Rating: 
Summary: When Men were Men and GORGO's were GORGO's
Review: KING KONG: The 8th Wonder of the World! GODZILLA: King of the Monsters! GORGO?...Gorgo completes "the unholy trinity" of three BIG BAD GUYS who come to town, reduce them (New York; Tokyo...finally London) to rubble and remind vunerable men that they are...well, vunerable. GORGO is a great monster-mash treat where the surprise this time is that the "Big Guy" is not a guy at all but a very irritated MONSTER MOMMA. Gorgo is "cute" (Gorgo's ears may yet be the fashion outrage someday) but at 10 times baby Gorgo's height, and with big, bad feet to go with those awesome ears Mrs.Gorgo does some serious stomping-out of the more well-known London monuments and tourist sights. Tom Howard's special effects and model work are great...comparing well with the work of Ray Harryhausen. AND THIS TIME THE MONSTERS WIN! Maybe Gorgo is somekind of metaphorical/anagogical defense of the family in our age of DECONSTRUCTION (I doubt it). But Ma and Jr. do some fine deconstruction of "merry old England" before they wade back into the sea. See it. Gorgo is a fun, matinee wonder with a good fight to the finish that recalls a lost time when men were men and GORGO's were GORGO's......
Rating:
Summary: When Men were Men and GORGO's were GORGO's
Review: KING KONG: The 8th Wonder of the World! GODZILLA: King of the Monsters! GORGO?...Gorgo completes "the unholy trinity" of three BIG BAD GUYS who come to town, reduce them (New York; Tokyo...finally London) to rubble and remind vunerable men that they are...well, vunerable. GORGO is a great monster-mash treat where the surprise this time is that the "Big Guy" is not a guy at all but a very irritated MONSTER MOMMA. Gorgo is "cute" (Gorgo's ears may yet be the fashion outrage someday) but at 10 times baby Gorgo's height, and with big, bad feet to go with those awesome ears Mrs.Gorgo does some serious stomping-out of the more well-known London monuments and tourist sights. Tom Howard's special effects and model work are great...comparing well with the work of Ray Harryhausen. AND THIS TIME THE MONSTERS WIN! Maybe Gorgo is somekind of metaphorical/anagogical defense of the family in our age of DECONSTRUCTION (I doubt it). But Ma and Jr. do some fine deconstruction of "merry old England" before they wade back into the sea. See it. Gorgo is a fun, matinee wonder with a good fight to the finish that recalls a lost time when men were men and GORGO's were GORGO's......
Rating: 
Summary: GORGO: a review of the VCI DVD only
Review: Like many of you, I first saw GORGO as a child at the neighborhood theater back in 1961. I was impressed by "this towering apparition from before the dawn of history". The years have not erased that impression. But various video releases have not been so kind. This VCI release is the best of them all! Having said that, I regret to add, it could have been better. THE CASE admirably reproduces the US movie poster, although it looks a bit dark. Compare it to the halfsheet poster presented in the "photo gallery" section of the "special features". Why they didn't use the distinctive logotype on the spine instead of that blobby font is a mystery. The back could use some design makeover, but that's just me.... THE INSERT is a single fold affair with the front cover reproduced in case you missed it on the cover. Inside is the printed narration from the "behind-the-scene short" in case you want to read it. The back lists the chapter stops. Nice insert, though I wish there was a diffrent graphic on it's cover. THE DISK itself reproduces, in dark green, a portion of the poster with the GORGO logotype. Well done. THE MOVIE. VCI does present this film in its original theatrical aspect ratio -- stated on the back cover as 1.66:1 though it does look a bit wider. The color is good and the sound is clear. There are a few scratches but they don't distract. Grain is evident. Although it's not stated anywhere, VCI reportedly made their transfer from a pristine 35mm print. It may be the same transfer used for an earlier laserdisc release. I don't get the feeling it was made for the DVD. Unfortunately, the image is not as sharp as it could be. I would assume the pristine 35mm print was sharp -- the image on this DVD is not. Perhaps that's my only major complaint on this release. But, at least for me, it's a big one. GORGO is only 78 minutes in length. The bitrate rarely rises above 5Mbps -- there's LOTS of room on this disk for future anamorphic enhancement. Even with the extras. MOTION MENUS. There is an animated menu screen that's vaguely reminiscent of the Emmerich GODZILLA animated menu screen insofar as it shakes a bit and an animated big Gorgo walks behind some traffic lights and skyscraper-type blocky office buildings with a roar you'd give good money to shut up every time you need to use the menu. Looks cheap and cutesy. CHAPTER SEARCH. This is a series of three cutesy billboards. Navigation's a bit awkward but I've seen worse. PHOTO GALLERY. About a dozen images including the aforementioned halfsheet repro and stills mounted on more cutesy billboards. I wished they'd skip the billborads and make the photos bigger! BEHIND-THE-SCENE SHORT. Ten minutes of interesting, informative background information regarding the film's genesis. The text is reproduced in the liner notes. ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER. In widescreen! Though the colors are faded it's great to see. Since the film was first released in Japan, it would have been interesting to see that one. Unfortunately, there are three -- totally non-related -- trailers that should not have been included on this disk. NOTABLY ABSENT. No subtitles, in any language. No closed-captioning. BOTTOM LINE. Right now, if you want the best-looking currently available GORGO, this is it. I only wish it were better. I hope MGM does an anamorphic release from the original elements with lots of extras. But I'm not holding my breath.
Rating:
Summary: One Of Benjamin's Favorites
Review: One of his favorites, but it gets four stars because it isn't one of mine. This is the film noir of the 50's golden age tide. No one in this film, except Gorgo, is very likable. Everyone is after a buck and doesn't seem to be too concerned who gets in their way while getting it. I guess what Benjamin likes is that the Mommy/Daddy monster comes and saves Gorgo and I have to say that does alot to redeem the film. This is one I rather he didn't want to watch so often.
Rating:
Summary: English Class and Saurian Sass
Review: The best of the Godzilla-clone classics, this well-heeled offering is superbly written, directed, and performed--and considering that it was filmed at the emergence of the sixties, the monstermation is state of the art. As in most movies of this ilk, civilization provides a ready path for the rampaging creature, but this feature possesses a poignancy and plot-twist that puts it paces ahead of its contemporaries!
Rating: 
Summary: surprise, monsters win
Review: This time the monsters win, people loose. It's about time
Rating:
Summary: Mama Knows Best
Review: This was one of my favorites as a child.I must have seen this one over 25 times!!Its just a great 'forget about reality for awhile' type flick. The special effects for the time were state of the art. The creatures were robots which made it so more realistic than the Godzilla flicks.It still holds up even today.The acting was fine Bill Travers( Born Free) William Sylvester(2001- Space Odyssey).The score, the cinematography, were terrific! And SURPRISE! Much to all viewers delight it DOES NOT have a typical giant monster movie ending!!! Maybe this is the reason why its my favorite out of all of them! If you like this type of a flick you have to own it. Its monster movie folklore!!!
Rating:
Summary: The best London destroyed by a monster movie ever made
Review: You could make the argument that there is an interesting political sub-text to "Gorgo," the 1961 monster movie. After all, Gorgo is discovered by a salvage vessel on the Irish coast and taken to London for display, where a bigger version of the little fellow, who is a relatively standard prehistoric monster, shows up to level London. But this film was the last directed by Eugène Lourié, the Russian-born French art director and director who worked with Jean Renoir. Lourié directed "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and "Behemoth, the Sea Monster," so I am pretty sure he was just making a monster movie and not endorsing the reunification of Ireland. Still, you have to think that the Irish must have found this film more enjoyable than most. It is easy to dismiss "Gorgo" as the British version of "Godzilla," but when it comes to destroying recognizable landmarks this film is without equal until "Deep Impact." Of course, we are talking models and miniatures rather than CGI, but what else would you expect from way back when? The problem is that the plot is predictable, the human cast is utterly forgettable, and until the monster parent actually shows up the action is too slow. But then things get rather interesting in a cheesy sort of way as London's landmarks come tumbling down. Then there is the question of that big monster: we assume it is Gorgo's mother, because we know the maternal instinct is pretty strong, but who can be sure when it comes to telling a monster's gender (and do not even get me started on what should be the name of the big monster). "Gorgo" received "MST3K" treatment during the show's ninth season and was one of those few times when the money was better than the riffs at its expense.
Rating:
Summary: The best London destroyed by a monster movie ever made
Review: You could make the argument that there is an interesting political sub-text to "Gorgo," the 1961 monster movie. After all, Gorgo is discovered by a salvage vessel on the Irish coast and taken to London for display, where a bigger version of the little fellow, who is a relatively standard prehistoric monster, shows up to level London. But this film was the last directed by Eugène Lourié, the Russian-born French art director and director who worked with Jean Renoir. Lourié directed "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and "Behemoth, the Sea Monster," so I am pretty sure he was just making a monster movie and not endorsing the reunification of Ireland. Still, you have to think that the Irish must have found this film more enjoyable than most. It is easy to dismiss "Gorgo" as the British version of "Godzilla," but when it comes to destroying recognizable landmarks this film is without equal until "Deep Impact." Of course, we are talking models and miniatures rather than CGI, but what else would you expect from way back when? The problem is that the plot is predictable, the human cast is utterly forgettable, and until the monster parent actually shows up the action is too slow. But then things get rather interesting in a cheesy sort of way as London's landmarks come tumbling down. Then there is the question of that big monster: we assume it is Gorgo's mother, because we know the maternal instinct is pretty strong, but who can be sure when it comes to telling a monster's gender (and do not even get me started on what should be the name of the big monster). "Gorgo" received "MST3K" treatment during the show's ninth season and was one of those few times when the money was better than the riffs at its expense.
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