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The Gorgon (1964)

10/28/2012

 
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Two old horror pros face off yet again.

An unfairly neglected gem from the Golden Age of Hammer Horror, The Gorgon is an atmospheric chiller with a sterling cast, an interesting story, plenty of atmosphere and a strong sense of tragedy. It's only let down slightly by some unfortunate special effects choices in depicting the title monster at the climax (Christopher Lee is on record as saying "The only thing wrong with The Gorgon is the gorgon"), but the rest of the film is good enough to overlook these technical lapses.

The film opens in yet another mitt-European burg, Vandorf, with the death of the young daughter of the local innkeeper. Police find her lover, visiting artist Bruno Heitz, hanging from a tree in the woods nearby, and the coroner is quick to claim a verdict of murder/suicide, ignorant of the girl's real cause of death - she was turned to stone. For reasons of his own, Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing, in fine icy form), withholds the truth from the court. Bruno's father, Professor Jules Heitz (Michael Goodliffe), protests the court's ruling, and determines to get to the bottom of the case and clear his son's name. He hears tales of an evil creature called the Megaera, mythical sister to Medusa, said to be haunting the ruins of nearby Castle Borski.
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Prof. Heitz (Michael Goodliffe), fallen victim to the Gorgon.

Dr. Namaroff warns Prof. Heitz to leave Vandorf before ill befalls him. Angry villagers try to run him out of town, but Heitz is made of sterner stuff. He's no match for the dreaded Megaera, however, and is soon lured to the castle by her siren call to meet his doom. He staggers back to his desk with just enough life left to pen a letter to his remaining son, Paul (Richard Pasco).

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Cushing and Barbara Shelley
Paul leaves Leipzig University and soon is following in his father's footsteps. Stonewalled by Dr. Namaroff and Inspector Kanof (Patrick Troughton), Paul soon meets and becomes enchanted with Namaroff's nurse, Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelley). Their relationship grows even stronger as Carla nurses him back to health when Paul is found outside his flat after a near-fatal attack by the gorgon.

Now prematurely grey-haired from the shock of his attack, Paul is more determined than ever to find out what exactly is going on. He digs up his father's casket and finds his stone corpse. He gets drawn closer and closer to Carla, as the jealous Namaroff and his assistant Ratoff (Jack Watson) keep a watchful eye.
Namaroff knows all too well that the Megaera's 2,000 year-old spirit has possessed the body of someone in the village, transforming into its hideous shape and hunting for fresh victims every night when the moon is full.

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Paul's mentor at Leipzig, imperious and commanding Prof. Karl Meister (Christopher Lee), soon arrives on the scene and together the two dig into the village's sinister secret. Meister blusters the Inspector into showing them the records of all women who arrived in Vandorf before the killings started, five years before. Of course, he soon zeroes in on Carla, much to Paul's vehement disbelief.
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Richard Pasco as Paul.
Carla summons Paul to meet her one night at Castle Borski and begs him to take her away, but Paul is not yet ready to abandon Meister and the search into his father and brother's deaths.

When circumstances cause him to change his mind, Carla seems unable to leave the area, for reasons she can't quite explain (but which the viewer has long ago figured out).  The full moon soon wanes, and the scene is set for an inevitable, final confrontation with the Gorgon...


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Famed Hammer director Terence Fisher imbues the film with lots of wind-swept, spooky ambience, helped immeasurably by one of James Bernard's most haunting scores. The screenplay is by John Gilling (who would go on to direct the two "Cornish horror" semi-classics, Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile). It's a solid script, deliberately paced but rife with a strong sense of the implacability of fate and a remorseless, impending doom.

Richard Pasco is a solid enough lead and possess a strong speaking voice, but even so, when Christopher Lee blasts onto the scene late in the film, he gives the proceedings a very welcome boost of gravitas. It's a rare heroic role for Lee, and he handles it with his customary aplomb, despite a rather dodgy wig and facial hair.

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Jack Watson and Peter Cushing
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Patrick Troughton

Peter Cushing (rocking some nice muttonchops) rings some changes on the supercilious scientist character traits that he brought to the Hammer Frankenstein films. His Dr. Namaroff is a conflicted character driven by unrequited love to protect the Megaera's secret and allow the killings to remain unsolved. It's a typically smart performance by an actor seemingly genetically incapable of giving a bad one. While he and real life pal Lee only share the screen briefly, their scenes together crackle. Michael Goodliffe is authoritative as the Heitz patriarch, and departs the story far too soon. Doctor Who number two Patrick Troughton is characteristically fine as the Inspector, though the reliable Jack Watson is largely wasted as Ratoff.

The bulk of the The Gorgon's emotional content rests on Barbara Shelley's capable shoulders, and she's very good as the confused, kindhearted and ultimately tragic Carla. Her mix of aloof, patrician beauty and barely suppressed passion make her a sympathetic heroine. Her very human presence brings a little warmth into what is an otherwise pretty grim, fatalistic film.

As mentioned before, this is a very classy production marred slightly by the realization of the Gorgon herself. Frankly, I don't think the effects are too bad, other than a few egregiously fakey shots of the monster's severed head. The creature is best when glimpsed in shadow or farther back in the frame. Admittedly, the immobile snakes on its head are not well rendered, but the makeup and general appearance of the monster are sound. It's certainly not enough to ruin what is otherwise a very effective, moody horror piece. Strangely underappreciated by most fans of British horror, The Gorgon is highly recommended viewing for this time of year.

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R.A. Kerr link
10/28/2012 04:04:31 am

I loved this description: "dodgy wig and facial hair." Not every actor can pull that off, but I bet Christopher Lee makes it respectable.

Great review! This is another movie I never would have thought of seeing, but after reading your review I'm definitely going to watch for it.

Jeff
10/28/2012 08:37:16 pm

Thanks for that, Ruth! I'm not sure how much of a Hammer horror fan, or even a horror fan in general, you are, but I think you'll find a lot to appreciate in THE GORGON - dodgy facial hair and all.

John link
10/31/2012 11:36:08 pm

I think that this movie and THE REPTILE are the two most original and most underrated of the non-vampire Hammer films. Barbara Shelley finally gets to do something in this one! She was basically an ornament in BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE which isn't even really a vampire movie at all - it's a mad scientist movie. I thought the art direction especially top notch in THE GORGON whereas in other Hammer movies it's slapdash. Like the terrbile terrible sets and costumes in KISS OF THE VAMPIRE. I only learned recently that the film crews recycled the Hammer film sets. The sets in THE REPTILE are the very same for PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (which I have yet to see). I'm going to pay closer attention when I do.

Wouldn't THE GORGON be wotrhy of a remake? Now that Hammer has been revived with successes like WAKE WOOD why don't they get going on that? Plus I sugges a remake of THE REPTILE with completely overhauled story and script (a differnet title, please!) and the story told from the daughter's point of view. I volunteer to write it!

Glad to have discovered your blog. It's fantastic. I'll be back regularly.

Jeff
11/1/2012 10:36:33 am

Thank you most kindly for the nice comments, John - much appreciated! I'm very glad to have discovered your very interesting blog, too!

While I admire much in the Dracula and (to a much lesser extent) Frankenstein series from Hammer, I often find the other films in the less-discussed corners of the studio's output more interesting. A lot of people have complained about the monster makeup in THE REPTILE, but I find it pretty effective, and still think the creature's first attack rather startling. I agree that the film would probably have benefited from a more focused viewpoint, such as you say, from the young heroine's perspective, and it is also IMO in dire need of a stronger, authoritative figure to goose the action along (like Christopher Lee in THE GORGON or Andre Morrell in PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES - wait till you get to THAT one, I think you're going to be impressed!). Michael Ripper is cool but he's not in the same league as far as I'm concerned.

As for your point about the cheapness of some of the Hammers' set dressings, etc., I must confess I've never noticed nor felt that the Hammer's looked particularly cheap, but you probably have a sharper eye than I do for that sort of thing. Some are indeed slapdash in direction and editing, but the best ones, particularly with Terence Fisher at the helm, seem fairly lush for such low-budget productions.

I agree with you certainly that the ideas and themes in both THE REPTILE and THE GORGON could make ideal modern horror films, but I doubt they would be handled properly in this age of torture porn and shaky-cam, found footage horror. Hopefully the revamped Hammer company gets wind of your pitch and gets you working on that script!

Colin link
11/1/2012 08:41:07 pm

I think the film gets a lot of bad press due to the effects used to render the Gorgon. However, I agree with you that it's not such a big deal - and works fine for the most part.
I also really like the Hammer movies that depart from the Drac/Frank formula. This is one of the best of them.

Jeff
11/1/2012 10:51:42 pm

Thanks, Colin! Sounds like we are of like mind on this one. I know it's somewhat out of the purview of your blog, but I'd be interested in what you rank as your top ten Hammer films. I imagine there'd be a good deal of overlap between my list and yours. Thanks as always for swinging round these parts!

Colin link
11/2/2012 06:03:34 am

I have been known to dip into other genres from time to time on the blog but I guess for the most part I do tend to stick to westerns and noir. However, even if I don't feature the studio's pictures often I do have a lot of affection for Hammer - I grew up watching their movies on late on Saturday night TV.

My top 10 would be something like, in no particular order:
1 Plague of the Zombies
2 The Devil Rides Out
3 The Quatermass Xperiment
4 Quatermass and the Pit
5 Hell is a City
6 Cash on Demand
7 Brides of Dracula
8 The Gorgon
9 Night Creatures
10 Paranoiac

I deliberately avoided the obvious Dracula/Frankenstein movies, not because I dislike them, but just that everyone seems to list them first.
Of course that list could well change tomorrow - such is the nature of lists.

Jeff
11/2/2012 08:52:55 am

Thanks for that, Colin! Interesting list, lots of goodies on there...I've yet to see most of the Hammer noirs, swashbucklers and straight-up thrillers, although I have seen and really liked PARANOIAC. NIGHT CREATURES is one I really want to check out soon.

As for my list, right now it looks something like this :

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT
THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
HORROR OF DRACULA
CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER
THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN
PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES
THE GORGON
THE MUMMY
X - THE UNKNOWN
THE REPTILE

Plus a special guilty pleasure mention: THE LOST CONTINENT

...but as you say, other than the top two immovable titans, it's subject to change the more I see and as the mood strikes. We do share a number of titles in common, as I suspected.

I know lists are pretty useless, but they are fun. :)

Colin link
11/2/2012 06:56:43 pm

Some good stuff in there, especially The Mummy and The Abominable Snowman.
The annoying thing about lists though is what you end up leaving out - I mean neither one of us mentioned Curse of the Werewolf or The Hound of the Baskervilles.

If we're talking guilty pleasures, then I think I might go for Kiss of the Vampire - it's far from perfect, but I like it a lot.

Jeff
11/2/2012 10:00:43 pm

D'oh! Knew I had forgotten something...meant to include HOUND.

It's been too long since I've seen CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF to be confident in choosing it for my top ten, but did toy with throwing it in there.

I've heard mixed on KISS OF THE VAMPIRE but haven't seen it. Yet another one I've got to get to. I've got too many gaps in my Hammer viewing to make any lasting judgments, really...but it's fun to play the favorites game anyway.

Jeff
11/2/2012 10:07:45 pm

Dang! More annoyances...I see now I completely left out ONE MILLION YEARS B.C., another favorite...In hindsight, I'd likely swap it in place of X -THE UNKNOWN.


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