Dino Flicks: Gorgo (1961)

Not quite that original, but it is good.

Here's another one I have to chalk up to Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies. Like The Land Unknown, the trailer for this was very late in the compilation and, also like that movie, the title seemed ho-hum after some that had come before, like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Giant Behemoth, The Valley of Gwangi, Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster, The Crater Lake Monster, and Reptilicus (as horrendous as that movie is, the title is pretty awesome). However, unlike The Land Unknown, this one caught my attention, mainly because of how much it resembled a Godzilla movie, both in terms of the monster's design and the similar city destruction sequence it showed clips of. I was still a little too young to completely grasp the story details, in that the monster destroying London was actually the mother of the one that they showed being captured, but regardless, it looked cool. Like a lot of the movies in that compilation, I wouldn't actually see Gorgo until I was a lot older, although I did finally see it when I was in my very early teens, which was earlier than some of others. I bought the VHS of it in the summer of 2001, along with a bunch of others, but when I sat down to watch it, I found myself not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I don't know if it was because I was put off by the kind of public domain-looking picture and audio quality of that tape, if my tastes were changing around that time, or what, but I remember being a bit antsy all throughout watching it. One thing I do remember hurting it was that, right as the movie was about to end, the tape suddenly stopped and started rewinding automatically. I had never had that happen before, nor did anything like it happen afterward with any other VHS, and it really threw me, as I didn't get to experience the movie's true finale. When I later got the film on DVD, I found that the movie was basically over and all I'd missed was the last shot of the two monsters returning to the sea, followed by THE END and the cast list, but until then, I was never eager re-watch Gorgo because of that. Once I had the DVD, although I still didn't watch it that often, I was able to grow to appreciate it and, watching it again for this review, it is a good movie overall. It's kind of weak in the character department but, when it comes to monster movie spectacle, especially in the third act, it does it very well and it's a very to-the-point movie, going at a good pace during its short 76-minute running time.

Off the coast of Ireland, Joe Ryan, a treasure hunter, is salvaging for sunken goods with the help of his crew, particularly his first mate and friend, Sam Slade, when a massive volcanic eruption nearly sinks them. Docking their ship at Nara Island for repairs, they talk with the harbormaster, McCartin, who himself has been salvaging treasure from the ocean floor, and they're told that, without a permit, they can only stay docked for 24 hours, whether their ship is repaired or not. Joe and Sam believe McCartin may have other reasons for wanting to get rid of them and, while out exploring the waters near the island, they come across a party of his men and learn that two of them have disappeared while diving. One of them comes up, holding some golden coins, and subsequently dies, apparently having been frightened to death. Joe and Sam explore the area themselves and, before they can find the rest of the treasure, they head back to the surface when they see an enormous creature swimming nearby. That night, as they're loading fresh water onto their ship, McCartin, angry at them for snooping, orders them to leave as soon as they're all loaded up. Suddenly, the huge beast from before emerges from the bay and comes ashore on the island, although the villagers eventually manage to drive it away. With McCartin's men now asking him for passage on his ship, Joe gives the harbormaster an ultimatum: they'll get rid of the creature for him... if he gives them some of his looted valuables. McCartin reluctantly agrees and the men set a trap for the monster, deciding to capture rather than kill it. Using a bathysphere and a net, they succeed and tie the creature to the deck. Once word gets out, two Irish scientists arrive and offer Joe and Sam a deal, but Joe decides instead to go with a much more lucrative offer from Dorkin's Circus in London. Upon arrival, the creature, dubbed "Gorgo" after the mythological monster the Gorgon, is transported to Battersea Park, where it's to be exhibited in the circus. Despite some trouble getting it into its holding area, which results in the death of one of the workers, Gorgo proves to be a success, both for Dorkin and the seamen. Their excitement is short-lived, though, as the Cambridge scientists inform them that Gorgo, despite its size, is merely an infant, and that its mother could be at least 200 feet tall. Joe is skeptical of this but, sure enough, the mother Gorgo emerges from the sea off Nara Island, destroys the village, and is now on a bee-line straight for London to reclaim her offspring.

Gorgo was the fourth and final film to be directed by Eugene Lourie, a Russian-born Frenchman whose main line of work in the film industry was art direction and production design. It was a conscious choice on his part, as ever since his directorial debut with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms in 1953, he'd found himself pigeonholed as a sci-fi director (in fact, the only stuff he'd directed that wasn't of the genre was his television work and even then, the last bit of TV he directed was an episode of a sci-fi show called World of Giants); what's more, of the four movies he directed, three of them involve giant dinosaur-like monsters attacking major cities and can be thought of as something of a trilogy. As he did with The Giant Behemoth, Lourie had a hand in writing Gorgo, having developed the story with Daniel Hyatt, and once they decided that this was to be another movie about a monster attacking London, he must have decided to make up for the lack of major property damage the monsters in his previous films had caused. The movie may not have turned out 100% the way he wanted, as he didn't like the idea of the mother Gorgo battling the military but was overruled by the producers, Frank and Maurice King (he's said to have acquired a print for himself and edited out all of the scenes involving the armed forces), but if nothing, he did send himself off with a memorable and well-made flick. After Gorgo, Lourie went back to his original job as an art director, as well as dabbling in effects work, getting nominated for an Oscar for the 1969 film, Krakatoa, East of Java. His last major credit was for the 1980 Clint Eastwood film, Bronco Billy, and after having acting parts in the Richard Gere movie, Breathless, and the TV series, Tales of the Unexpected, he retired from the industry. He died in 1991 at the age of 88.

Interestingly, Gorgo is a movie with a cast that's all male. The Giant Behemoth was kind of similar in that, while there was one major female character in that cast, she disappeared from the story completely very early on; here, save for some extras and the bit part of a reporter, there are zero women (unless you count Mama Gorgo). It definitely helps the film stand out among its peers and, as a result, it's free from the cliche of the leading man having a forced and unbelievable romance with the lovely leading lady. Instead, your leads are two longtime friends: Captain Joe Ryan (Bill Travers) and his first mate, Sam Slade (William Sylvester). Both of them are treasure hunters but have fairly different personalities about it, with Joe being very gun-ho about getting his hands on any sunken valuables he can, in spite of the danger (like at the beginning, with the threat of an impending volcanic eruption and after one diver has disappeared in the bay while another died of fright), while Sam tends to be more sensible. Both of them, however, are suspicious about McCartin's claim of a boat only being allowed to dock at Nara Island for 24 hours without a permit, feeling that he has some other reason for wanting to get rid of them, and their suspicions are proven right when the one diver is found with gold coins on his person. After they go snooping around the spot, they're basically forced to leave, but before they can, the young Gorgo makes his appearance and comes ashore. When McCartin's men begin asking him for passage off the island, Joe sees an opportunity to get some of the treasures the harbormaster has salvaged and kept for himself, knowing that he wouldn't want his men to talk about it elsewhere. Moreover, Sam comes up with the notion of capturing Gorgo alive, knowing full-well what a creature like that would be worth, and upon formulating the plan, Joe naturally decides to use himself as bait by going down in a bathysphere. Their ploy works, and they end up with a specimen that's seen as quite valuable to science by a couple of professors, but despite their promised compensation, Joe and Sam are more interested in wealth than science and decide to take Gorgo to London to be featured in Dorkin's Circus.

Is it me or does Bill Travers look a lot like Steven Seagal?

Despite their somewhat selfish and underhanded tendencies, Joe and Sam are, at the end of the day, a couple of likable enough guys who are just trying to their fair share out of what it is rightfully their discovery and capture. Joe can be a bit of a prick at times, with his short temper towards the little boy, Sean (although, granted, the kid did stowaway and does have a habit of getting in the way), the way he writes off the death of one of their men while putting Gorgo into his holding pen, offhandedly suggesting sending some money to his family, and acting skeptical at the possibility of the existence of Gorgo's mother and feeling that it should be easy to stop her when she's on the rampage, but in the end, when Sean puts himself in danger during the climactic attack on London, Joe does the right thing, goes after him, and does what he can to get him to safety. While Sam, on the other hand, has more of a conscience about what happened to their man, he begins to drink uncontrollably, feeling that something bad is about to happen, and when he learns that Gorgo's mother does exist and is heading for London, he tries to let the younger monster out of his holding area while severely drunk, forcing Joe to knock him out. During the third act, like Joe, Sam does try to find Sean and at the end, when Gorgo's mother has found and reclaimed her young, the two of them can only watch as the monsters head back out to sea.

In the trailer, the narrator makes mention of Sean (Vincent Winter), the little boy who becomes attached to the younger Gorgo, and asks the question, "What strange secret does he know?" That's a good question and one whose answer you could easily miss, as Sean does come across as something of a mysterious character. It's suggested that he's an orphan, as when Joe, upon first meeting him, asks him where his father is and he says he doesn't have one, and although he admits to working for McCartin, the only details he gives as to what he does for him is, "A bit of this, and a bit of that," (he does clarify that he cleans the valuables McCartin finds). He also later tells Joe and Sam that the thing about the permit is a "heathen lie." When the younger Gorgo first emerges from the sea and comes ashore, Sean calls him an "ogra," after a legendary sea spirit, and when Joe and Sam begin devising their plan to catch him, the boy tries to warn them off of it, telling them that what they're doing is bad. Whether or not he believes the creature really is a sea spirit incarnate is open for question but, regardless, he does implicitly understand that something like that should be left alone and not snatched away from its home. To that end, when they have managed to capture Gorgo and are taking him to London, Sean sneaks aboard and attempts to free the monster by cutting him loose of his nets. He's caught by Joe and Sam before he can get very far in his plan and, when asked why exactly he was doing it, he answers, "Maybe to save your silly skins for ya," indicating that he knows no good can come of this for anyone. He also continues to display a notion that Gorgo is very special, as when Sam asks if anyone's ever seen anything like him before, Sean says, "Why should anyone have to see it to know it's there?" Having gone too far to take him back to Nara Island, Joe and Sam have no choice but to keep Sean around and, for the most part, he just stands by and watches them as they bring Gorgo to London and put him on display in Battersea Park. He also tries to stop Sam from letting Gorgo out in his drunken stupor, fearing what will happen to him, before Joe has to step in and knock him out. When the mother Gorgo is attacking London, Sean actually slips away from the park and into the heart of the chaos, actually smiling as he watches her destroy everything in her path. Joe catches up to him and takes him back to the park, although they have to make their way through the crowded streets and avoid the ongoing destruction in order to finally get there. And when the mother has reached the park, freed her son, and they head back to the ocean, Sean couldn't be happier (although, granted, despite the fact that he's ignoring how London is in ruins and lots of people have been killed).

McCartin (Christopher Rhodes), the Nara Island harbormaster and self-proclaimed archeologist, comes across as a man with something to hide early on. When he first meets Joe and Sam at his seaside house, he tells them that all of the items he's recovered from the sea and keeps in a backroom of his house have no real value but, regardless of that, no ship is allowed to dock there for more than 24 hours without a permit, seaworthy or not. He's good enough to give them fresh water but it's clear that he wants them gone as soon as possible, and he's none too happy when he learns that they were snooping around out in the bay. When he sees that they're now doubting what he told them about their only being allowed to stay for 24 hours, McCartin orders them to leave as soon as they're loaded with fresh water. Just at that moment, though, the younger Gorgo emerges from the sea and comes ashore before being driven back. The next day, with his men threatening to desert him, McCartin, secretly fearing that they might spill the beans about the valuable items and coins he's salvaged from the sea, has no choice but to accept Joe's offer to get rid of Gorgo for him, in exchange for some of his more lucrative pieces. But, even though they do succeed, McCartin's troubles are far from over, as later in the film, Gorgo's gigantic mother comes ashore and completely destroys the village, killing the harbormaster in the process.

Those are really the only true leading characters we have, as all the others who are worth mentioning are mere supporting parts. Profs. Flaherty (Bruce Seton) and Hendricks (Joseph O'Conor), two paleontologists from Dublin who are sent to verify Gorgo's existence after he's first been captured, immediately realize what an important scientific discovery the creature is and try to make a deal with Joe to transport him to the University of Dublin for study, insisting that he and Sam will be well compensated. Needless to say, they're not at all happy when the men go behind their backs and accept the deal from Dorkin's Circus instead, not only because they feel they stole Gorgo from them but also because of the possibilities that he's carrying unusual diseases that could spread throughout London, as well as how dangerous transporting him to Battersea Park could be. Although Dorkin does promise them the opportunity to study Gorgo once he's on display, the two of them still leave in a rather irritated mood (apparently, they're not the only ones angry about this, as you later hear that the Irish government is attempting to take Gorgo back through legal means). Later, they contact Joe and Sam again, this time to inform that, through their studies, they've discovered that Gorgo is merely an infant and therefore, his parent, who is possibly lurking somewhere, could be as much as 200 feet tall. Joe, however, is skeptical and protests the idea of alerting the authorities over, "A few calculations made on a piece of paper," but Hendricks tells him that the decision is no longer in his hands. The professors do go to Admiral Brooks and, while he himself is also skeptical, mainly because he hasn't seen Gorgo, it doesn't take long for them to realize that the creature's mother does exist and is on her way to London, following trail left in the ocean by her offspring's being continuously doused with water to keep his skin moist (a suggestion by Flaherty). The both of them are clearly horrified when it seems every possible method of keeping the mother from reaching London has failed and that landfall seems inevitable but they refuse to give up, as near the end of the film, after she's destroyed half of London, they advise the military general on the amount of voltage necessary to kill her. Even this last plan doesn't work, though, and they, along with everyone else, can only watch as the two monsters head back out to sea.

Dorkin (Martin Benson), the owner of the circus who ends up with the younger Gorgo, doesn't have a lot of screentime but in what little he has, he does come across as a bit of a flamboyant promoter, like in the press conference he gives shortly after the monster has been transported to Battersea Park. He goes on about how he decided to exhibit Gorgo because he immediately realized his "scientific potential," that they rushed the job of building the enclosure so everyone in London could see him for themselves, he encourages anyone who wants to see Gorgo to do so very soon given the Irish government's impending legal proceedings to recover him, and that Gorgo is named after the Gorgon (incidentally, when he's asked how much money he expects to make off of the monster, he says, "I'll answer that question later on,"). When the exhibition is opened, Dorkin is really showing off his selling skills, talking about how only those in London can see Gorgo, that parents should bring their children because it would be very instructive, and even goes as far as to say to a woman, "What's that, madam? Looks like your husband? Go inside and find out!" Later, when the mother Gorgo is virtually on London's doorstep, he's present at the command center and is so flabbergasted at what's happening that he has no response when Sam demands that they release the young creature back to the sea. After that, the film cuts to the exhibition area, now completely deserted, and at the end, when they attempt to kill the mother with electricity, he's present and can do nothing but gawk when the last plan fails and she manages to return to the sea with her offspring.

Like I said before, Admiral Brooks (Basil Dignam) is initially skeptical of the professors' warning him of the mother Gorgo, as he hasn't had time to go and see the infant at Battersea Park, but when he receives the report that Nara Island has been destroyed and she's been sighted heading for London, he quickly changes his tune. He calls in Joe and Sam for any vital information they may have and, despite his forces initially failing to kill her, he remains confident that they can stop her, although he soon loses that confidence when she proves just how powerful and unstoppable she is by making it to the mouth of the Thames and going on a very destructive rampage in the heart of London. After that, Brooks is never seen again, as the role of commander switches to an unnamed army general (Martin Boddey), who also finds himself at a loss to do anything to stop the rampaging mother. One guy who finds himself caught up in the chaos from the moment it starts is this radio reporter (Maurice Kauffman) who is there when she comes ashore and watches as she wades through a volley cannon-fire from the military and smashes London Bridge to pieces (during all of his scenes, you can plainly tell that this actor is standing in front of a blue screen rather than at the actual location). He shows up in Piccadilly Circus later, continuing to cover Gorgo's ongoing rampage and is stunned at what's going on as he watches her destroying everything in her path and thousands of people running through the streets, saying that not even the worst of the Blitz compares to it. When she finally reaches Battersea Park, the reporter has a brief ray of hope when she appears to be injured by the very high voltage that's transferred to the cables around her young's enclosure but, in spite of it, she manages to rescue him and return to the sea, with the reporter making final commentary on it.
 

Going back to the look of the film, I mentioned that, when I first saw it on VHS, it looked like a public domain release and, as it turned out, when it was released to DVD by VCI, it didn't look much better at all. It had that same washed out look to the colors and a kind of fuzziness to the images, akin to all the public domain releases of the Roger Corman movie, The Terror (the images of the characters up above and the images here are examples of how the film used to look). At this moment, I don't have the Blu-Ray release but, having seen clips from it online, I can say that, while it does look better now than it did before, it still doesn't have the glossy look you often get with movies made around this time that have been given a hi-def transfer. I'm guessing that must be due to the film stock that the filmmakers used rather than any cheapness on their part, given the number of effects sequences and the sheer scope of many of the setpieces. In any case, it does give the film a unique look that makes it stand out from a lot of its peers and, when you watch a really good transfer, it does have a nice look to it overall.

Originally, the film was meant to be set in Japan, likely as a possible tribute to Godzilla (although, this was when there were only two Godzilla movies in existence, so he hadn't yet made his indelible mark on pop culture; plus, again, Eugene Lourie was hesitant to have the mother Gorgo fight the armed forces) but when that didn't work out, they initially thought about moving it to Australia and then to Paris before finally settling on Ireland and England. I've wondered if setting the first act in Ireland was to keep it from looking as if Lourie was repeating himself, given how The Giant Behemoth was set entirely in England, with a third act in and around London. In any case, what's noteworthy about Gorgo is that a lot of the scenes with the actors were filmed in real locations, specifically Coliemore Harbor in Dublin, which served as Nara Island, and also the actual city of London. The latter is most prominently featured during the scene in the second act where the young Gorgo is transported to Battersea Park, where you not only see the truck carrying him driving through the heart of the city but also many cutaways of people watching the sight from nearby and on the TV, but the scenes depicting his arrival at the park and the crowds of people watching him after he's been put on exhibition look like they were filmed in the real place. And during the third act, there are many shots of people running through the streets, vehicles crowding the roads, and military vehicles that are clearly actual London. In fact, apart from the effects sequences, it doesn't look like there were many scenes that were shot in the studio, although some notable ones are the interiors of McCartin's valuable-filled house, Joe's ship (as well as possibly some scenes on the deck), the inside of his and Sam's trailer at the park, the museum where they meet up with the professors, and the command center. There are some shots where the actors are meant to look like they're at the actual locations but are clearly in a studio in front of a blue screen, like some of the shots of them on the bay of Nara Island and the aforementioned shots of the reporter during the third act, there's a lot of obvious stock footage of battleships, submarines, and fighter jets during the action scenes (some of it is actually of the American armed forces and has been featured in previous monster films), and the little bit of underwater cinematography is pretty awful in how it looks, but it's all forgivable, given how impressive everything else is.

But, while we're on the subject of the movie's shortcomings, let's talk a little more about the lack of clarity of the underwater material and a bit later on that has a similar problem. While it was quite bold of them to attempt some underwater cinematography, it is really hard to see what's going on in that section. I guess that could be the point, that it's supposed to be a bit murky, and that does help give the brief shot of Gorgo swimming a creepy vibe to it, but for the most part, it looks like just plain bad camerawork and bad film preservation. The same goes for the scenes aboard Joe's ship after Gorgo has been captured. There's a lot of fog in those sections shot on the deck where Gorgo is kept netted down and, again, I'm sure it's meant to evoke mood but it ends up obscuring things more than anything else. There's one part where Sean looks up at Gorgo after it's been revealed he's stowed away but the shot of the monster is so misty that you can barely see him and it kind of hurts what they were going for, as it does when Sean tries to cut him loose. Again, none of this hurts the movie in the long run but it's proof that, as good as it is, it's not perfect.

In spite of the death and destruction they cause, both of the Gorgos are definitely meant to be sympathetic monsters from the beginning, as you learn they were thrust into this modern world they don't understand by the volcanic eruption at the beginning of the movie. It's heavily implied that the two missing members of McCartin's men ran into the younger one while diving and, while one of them disappeared completely, with his fate remaining unknown, the one who came to the surface was merely frightened to death (it's possible the same thing happened to the other and they just never found him). The infant Gorgo's attack on Nara Island comes about mainly because a search party looking for the other diver spears him in the head, angering him and prompting him to attack them. The others, in turn, begin throwing their spears at him and he, naturally, fights back, chasing them back to the shore and rampaging through the village in a rage. It's only when they start throwing torches at him that he retreats back into the sea and, soon afterward, he's captured when he approaches Joe's bathysphere purely out of curiosity. He's then taken all the way to London, heavily drugged while being transported to Battersea Park, gets a rude awakening at the park when a stupid photographer flashes a bulb in his face, causes more destruction and kills someone in a panicked rage as he's forced into an enclosure, and has to endure people gawking at him as he stumbles around in this enclosure, confused, frightened, and unable to escape because of the high-voltage wires surrounding it. The mother, despite being far more destructive and dangerous, is actually easier to sympathize with because of how simple her plight is: she knows her offspring has been taken, she's enraged, and she's not going to stop until she gets him back. She follows a trail he left behind from water being continuously streamed on him during his transport to England and she wades through attacks by the British Navy, the Air Force, and the armed forces to reach London. She may destroy half of the city and kill a lot of people but it never seems like it's due to pure malevolence but rather due to her blind fury, which is only exacerbated by the continuing attacks on her. And once she manages to rescue her son, the two of them making happy sounds at each other upon being reunited, they return to the sea without further incident. (The decision for this unorthodox ending for this type of movie stemmed from how Eugene Lourie's young daughter was unhappy with her father for the death of the monster at the end of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Therefore, I'm guessing that means she couldn't have cared less about the monster in The Giant Behemoth. Why? Doesn't he deserve some love too?)

Even though the design of the Gorgos does seem to be little more than a reconfigure of Godzilla (I've seen clips from this movie used in shows where the misinformed host is supposed to be discussing Godzilla), it has kind of become iconic in its own right. It's the same basic form: a huge, upright, dinosaur-like creature, akin to either a Tyrannosaurus Rex or an Allosaurus, but the details are what make it stand out. The tail is shorter, the back is kind of shell-shaped, with ridges running along it that are akin to Godzilla's dorsal plates, the feet look more like that of an actual theropod dinosaur (bird-like, with three toes), the hands are big paws, and the head has a pair of fin-like ears that tend to wiggle, which has become something of a Gorgo trademark. And while, despite popular misconceptions, Godzilla has almost always been a dark gray color rather than green, the Gorgos actually painted a dark shade of green on their backsides, while the front of their bodies is a light, peachy sort of color, and their eyes glow a menacing red. Their main vocalization is this memorable scream that sounds like an elephant pitched lower than usual, and they also emit lion-like growls and high-pitched screeches whenever they're in pain or frightened.

Few movies made during or after the golden age of the kaiju genre in Japan have truly been able to match the artistry and craftmanship of those films, especially those made by Toho, but Gorgo is a film that successfully meets that challenge in a number ways. First of all, if it isn't clear by now, the monster suits are nicely designed and painted and are lit in a manner to where it's very easy to buy them as living, breathing creatures. What's more, from everything I've read, the same suit actor played both Gorgos, seeing as how they're not onscreen together until the very end, when the mother rescues her child and they return to the sea. There, they used some very well done compositing, as well as probably a small prop of the younger Gorgo for the final shot, to get them both in the same frame. As for who the suit actor, a man named Mick Dillon is most often credited, although on IMDB, another man, Dave Wilding, is also said to have worn the suit. Since his name appears in the credits under "stunts," he probably acted as back up for when Dillon needed a break, as well as for those aforementioned two-monster shots. In addition to the suits, the effects team came up with a number of full-sized props, like the big body of the baby Gorgo when he's tied on the deck of the ship and when he's being transported through London, a big hand to push against people, and a large foot for a shot when the mother smashes through her child's enclosure (I have a feeling they may have also built a big, separate head that could open its eyes for the shots of the mother Gorgo emerging from the sea, as that doesn't look quite like the head of the suit). Although the shots of the younger Gorgo "swimming" underwater look a tad hokey, as you can tell it's a miniature set that's simply made to look like it's underwater, the rest of this is great work all-around and helps to create the illusion of a couple of big, reptilian monsters.

In addition to the monster effects, the miniature and modelwork in the movie is exquisite and rivals what Eiji Tsuburaya and his team were doing over in Japan around this same time (in fact, this movie was released the same year that Mothra came out over there and the plots of the films are kind of similar, as Mothra goes on a rampage to recover the kidnapped twin fairies, just as the mother Gorgo does to get back her son, and both movies have happy endings for the monsters). Not only are the miniature sets of Nara Island, London, and the exhibition area at Battersea Park well-done, with the buildings being nicely-detailed and looking great when they crumble, but the scale of some of these miniatures is quite impressive, like the massive replicas of Tower Bridge and Big Ben and the building with neon lights advertising the young Gorgo that gets smashed during the mother's rampage. The model boats also look really good, like Joe's ship at the beginning and the battleships the mother destroys on her way to London, and, again, the scale of them is really cool (when the former is getting tossed around by the volcanic eruption during the opening, it rivals the miniature ship that Gaira sinks at the beginning of The War of the Gargantuas), but the ones that really impressed me were the little fishing boats that the baby tangles with when he first appears. They used the suit in conjunction with this little boat with fake fishermen in it for a shot where he first smashes one of them and it's edited so well, being onscreen for a fraction of a second, and the miniature is so nicely detailed that I thought it was a matte shot with actual actors in the boat along with the suit-actor! And the special effects of that erupting volcano and the roiling seas it causes during the opening are as cool as they come.

Finally, the matting and compositing of the monster and model effects with the real actors and locations is quite impressive more often than not. There are some elements that don't quite gel, like a shot of the baby Gorgo composited with real location work during his first appearance and some instances during the third act where falling debris from the buildings clearly isn't touching the people running below it, and as I said earlier, there are moments where you can tell the actors in front of a blue screen, but there are far more that are jaw-dropping in how well-done they are. The wide-shots of the baby Gorgo at Battersea Park, both when he's being forced back into his enclosure and when he's on exhibition, and the similar ones of the mother when she's trashing London, such as when you see her in the background and real people and vehicles moving in what looks like the real Piccadilly Circus in the foreground, are particularly excellent examples, and it's a real shame that this movie didn't even get nominated for an Oscar for its effects work ("visual effects" didn't become a true Oscar category until the 90's but you'd think they would have at least recognized that the stuff in this film was a true achievement; I have heard that it was considered for one, though, so at least there's that). Speaking of which, though, a big reason why the effects hold up so well is because they were produced by Tom Howard, who actually had won two Oscars before for his work on the films Blithe Spirit and Tom Thumb and would go on to work on big movies like Lawrence of Arabia, The Haunting, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

After the opening credits, the film begins with the crew of Joe Ryan's ship on deck, nervously watching a violent churning in the water nearby, which is an undersea volcano that's threatening to erupt. Harry (Barry Keegan), one of the ship's mates, informs Sam Slade that the men are starting to get edgy, when Joe comes up from a dive down below and climbs up onto the ship. Sam tells him to hurry up so they can get out but Joe isn't ready to leave yet, saying there's a lot of valuable stuff down in the sunken ship he's been exploring. Sam points out the volcanic disturbance nearby but Joe isn't concerned, assuring his friend that he'll be back up in ten minutes, and heads back down, as the men continue to nervously watch the spot. He's shown swimming amongst the wreckage (again, the cinematography here is very poor) and we then cut back to the ship up top, where Harry now tells Sam that Joe's been gone for half an hour (a dissolve might have been better to show the passage of time than just a cut); he also mentions that he's never seen anything like the violently bubbling water the men can't take their eyes off. Sam decides he's had enough and prepares to go down and fetch Joe, when he finally resurfaces and climbs up onto the deck. That's when the peak of the volcano begins rising out of the sea and the men begin preparing to leave. The volcano explodes, sending a violent downpour of water onto the ship and causing it to dip over sharply, throwing everyone around on the deck. Another wave pushes it over on the opposite side, as Sam struggles his way up to the bridge and the ship continues to get knocked around. On the bridge, Sam and Joe try to get control of the ship but flung back and forth by the violent lurching like the men on the deck, who are also getting swamped by water. This continues for a little bit, with the ship coming very close to capsizing, and the scene ends when a gigantic wave builds and builds until it descends on them.

The next day, after assessing the damage to the ship's rudder, Joe and Sam decide to go ashore to see if the people of Nara Island have anything that could help them. While heading out along with Harry via motorboat, they come across the carcasses of some strange creatures, like big fish with lizard-like features to their bodies, such as long tails, tongues, and limbs, floating on the surface. Joe even picks one up to get a better look at it before tossing it back (these creatures, by the way, look very rubbery when the camera gets in close on them), as Sam comments that the ocean floor must have been torn apart by the eruption. After meeting with Sean and McCartin on the island, and being told that they can't dock for longer than 24 hours without a permit, Joe and Sam decide to figure out exactly why the harbormaster is so eager to get rid of them. The two of them and Harry go out into the bay and come across a party of men in rowboats, apparently looking for something. When they get close enough, Joe asks the men if they're having any luck in what they're doing but they answer back in Gaelic, as they did on the island, and Harry tells him that they can speak English but are choosing not to. Being able to speak Gaelic himself, Harry talks to them and eventually learns that two divers are missing. They move in closer upon hearing this and Sam spots one of the divers floating near the surface, face-down. They pull him up into their boat and check to see if he's okay, when Joe finds that he's holding some gold coins, which he realizes is what McCartin is worried about them learning of. Suddenly, despite not having a mark on him, the groaning diver suddenly expires, perplexing Joe and Sam. Looking at him, the latter suggests that he might have died of pure fright.

The men head back out to the spot later that day, Joe and Sam now wearing diving suits, although Sam is not at all enthusiastic about going down, considering what happened. Joe tells him he doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to but Sam insists that he is going, just to make sure that Joe gets back. Upon reaching the spot, they put on their masks and dive over the side. Swimming down to the bottom of the bay, they come across another sunken ship, but they don't get to explore it for very long before the two of them spot a large, darkly-colored creature floating in the water nearby. One look at that and they swim back to the surface as fast as they can. Later, as they're drying off, and having a smoke, Joe asks Sam what it was he saw and Sam simply replies, "I don't know, but whatever it was, I don't ever want to see it again."

That night, as barrels of fresh water are being loaded onto the ship, Joe and Sam are informed by Sean that McCartin wants to see them, as well as that the yarn about the permit is a complete lie. Putting Harry in charge, they go ashore, just as a party of men in rowboats are heading out into bay, with Sean explaining that it's believed the diver who was never found was killed by a shark (the big wide shot of them rowing into the heart of the bay is a really nice piece of cinematography). After their brief, tense meeting with McCartin, the film cuts to the search party in the bay, with one boat coming near a roiling in the water. The man out in front grabs a harpoon and flings it at the spot, which is when the young Gorgo rises up out of the water, with the harpoon sticking out of his head. He promptly smashes the boat, sending the men into the water, and those onshore, hearing his shrieks catch sight of him, with Sean identifying him as "Ogra." As McCartin rushes out of his house with a rifle, Gorgo gets a volley of more harpoons thrown at him from the other boaters and quickly smashes another boat, as the others make it back to shore. Undeterred, Gorgo follows them and comes ashore himself, smashing a couple of docked boats with his tail and moving inland as McCartin and two other men fire at him. Regardless of this attack, he continues advancing on the village, as the frightened people retreat. Spying a bonfire, Joe gets an idea and flings a torch at the monster, followed by Sam. Gorgo merely swipes at the torches, not reacting even when one lands in his mouth, but when all of the villagers start throwing torches at him, his threatening screeches soon turn into frightened screams and, wiggling his ears frantically, he retreats back into the sea and disappears beneath the water.

Upon blackmailing McCartin into letting them get rid of Gorgo in exchange for some his valuables, as well as deciding that the creature might be worth more alive, they set up a plan to catch him using the lights of a bathysphere as a lure. Joe climbs into the thing, the hatch is secured, and it's hoisted up into the air by a crane before being lowered down into the water. Once he's below the surface, Joe radios Sam on the boat and tells him to lower him down to about fifteen fathoms, the bathysphere descending down above a row of jagged rocks on the ocean floor before stopping. Joe contacts Sam again and is told that they got him down to ten fathoms. Deciding that's enough, he asks for them to begin trailing the bathysphere through the water at about four to five knots. They start moving through the bay, with Joe keeping an eye out for Gorgo amongst the reefs through the portholes, and it isn't long before he appears. Joe tells Sam to stop the engine and they do, as Gorgo swims right for the bathysphere. Joe then tells Sam to slow up a little bit but Gorgo grabs the bathysphere out of curiosity, knocking Joe about inside, and he tells them to pull him up. They try to bring up the bathysphere with all their might but Gorgo's grip on it is too strong for them and water begins leaking into it. Sam tells Joe that the cable will snap if they put any more pressure on it and he tells him to drop the nets instead. The men quickly lob the nets over the side, as Joe continues to get thrown around inside the bathysphere, and within seconds, Gorgo becomes tangled up. They then pull the growling and struggling monster up to the surface, lower him on the deck, and tie him down.

The news of Gorgo's capture becomes a worldwide sensation and two of Ireland's top paleontologists are dispatched to claim the creature. In the next scene, Profs. Flaherty and Hendricks arrive onboard the ship and shown the subdued Gorgo, the sight of which absolutely amazes them. Flaherty then makes the deal with Joe and Sam to take the creature to Dublin and, before they depart, advises them to keep his skin wet with a constant stream of water. Once the professors leave the ship, Joe shows Sam the wire he got from Dorkin's Circus in London and the much more lucrative amount they're offering; it takes no discussion whatsoever for them to decide to head to London rather than Dublin. While they're en route to London, it's then revealed that Sean has stowed away and, once the coast is clear, he walks up to Gorgo and tells him that he's there to allow him to escape back to the sea. Finding something in a tool chest, he attempts to use it to wrench the nets free, but he's immediately caught by an irritated Joe, who grabs him and slams him up against a wall, demanding to know what he's doing. Sam shows up to calm his friend down and Sean gets the chance to tell them what he was trying to do. Knowing they can't take him back, Joe has Sam give Sean a bunk and then tells Harry to have someone guard Gorgo 24/7. As Sean is carried up to his quarters, Harry gives a seaman a rifle and tells him to shoot if Gorgo so much as moves. After a brief moment between the two men and Sean in the cabin, Joe and Sam come back out and notice that the water off the side appears to be boiling. Joe dismisses it as mere phosphorus, while Sam notes that it's coming from the water leaking off of Gorgo. Suddenly, they hear a scream from the deck, followed by the sound of Gorgo growling, and they rush over there to find that he's struggling in the nets, flailing his arms. The men then throw ropes over him and tie them to the deck in order to secure him more firmly. Once that's done, he stops struggling and the ship continues on to London.

Upon arrival in London, the heavily-sedated Gorgo is shown being transported through the heart of the city via a convoy of trucks and the event is broadcast on TV, with many viewers across the city, such as people on the street, bar patrons, and even a mechanic in the middle of a job, watching it. The reporter makes comments about how many Londoners are still skeptical that it's not a hoax, that the streets have been cleared of any unnecessary traffic (a story-point to explain why Piccadilly Circus is completely, as they shot this footage very early on a Sunday morning), how terrifying Gorgo looks, and that several people have been killed during his capture. The convoy enters Battersea Park and the Festival Gardens, where many spectators watch as Gorgo is driven inside, and a car being driven by Dorkin, with Joe and Sam in the back, pull up beside. The reporter mentions that Joe and Sam are the ones who captured Gorgo, commenting, "And I don't envy them the job."

That night, Joe and Sam are supervising the moving of Gorgo into his enclosure at Battersea Park. The still netted, chained, and drugged creature is very slowly lowered down to the ground by a couple of cranes, as Sean, Dorkin, and the professors watch from nearby. A group of men pull Gorgo into place with a rope as he's finally lowered and some men with wire-cutters move in to cut him loose of the net. As they do so, an idiot reporter jumps over the barrier keeping the spectators back, runs right up to Gorgo, and takes a photo with a bright flash bulb, which causes his eye to open. Joe angrily storms up to the man, telling him, "That's a hell of a dumb thing to do!", but before he can be dealt with, the coward runs off as Gorgo rises up and breaks completely free of his chains and the net. The men begin running in a panic as he stands up between the cranes, roars, and begins walking forward, knocking over a dump truck with his foot. The other animals in the park, such as the lions and the panthers, start going nuts from the commotion (you can tell that those shots are stock footage that was filmed during the day) and Joe yells for the flamethrowers. Gorgo knocks over another truck, causing a man to tumble to the ground, and it (randomly) explodes when it falls over. He then turns and sways his tail, slamming into an elephant display and causing another explosion. Joe and two of the men with the flamethrowers face Gorgo and shoot streams of fire right at him, causing him to let out a volley of panicked screeches and back away. After being blasted a number of times, he turns to his left, only to be faced with more flamethrower-wielders, these led by Sam. Flailing in a panic, Gorgo turns around and begins walking towards the interior of his enclosure, the only clear spot. However, as he turns, he slams a man, Mike, with his tail and causes him to flip into the air before hitting the ground. Joe and Sam run to the Mike's aid, as Gorgo is finally forced completely into the enclosure and the gate closed behind him, but it becomes clear by the looks on their faces that he's dead from the force of the impact.

Despite that setback, the next cut shows that Gorgo's exhibition has proved quite successful, as there's a sign displaying his name in Piccadilly Circus, as well as double-decker buses advertising his display by Dorkin's Circus crusing through the city. At Battersea Park, things are in full swing, with fireworks lighting up the night sky, people enjoying the rides and other attractions, and Dorkin doing his best bit of barking to a crowd of people outside of Gorgo's gate (he actually calls him the Eighth Wonder of the World, by the way), waving assuredly to Joe as he drives past the crowd in a nice-looking convertible. Inside the enclosure, Gorgo is looking around at the rows of people gawking at him and is clearly roaring and fidgeting out of discomfort. One spectator who's not laughing or smiling, though, is Sean, who looks at the distressed creature with a sympathetic look and the two of them appear to lock eyes for a moment; nearby, Joe and Dorkin couldn't be happier at the full house they have. At their small trailer in the back of the park, Sam is anything but happy, drinking out of sorrow over what happened to Mike and fearing that something bad is going to happen, the restless cries of the other animals keeping him on edge. That's when Joe gets a call from one of the professors and he and Sam go to meet up with them, as he's been told that they've learned something. When they arrive at their office, Prof. Hendricks tells them that Gorgo is not only not fully grown but that he could very well be an infant and that an adult, if one exists, could be gigantic. He shows them a couple of sketches to show the vast difference in size between the infant and adult's skeletons and Joe realizes that an adult could be as big as 200 feet tall. Flaherty believes that the proper authorities must be notified but Joe isn't keen on doing so, feeling they're jumping the gun over a couple of calculation; Hendricks, however, tells him that it's out of his hands. Back at Battersea Park, Gorgo stirs inside his enclosure, touching the electrified wires around the pit and roaring, as Sean watches helplessly from nearby.

Back at Nara Island, a storm is brewing, but McCartin is just sitting in his house and examining his gold pieces, ignoring the thunder and the sound of a dog barking. However, that's when Gorgo's enormous mother emerges from the sea with a loud, angry roar and, upon hearing this, McCartin runs to the window and looks outside to see her stomping across the island, stomping the houses that her son was just barely taller than with her huge feet. McCartin runs outside just as she brings her foot down on his house but he's crushed under the rubble, as the mother Gorgo makes her way to the other side of the island and returns to the ocean. (Some sources have called the mother "Ogra," after the sea spirit that Sean talked about earlier, but I'd never heard of that until I read up on it for this review, as I've always just called her "Mama Gorgo," especially since she's clearly the monster that's always been identified as the movie's titular character. Because of that, I'm just going to continue referring to her as such.)

Admiral Brooks may be initially skeptical of what the two professors tell him but he begins to change his tune when he hears that there's been contact with Nara Island for the past three days. An aircraft carrier is dispatched to the area to investigate. We're then treated to stock footage of a ship and fighter jets taking off from its deck, followed up by one of the pilots of a search plane scanning the area with binoculars. The men on the ship are then told that the planes have seen something and the captain tells them to turn the ship to port. Looking through his own binoculars, the captain sees a rolling disturbance in the water ahead, and as the search plane pilot looks through his own binoculars, he sees the mother Gorgo poke her head out of the water. The captain immediately orders them to fire on her with the ships turrets and she's immediately bombarded by depth charges, the water around her exploding into foaming geysers and violent waves (shots of her roaring head are inter-cut with stock footage of actual depth charge explosions at sea). Once the attack ends, there's no sign of the monster and this is reported from the search plane back to the ship. The fighter jets are shown landing back on the ship, while back in London, Joe and Sam arrive at the command center. They're told of the destruction of Nara Island, of the sighting of Gorgo's mother, and when they're shown her location on the map, Sam sees that it looks as if she's approaching England. They then deduce that spraying the infant down with water while they were transporting him may have left some kind of trail that she's now following. Brooks is then informed of the attack on her and he's confident that, although it hasn't been confirmed, that she was killed by the bombardment. However, back at the scene, the mother Gorgo, floating down below the ship, suddenly surfaces off to its side. Those onboard immediately scramble to respond but, as the search plane above watches, she pushes it over until the center snaps and water begins rushing in. In London, Brooks is informed that the ship has been sunk, with everyone aboard. Sam begins ranting about letting the infant back out into the sea but Joe feels that there must be some way of handling the mother and Brooks remains confident that they can stop her, saying so before dismissing them for the evening.

That night, Joe arrives at the now abandoned Battersea Park and finds that Sam, completely drunk, is trying to open up the young Gorgo's gate, with Sean futilely trying to stop him. He manages to get the outer set of doors open and stumbles to the second set, preparing to turn the wheel that opens it, but Joe shows up and pulls him away. Sam attempts to struggle with Joe but gets clocked in the face and knocked back. This doesn't deter him, as he grabs Joe from behind again, and is once again reluctantly belted by his friend, which now knocks him out cold. Joe quickly closes the gate doors before Gorgo can escape, as Sean tries to wake Sam up. Telling the boy that Sam will be find, Joe picks his friend up, puts him over his shoulder, and walks off with him. The film cuts to a newscaster, who reports of a deployment of the NATO fleet to locate and kill the mother before she reaches the coast. We get more stock footage of the ships communicating with each other through morse code, radar men keeping in contact with them (one of these shots is a colorized version of a radar man that was used before in The Deadly Mantis), and planes being deployed. It isn't long before she's spotted, as she emerges from the water, and the ships open fire, again hitting her with everything they have and blowing seawater everywhere with their depth charges. Following the bombardment, she dives down beneath the water and a submarine amongst the fleet follows after her. Once they get into position (one of the men in the stock footage of the submarine crew kind of looks like Sam Raimi), they fire two torpedoes but, in spite of the ensuing explosions, they're told that she's moving towards the estuary at a speed that's too fast for them to follow (the stock footage of the radar men here was used in the American version of Rodan). Brooks then contacts the submarine control.

Submarine nets are put as a last line of defense but no sooner do they begin to close them than an alarm sounds and the head of submarine control is told that the nets are being torn. As Gorgo's head emerges from the water afterward, Brooks grimly tells those at submarine control that there's nothing further they can do and, telling his subordinates what's happened, tells them to get him river control. At this point, Gorgo is wading through the Thames and a radio reporter comments on what's happening as she approaches, commenting on the second line of defense that's mounting. A boat full of men arrives at a large one moored there and they start filling the water with petrol. As Gorgo advances closer, they quickly abandon the ship, get back on the boat that took them over, and head back to shore. They take cover behind a small barrier of sandbags and the captain tells them to fire. One of the men shoots a flare into the air and when it lands in the water, it instantly ignites the petrol, creating a big wall of flames in front of Gorgo that causes her to rear back and let out her panicked screams; the flames, however, also end up engulfing a group of dumb teens who got too close to the water to watch the action. It soon becomes clear that, despite her screams, the flames aren't slowing Gorgo's advance at all and the captain contacts army headquarters. Cutting there, we see the general completely dismiss the notion of using atomic weapons but does approve of tanks. A squadron of them begin moving out, as a military announcer warns the populace of what's going on, informing them of a state of emergency for all areas within three miles of the River Thames. As the tanks continue moving out, the streets in London are being cleared by the police, with hundreds of civilians running for shelters. The armed forces set up at the edge of the city, with the rushing civilians being advised to go to their homes and wait until they're told that the emergency is over (it always kills me in these scenes in monster movies where they say, "Don't panic," as if they expect people to be calm at the notion of a huge, destructive creature approaching). We get more shots of the armed forces getting into firing positions (unlike before, this doesn't look like stock footage) and the commander tells headquarters that Gorgo is heading up the river, straight towards them, as onlookers watch from nearby and the reporter tells of growing casualties among their forces, as well as that Downing Street is constant communication with other world capitals.

One of the soldiers blows a whistle and the commander of the unit tells his men to shoot the flares. The sky is lit up by the bright lights, illuminating Gorgo, and they open fire, pelting her with a volley of gun- and tank-fire. However, she's clearly more enraged by the attack than injured and, approaching the Tower Bridge, she rips into one of the towers, sending tons of debris crumbling down to the ground, sending the troops fleeing and crushing those who don't run in time. She then smashes the railing on the tower's right side and, as she continues to be fired upon, she destroys the scaffolding connecting the towers, sending the troops gathered there falling into the water below, before putting her foot on the bridge itself and crushing it with her weight. Those in the water swim for safety, as she destroys the side of the other tower, sending more debris falling and picking up a chunk of it, with a couple of men falling out (said effect is a bit of very poor animation but it's so darkly photographed, you're unlikely to really see it unless you look very close). The reporter is horrified at this sight, reporting how one of London's oldest landmarks has been destroyed like it was nothing and that so far, nothing has stopped Gorgo. Elsewhere, the army general reports the destruction of the bridge to his commanders, as Gorgo pushes a crane out of her way and reaches the mouth of the Thames, stepping up on the shore. People are still clearing the streets as she enters London, destroying a building and sending rubble crashing down on those below. She starts to head down the street, sparking a flash from a high-tension wire as she goes. More troops move in, this time toting missile launchers, along with more tanks, and get into their positions. The commander contacts the general, asking if they have any estimate as to when Gorgo will reach them and he simply tells them to stand by. They then use a spotlight to illuminate Gorgo as she approaches Big Ben, while the men continue loading missiles into the turrets. The commander gets the okay to aim the turrets at her, as she stomps towards the clock-tower amidst a skyline that's red with fire and smoke, and they begin firing. The missiles mainly miss her, although one flies right through Big Ben's clock-face to hit her, and she reacts by pushing the top of the clock-tower over, the debris smashing down on a turret and the smaller building below. She follows that up by tearing off more of the tower, crushing more men and equipment on the street, before moving further into the city, while at Battersea Park, her child, apparently sensing her presence, is flailing against the electric wires surrounding his enclosure.

Joe and Sam help fix the connection that the infant burned out during his flailing, when they realize that Sean is missing. We then see that Sean has been picked up by troops in a back of a covered truck and Joe and Sam, upon seeing this, get into their car and drive after him. Meanwhile, all homes in Gorgo's path are being evacuated, the civilians being told to get out as quickly as they can and move in a westerly direction. Gorgo continues her rampage, walking through and crushing every building in her path and crushing those beneath her, as people run madly through the streets and cars veer crazily through them as well. Following Sean, Joe and Sam end up in the middle of the chaos and find their way blocked by abandoned cars and fleeing people, forcing them to get out and walk. Moving through the congested streets, Joe climbs atop a parked jeep for a higher vantage point but sees no sign of Sean in the masses and he and Sam split up. Joe continues searching for Sean, while Gorgo keeps walking through and crushing all of the apartment houses in her path. Sean, ignoring the running people, sits nearby and watches as she smashes her hand through the side of one building, actually smiling at the sight of her power. Joe sees him and, after pushing through the crowd, runs up to him and grabs him. He runs off while holding him, as Gorgo stomps, smashes, and crushes everything in her path, killing those who aren't able to escape quick enough and continuing to send everyone else into a crazed panic, running and falling over each other as they attempt to get to safety. The insides of would-be shelters become so congested with people that they fall over the railings of the stairs they crowd and the streets are just as jammed with both people and vehicles. There's one moment where a couple actually jump out of their apartment window to their deaths right before Gorgo demolishes it (when it crumbles, that's when you get some of the bad instances of matting in regards to the debris). Running amidst it all while holding Sean, Joe ends up getting shoved along down the stairs of a subway, as both the outside and the inside is so snug with people that they can barely move. Gorgo approaches that very spot, sending more debris raining down on people below before her foot smashes through the roof of the subway. Seeing this, Joe jumps down onto the tracks with Sean and into the tunnel, managing to escape being buried alive along with everyone else. The tunnel also begins to flood from a broken waterline but Joe assures Sean they'll be alright and, as Gorgo passes by above them, they climb up a ladder and back onto the streets.

At this point, Piccadilly Circus is caught up in complete madness, people and cars going everywhere while Gorgo continues marching through the city. The reporter from before reappears, saying that words can't describe what's happening, as he watches Gorgo approach the skyline at the back of the square. As he comments on how chaotic the scene is, she destroys the one building advertising her child's exhibition, sending more rubble plummeting down, crushing more people, and causing a cloud of dust and smoke that obscures the reporter's vision (I don't know how he managed to keep from getting crushed). While the army general is informed of Gorgo's arrival in Piccadilly, Joe and Sean try to get through the frightened masses as the chaos continues. The general then attempts to get in touch with the minister of defense and we're treated to stock footage of fighter pilots jumping into their planes and taking off, while more military vehicles arrive at the scene (they've used the same footage of tanks rounding a corner three times now). The jets begin firing on Gorgo with their missiles and Gatling guns but, as expected, they explode against her tough hide with no effect whatsoever, although they do manage to blow up some gas tanks and create fires that make her screech. Amidst the running people, this idiotic evangelist, wearing a sign that reads, "REPENT THE END IS NIGH," on the front and, "PREPARE TO MEET THY DOOM," on the back, runs into the heart of crowd, yelling for everyone to repent while they still can; suitably, he gets trampled to death for being so stupid. Meanwhile, Profs. Flaherty and Hendricks arrive at the command center and inform the general that Gorgo is heading for Battersea Park and that they can stop her there. Upon being asked, Hendricks guesses that it could take as many as 2 or 3 million volts to electrocute Gorgo and the general then asks to be put into contact with Battersea Power Station.

Joe makes it back to Battersea Park with Sean and they meet up with Sam there, while the fighter jets continue their assault on Gorgo, their missiles exploding at her feet. As she approaches the park, they begin rerouting all of the electricity in London to the cables surrounding the infant's enclosure there and the military scramble to connect the necessary circuit. The reporter is there too, commenting on how everyone is praying for this plan to work and wondering whether it will or if Gorgo will eviscerate it like it's nothing as well. Joe, Sam, and even Sean help in the preparations, as Gorgo gets ever closer, the fighter jets' attack doing absolutely nothing to slow her down. She then reaches the spot and begins marching right for the enclosure, as they begin pouring the electricity through the cables, managing to get the voltage up to 4 million. She touches one of the towers and is immediately shocked, letting out a pained screech. Undeterred, she still marches through the enclosure, continuing to get shocked, and her cries, which have been joined by those of her child, become low and stilted. She manages to smash out the side of the enclosure, as everyone watches with bated breath, and then approaches the last set of wires, continuing to scream as she's shocked. At first, it looks as if she's about to collapse, as the reporter comments, but she then completely tears the wires, sending the circuits crashing to the ground and also sending technicians either falling or running for cover, while everything sparks and combusts around her. Finally, everything settles down and she steps onto the edge of the pit, her foot coming down in front of her child. As he watches nearby, Sean smiles as the infant Gorgo runs up to his mother, letting out some happy wails as he climbs out of the pit, and the two of them turn and begin walking away. The reporter comments on how their prayers for a miracle may have been answered, as he and everyone else watches the two monsters make their way back to the mouth of the River Thames, amidst the burning, smoke-filled skyline of the destroyed city. With one last roar, the mother Gorgo and her child begin wading through the water, as Sean comments, "They're going back now... back to the sea." The movie ends on a lingering shot of the two creatures doing just that.

The music score, courtesy of Italian composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, is full of the big, bombastic monster themes, action bits, and ominous cues that you'd expect in a movie like this (I'm pretty sure that they reused one particular bit of the score from The Giant Behemoth in a couple of parts), as well as some marches for the scenes with the troops, but its most memorable parts are not all what you'd expect. There are a good amount of charming Celtic cues to be heard in the score, particularly during the section on Nara Island, and the film's opening credits are played to a theme that's far more grandiose and downright beautiful, in that same type of Celtic sound, rather than monstrous or frightening. This theme is heard in a much quieter version a few times throughout the movie, notably when Joe and Sam first meet Sean and when the boy is revealed to have stowed away on their ship and walks up to the captured infant Gorgo, intending to free him, and it's heard at full strength again at the very end, when the mother monster has rescued her son and the two of them are returning to the sea. It helps in that instance to reinforce the notion that, despite all the destruction they've caused, they're not malicious creatures and simply wanted to be reunited with each other and live peacefully in the sea, a wish that does indeed get granted.

Gorgo may not be a masterpiece but it is a good movie, all in all. The characters, while likable enough, are a bit underdeveloped, there are instances of cinematography that leave a lot to be desired for, and some of the optical work and blue screen effects haven't aged well, but there's some good location work, the monsters are nicely-designed and sympathetic, the effects used to bring them to life are effective, as is the very well-done miniature-work, there are other instances of matting that are downright superlative, the film moves at a very brisk pace through its short running time, it has no fat whatsoever in regards to the story, the music score is not only exciting but beautiful at points, and the latter half, especially the climactic rampage in London, is monster movie mayhem at its finest. Nothing else to say other than it's one that I would definitely recommend checking out, especially if you get a chance to see it in a fairly good-looking HD-transfer.