GORGO (1961)
Time for a venture into the world of familiar second hand ideas and recycled imagery. There aren't too many original monster movie concepts out there, but some are more noticeable than others when they get repeated. In this case it's the old Mothra story in which something is stolen from a mysterious region and something bigger and angrier shows up to cause havoc. This was itself an obvious take on the story from King Kong but sometimes a simple formula works. There are greedy jerks looking to find fame and fortune and there are exotic islands. Unfortunately there are also some moments involving child actors that would later be copied by the Gamera series. It's a weird self cannibalising genre, but that's part of the fun.
Gorgo, or perhaps 'Ogra' as it's called, is a monster discovered during a treasure hunt in Scotland. The film might say this is Ireland but some of the accents say otherwise. The arrival of a ship in need of repair brings with it money obsessed sailors Joe (Bill Travers) and Sam (William Sylvester). They're not supposed to be the villains but their actions say otherwise. They'll help save the village being trampled by the creature; for a price. They come across Gorgo (or Gorgo Junior) after discovering that the local harbour master and his adopted son Sean (Vincent Winter) have a haul of ancient trinkets. A party is sent to look for more loot with a diving bell right out of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. It's just one of many bad plans of action that are soon set in motion.
The locations used give the film an interesting texture, despite some pretty poor blue screen effects. It's not the usual laboratory setting and gives it a unique atmosphere. The monster itself shows up after just fifteen minutes which is also refreshing. It's a brisk film that barely reaches eighty minutes in total. A lot of the other elements, including the way Sean insists they release Gorgo, are very boilerplate to say the least, as is the reptilian design. But a darker tone and the attitude of the lead characters (who take this all pretty seriously) mean that moments borrowed from the previous decade are all fairly solid. It's not a big budget affair but there are enough stand out effects amongst all the cheap backdrops and stock footage to keep it from becoming dull.
There is however a lot of weird, and frankly bad, dubbing; over footage of navy officers and pilots. The 'NATO fleet' they send out to stop the rampage of Gorgo Senior isn't fooling anyone. Still, stick with this for a while and you'll be rewarded with plenty of fun miniatures and destruction set pieces. Gorgo, the younger, gets put through some serious shit before Tower Bridge and other landmarks are smashed. Sam and Joe had one decision to make; give the creature to scientists in Dublin or give it to a London circus for a big profit. Of course this pair of losers can't get anything right and even refuse to do anything when the mayhem starts. It takes several deaths for Sam to even regret his choice, in a drunken stupor, but Joe says 'nuts to that' and is against anything that will put his wallet in danger.
It's an odd choice for the whole story to follow this pair of hard nosed mercenaries. There are no insipid romantic subplots and few morally righteous characters. Which is refreshing in some ways but frustrating in others. The researchers and eggheads are barely featured instead of being rivals to the circus ticket salesmen. Sean is in some ways the voice of reason and innocence, but he doesn't get that much to do. When his guardian Mr. McCartin (Christopher Rhodes) is killed nobody is even around to report the death, so its repercussions are never shown. Elsewhere certain characters that deserve to be killed don't get any kind of punishment. The story is more focused on collateral damage as the parent Gorgo arrives to level the city.
It's an odd story in which the causes of such large scale chaos are made clear, but the subsequent realisation is barely explored. Money may be the root of all evil but they're probably not going to give any to the reconstruction fund. Sam may admit he was wrong after seeing so much death and destruction, at the very last minute, but it's hard to imagine him sticking around. Still, despite some odd things being ignored (what are the prehistoric fish from the first act?) it's fast paced and engaging. It's a disaster movie first and it doesn't have time for comic relief or love affairs. Unless you count the love of gold that is. But these clichés would only serve to make the movie wear out its welcome.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
GAPPA (1967)
Meanwhile here comes Giant Beast Gappa aka Gappa: The Triphibian Monster, a rehash of a rehash. The reveal arrives much earlier in the running time and there are two parent monsters this time; does that mean it has double the thrill power? On the other hand the baby Gappa gets double the punishment in a laboratory in this storyline. If only there was twice the budget in a film that features one whole Pterosaur model on a wire and a lot of bad make-up to turn Japanese extras into an undiscovered tribe. It's not a great movie in many ways, but it is an entertaining one. There's also a colourful vibe in line with Toho's tropical efforts (Mothra or King Kong vs Godzilla amongst many others) which lends it some charm at least.
On Obelisk Island a volcano is stirring up trouble and strange underwater lights cause havoc with a passing ship. The passengers are a reporter, a scientist, and a female photographer. Their plan is to find wildlife for 'Playmate Magazine' who want to open a hotel featuring live animals. Instead of taking tourists outside for a safari? It's a silly plan, but it's a silly movie. After meeting with the locals the team conveniently see a giant statue collapse, revealing a hidden cave where they're drawn to a mysterious egg. Cigar chomping publisher Funazu (Keisuke Inoue) is sceptical about the discovery but soon has the hatched creature in a secret lab being tested and probed. He thinks this will help him get better press for the resort, but his reasoning is pretty vague.
Soon enough the Gappa parents arrive to raze a city or two. Will the team release the baby after another child actor say it's cruel to keep it? Of course not, it's better to try and use sonic weapons and fire a lot of missiles. The big monster attack involves some good miniatures and plenty of tiny vehicles explode along the way. But the decision making feels less logical than it was in Gorgo because there are more people involved. Worse yet photographer Itoko (Yoko Yamamoto) decides that having a career is too much for her, and she just needs to settle down. Maybe with her braindead colleague Hiroshi (Tamio Kawachi) who she hated earlier. Recycled plots are one thing, but bad clichés are worse. There is some fun to be had here, but overall it's a different kind of entertainment.
2/5
