Customer Reviews

The Gorgon [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Terrence Fisher has brought to the screen a story of doomed love and a schizoid protaganist that places thematic themes from Hichcock's "Vertigo" within a Grimm's fairy tale for adults.

Those who tiresomely belabor the inadequacy of the snakes on the Gorgon's head at the film's conclusion entirely miss the point. It is not surprising in our cretinous era that some would lament the unavailability of computer generated special effects in 1964. That they persist in doing so, however, only serves to illustrate how very far these modernists are in both sensibility and aesthetic principles from the 19th century Gothic tradition that this film so faithfully seeks to reproduce. The point isn't the snakes but the psychological force behind the baleful facial expression!

In this connection, it is appropriate to observe that Terence Fisher was absolutely right in considering this one of his best films.

And make no mistake: this film is very much in the 19th century Gothic tradition in both story and atmosphere. In that sense, it may be compared to a story by Ludwig Tieck, while its visuals hearken back to the paintings of Jacob van Ruisdael.

Visually, it is among Hammer's most accomplished productions. Michael Reed's effective photographic renderings include: a nocturnal cemetery festooned with fluttering autumnal leaves, the viscerally chilly, fog and frost bitten ravine (you can almost watch your own breath smoke in merely watching it) where a hanged man is discovered, the vast shadowed Castle Borski depicted under a full moon with scudding clouds, to name but a few. Indeed, the cinematography and particularly the lighting are amongst Hammer's best.

And Mr. Reed is ably abetted by production designer Bernard Robinson whose key piece in this film: the deserted inside of the self-same Castle Borski is a marvel of tattered armorial flags, dust laden furniture, and sinister mirrors. The musical score is also one of Hammer's best and most effectively understated.

But the film belongs to the incomparably lovely Barbara Shelley's "Carla Hoffman"--she of the sweeping pelisse seated on a gilded throne in the deserted castle. It is to be hoped that someday this accomplished beauty will receive all the retrospective attention surely due her. For now, suffice it to say, that few actresses in the history of cinema have constructed a portrayal so wholly and precariously based on an enigma, an enigma Miss Shelley consistently reveals in every gesture, expression and nuance, without allowing her character, "Carla" the possibility of even understanding it herself.

It isn't merely that her Carla is fatally charming and alluring, but decent and humanitarian as well, a victim, to be sure, but not at all in the degraded, naturalistic way that Jean Seberg's portrayal is in "Lilith" a film to which "The Gorgon" is frequently compared.

Much can always be found to admire in anything Miss Shelley does. For now let us just close with a passing note on her deportment, the absolute self control she exercises in her throaty, perfectly modulated voice and carriage. Would that actresses today would study her technique !!!!!!!!!!!

Watch her in her first confrontation scene with Peter Cushing in his parlor, where she accuses him of stonewalling during the inquest, just prior to the entrance of Paul's father--Professor Heinz. Merely observing her majestically exit the room after being introduced to the Professor is worth the whole price of admission!

Hammer's 1964 The Gorgon is crying out for a DVD widescreen release on both sides of the Atlantic. This underrated film is a mesmerizing fantasy that brings together ancient mythology and Hammer's best gothic style under the expert direction of stalwart Terence Fisher.

Production looks great, even if it is unfortunately studiobound. The film has a definite fairy-tale-like quality to it, confirming Fisher's reputation as a maker of "fairy tales for adults".

Lee is a tad uncomfortable in a fairly untypical role here, but Cushing excels as the ambiguous anti-hero Dr Namaroff. Michael Reed lights and photographs the production beautifully and with great atmosphere, lending Hammer some of its most poignant moments.

The Gorgon, an atmospheric, melancholy little film, reunited the three main talents behind the initial wave of Hammer horror film-actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and Director Terence Fisher-for the first time since 1959's The Mummy. The screenplay by John Gilling, a talented Hammer writer and director, emphasizes the doomed love between Carla and Paul at the expanse of the monster tale, a choice that was particulary congenial to Fisher's gentle romanticism. The screenplay was heavily rewritten by Anthony Hinds, and Gilling, never shy in interviews, once called the resulting film "abysmal," stating that Hind's interference "murdered what might have been a very good movie." While this judgment seems too harsh, the script as filmed does feel like a patchwork. To cite just one example, we never learn who hanged Bruno or why. Whats more important, the love story isn't really developed fully enough, although fine acting by Barbara Shelley and former Royal Shakesperean Richard Pasco goes a long way toward filling in the gaps. In particular, Pasco's measured, careful performance and magnificently resonant voice make him fitting company for Cushing and Lee. Unfortunatley, the gorgon makeup is a bland and clumsy rendition of the traditional character of myth, which is to say a woman in a nightgown with several rubber snakes in her hair-not exactly a blood-curdling sight. As for the stars, there's an odd and refreshing role reversal; for a change, Cushing gets the sketchy, unrewarding role, although he ably conveys Namaroff's cold-fish nature. Lee is always more intresting when playing againsit type, and here he's clearly having a good time as the hero, blustering and using his physically imposing quality to memorable effect. Also worth noting is James Bernard's haunting score, which is subtler and more finely textured than most of his works for Hammer. The Gorgon was a personal favorite of Terence Fisher's, and something of a comeback film, he hadn't mad a movie for Hammer since the crtical and box-office failure of his Phantom of the Oprea, two years before. Despite it's effects problems and a lack of overt horror thrills, The Gorgon deserves credit as an ambitious attempt to create a new and different monster for the screen. In it's best moments, The Gorgon weaves a rather sweet spell of wistfulness and regret that makes it Fisher's most dream-like, and one of his most noteworthy efforts.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

Grade: A- 92%

Hammer films reached back into Greek mythology and pulled the Medusa myth into a 19th century setting. This film is suspenceful and as visually satisfying as a Hammer film can be. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing switch their normal good and evil roles for this film. Cushing's cold manner is very good, as is Barbara Shelley's role as a distraught woman looking to flee the small village she lives in. The sets and the title creature both add to mood of the film, although the close-ups of the monster are less effective. This is one of Hammer's best non-Dracula films.

After making their name with renditions of Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy, Hammer took an unusual turn and searched through Greek Mythology for their next project in 1965 "The Gorgon". It is a product which is very different to your standard Hammer production and I can appreciate the care that went in to it's preparation.

The film marked the first teaming since "The Mummy" of the legendary Hammer partnership of Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Here as well as tacking very different subject matter they also take on slightly different roles than usual for a pleasing change. Peter Cushing in a unique change takes on the semi villianous role of Dr. Namaroff the local asylum director who is desperately trying to conceal the real cause of a series of horrible murders in the local village of Vandorf. These murders take the form of the victims being found not only dead but also horrifically turned to stone (Gorgonized). Christopher Lee in a distinct change of pace and almost unrecognisable under a grey wig and moustache plays Professor Karl Meister who journeys to Vandorf to aid Paul (Richard Pasco)in finding out what exactly did happen to the two most recent victims, his brother and father. The role reversals are an interesting twist in your normal expectations of a Cushing/Lee production and both I feel perform admirably with Lee definately having the more colourful role of the two.

The two leads are aided tremendously by a very able supporting cast. Hammer regular Barbara Shelley lends her usual solid performance as the sympathic Carla who in a surprise ending is revealed to be not exactly what she first appeared to be. Richard Pasco who I dont recall seeing in any other Hammer productions of the period and who was ordinarily a Shakespearen actor is excellent in the tormented role of Paul Heitz who is frustrated at every turn in his search for the truth about his family and in his love for Carla. His survival of one chance encounter with the Gorgon provides the Hammer makeup artists with an interesting challenge as he is only partly "Gorgonized" and ages quite a bit from one scene to the next. It is amusing when Christopher Lee's character on first seeing him after the partial transformation says " you look like someone has just dug you up from the grave!"

As to be expected in any Hammer production the settings and attention to all details is impeccable and this aids greatly in the enjoyment of this film. Fisher's direction of many scenes at night in fog shrouded settings or mysterious gales, and especially in the abandoned old castle (a left over set from Hammer's ground breaking 1958 classic "Horror of Dracula"), adds greatly to the eerie feel of the story. The graveyard sequences I dont think have been surpassed in any other Hammer production fo reerie atmosphereespecially in the disturbing scene where Paul actually digs up his father's coffin to see what actually happened to him only to find a stone figure reclining in the casket. Certainly I agree with the other reviewers in that the "Gorgon" makeup itself is poor and I feel it is much more effective when the Gorgon is only seen as a reflection in a pond or at a distance in the darkened interior of the old castle. Nevertheless the use of a Greek Myth as the basis for this story is an interesting and original one and gives "The Gorgon", much of its unique interest. The eerie musical score and voice over of the Gorgon's wail is also a highly effective mood setter for this piece.

"The Gorgon" is a very worthwhile production at a time when Hammer was venturing out into other topics. For scene setting it is the equal of such classics as "Horror of Dracula" and "The Mummy" and any teaming of Cushing and Lee, two superb British actors who haven't yet I feel been properly recognised for their excellent talents, makes a film well worth viewing. Watch it late at night when it's dark and windy outside! Enjoy

Now this is what I'm all about. Give me the old Hammer classics ANYtime. This was a great tale of terror from 1964, starring Peter Cushing, and Christpher Lee. A tiny village in turn-of-the-century Bavaria, or Germany, etc,(wasn't it always?)is terrorized by series of murders where all the victims are turned to stone! Back in those days you rarely saw the monster until the end, and I thought this always made the film more suspenseful. I love the backrounds,sets, and lighting in these old 60's British horror flicks. They always give me fond memories of being a kid, watching my favorite Saturday night horror show, under my blanket, with some popcorn, and the lights turned off. Good times, and a great movie! I know there's other stuff that might be better out there, but to me the old greats like Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and of course, Vincent Price, will always be dearest to my heart.

The crucial clue to understanding the work of director Terence Fisher is to note that his directing hero was not one of the 'usual suspects' for a horror director, like Lang or Hitchcock, but Frank Borzage, the 30's director of tender, fragile romances like 'Moonrise' and 'A Farewell To Arms'. And as he grew more confident and independent in his work for Hammer films, Fisher's most personal work smuggled Borzagian romance past his producers in horror guise. Forget the usual critical cliche about his work: that it presents rigidly defined black-and-white battles between Good and Evil.This only applies to a handful of his pictures, usually from the earlier part of his Hammer career. In Fisher's mature work, the lines between good and evil are often more ambiguous than in many of the more modernist horrors that came after him (e.g.'The Exorcist' and 'Halloween'). And his most heartfelt work - 'Curse Of The Werewolf','Phantom Of The Opera','Frankenstein Created Woman'and the film discussed here, is a sequence of tragic love stories. Which brings us to 'The Gorgon', one of the most romantic but also the bleakest of these love stories. All the key characters in the film are driven by the most desperate love: the pregnant Sascha in the opening scenes, Professor Heitz mourning and defending a lost son, Carla and Paul in their foredoomed affair, Namaroff oppressing Carla and torturing himself with the love she can never reciprocate, Ratoff(who might at first seem a token thug)worshipping Carla as devoutly as is master does, even Christopher Lee's celibate Meister has a father's anxious protectiveness towards Paul. But in the bleak world which cameraman Michael Reed depicts throughout in grim blues and greys, there is no reward for such devotion but the stony isolation of death. The film, however, is tragic rather than merely nihilistic, for the characters are haunted throughout by the thought that their love might somehow win them a place in some better world somewhere else. This makes Carla's parting from Paul in the castle scene all the more poignant: haven't we all known a moment such as she knows then, when we face the fact that the door to salvation was open to us as recently as a couple of minutes ago, but we looked away at the wrong moment and the breeze blew it shut? That's why this, like all Fisher's best films, is such a treasurable work. It's not about shock effects, but about the beauty and sadness of being alive. It stands as the bleakest of all Gorgon myths, bleaker by far than the Greek originals, for it portrays a whole world whose fate is to turn to stone.

Rating: 4-1/2 out of 5

Grade: A- 93%

"The Gorgon" is a curious mixture of elements, as the spirit of the sole surviving gorgon sisters of Greek legend rises again to plague a Balkan village at the dawn of the 20th century. Peter Cushing is featured prominently as the village doctor who is trying to cover up the fact that villagers are being turned to stone under every full moon for mysterious (and possibly sinister) reasons. Christopher Lee and Richard Pasco play scholars devoted to ending the Gorgon's reign of terror.

"The Gorgan" contains a number of truly chilling moments, with lighting, camera work, and performances by all featured actors being of top quality for Hammer efforts. Yes, there are some plot threads left dangling, and the film loses a little bit of steam toward the end--when the mystery of the Gorgon is all but solved but the story STILL doesn't go to its resolution--but the final confrontation between Cushing, Pasco, Lee, and the Gorgon is one of the most dramatic endings to a Hammer film outside some of the 'Dracula' series.

Definately a worthy effort that's well worth watching if you enjoyed any of the 'Frankenstein' pictures, or even Hammer's 'Hound of the Baskervilles.'

chistopher lee and peter cushing team up in a classic hammer tale of medusa's sister. cushing is a doctor who is hiding the fact that many of the town's inhabitants are showing up stone cold dead. the father of one of christopher lee's students is similarly inflicted and professor lee and the students set out to find out why. this film features superb acting and the great genre atmosphere for which hammer films are known.definately worth a look.

"The Gorgon," to my mind, is one of the greatest Hammer films ever -- in fact, I'd say it's a great film of any kind, and through it, I can appreciate what makes Hammer horror films so enduringly popular.

First of all, Terence Fisher, my favorite Hammer director, is on hand as are three of Hammer's most iconic stars, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and the beautiful Barbara Shelley. The story of the Gorgon inflicting terror on a turn-of-the-century Village is artistically done with the gorgon remaining engimatic until nearly the end. Sets have a Raphaelan beauty and composition. The story opens with an artist's model, distraught that her boyfriend is going to confront her father with her pregnancy, running through the leave-strewn forest where she confronts Mageara, the Gorgon (not seen), and turns to stone. Meanwhile Dr. Namarof (Cushing), doctor at a local asylum, nefariously works to conceal the real causes of these murders.

Hammer was at its best before it sacrificed some of its values and upped the ante in gore and sex to compete with where the horror market was going in the 70's. "The Gorgon" is a class act all the way. Many of the scenes almost work like silent movies where the action is communicated visually and the scores are wonderful -- they're real film scores, not pop songs. The use of classical myth is great with one victim being beguiled into the forest by Magaera's siren-call.

Barbara Shelley was a fascinating actress, because she had a classical background, yet her work in Hammer is what left the lasting impression -- her combination of regality and intellect was a great counterpoint to baseness and bloodlust, and she managed to convey this duality. Here, as Cushing's assistant Carla Hoffman, she plays a dual role of sorts as she did in "Dracula, Prince of Darkness." The gorgon is played effectively by Prudence Hyman.

I know some complained that the snakes on the gorgon head looked phony but it's all brilliantly done -- the reflections of the gorgon's face in the mill pond or in a mirror, the shrouded effect surrounding the gorgon as the gorgon is shrouded in mystery. When you finally see the "monster" full face, it really is satisfying because of this build up. The fact that the gorgon head becomes blatantly phony later on just adds to the fun about this film; William Castle must've been borrowing from their prop department. But the color and composition is truly beautiful with the subtle air of corruption -- Castle Borski, a windswept ruin; the mill pond with dead leaves floating on it; the concentration of burgundy and rust. Hammer always did more with a patch of forest than today's filmmakers do with a huge set.

"The Gorgon" is truly is a work of the imagination with high production values, classically trained actors, real compositional beauty and elegance. And the Greek tragedy dynamics going on between the principals in their ill-fated romances is great, too. A fine example of Hammer at its peak.