with the head, paws and tail exposed underneath a massive tarp covering the back of the animal, this fascinating prop allows for the creature to be on-screen with the human captors for these key sequences and makes for a rather seamless blend during this time. All-told, the special effects work here is rather impressive and enjoyable managing to be among the very best in the field.
Actors:
Essentially a three-person show, there’s not much to the acting here. Bill Travers as Captain Joe Ryan is pretty much just a soulless, greed-centric individual who's only after the money to be had from the sunken ship they're scavenging. That carries over into the discovery of what Gorgo means to the scientists and sells it out from under them to the circus because they offered the most money to capture it, and while he graces himself with the later scenes of scouring London to find Sean in the middle of a monster attack there's still that early section to hold him back.
Likewise, his partner Sam, played by William Sylvester, is pretty much exactly the same. There's a sense of camaraderie for their business with his concern for Joe diving underwater during the volcano eruption but he still goes along with his strong-armed takeover of the harbor master's collection by Joe in order to get rid of Gorgo and then ends up falling-down drunk in the later-half when the creature's in the circus which also nearly causes the creature to get loose. That's his one real failing but beyond that, he's a rather complex and troubling character.
Lastly, the young kid Sean, played by Vincent Winter, is a rather intriguing character. While initially appearing otherwise, he ends up not being the atypical cute kid who's always right about anything and everything in kaiju films and given access to everything involving the military's strategy against the monster. He's not a precocious child who's always mugging for the camera and even disappears when he's not needed, making for a wholly enjoyable respite from the norm. The rest of the cast isn't that impressive, being military figures, boat-crew or islanders.
Other Factors:
There’s not much else to really say about this one. The similarities to the other films notwithstanding, there’s a distinct and inherent charm here providing by the living creature played with real special effects work, and the greed aspect that drives the characters in the first half is the biggest factor in setting up the later half when the mother appears because of their actions. As well, the underwater scenes here of the diving crew searching for the creature and the earlier searches for the submerged treasures offers up some genuinely impressive footage of the actors in that environment. The pacing here is also great, bringing in the creature less than twenty minutes into it, and it just never stops. It's never boring and is always moving ahead.
The film's at it's best, though, when it details the city destruction, which is the main reason to see this as it's nothing short of breathtaking. This entire sequence ends up being utterly flawless and better than anything else in the film put together. It takes on a destructive path, knocking over just about every single big landmark in the city, all done with spectacular miniatures that have nothing wrong with them and done with total realism. It has plenty of action in here, all of it is spectacular and awe-inspiring. The London Bridge sequence, where it approaches through heavy shell-fire to completely level the structure is just one, as is the river-of-fire defense since the flames reach the monster's head, over two-hundred feet, all work to give the film’s rampage a sense of spectacle that isn’t really generated by other genre movies. All of these makes the film one of the genre's best.
Overview: *****/5
An utterly flawless giant monster movie, this one here is one of the greatest entries ever in the genre and is a high-water mark for it altogether. See this immediately if you're a fan of the genre or enjoy these kinds of monster films, otherwise, it will just be good without knowing why.
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