Amazon.com: Hammer Studios was on a roll by 1964, adapting and updating classic movie monsters with a gory gothic slant, but the fantasy-tinged thriller The Gorgon was a rare attempt at producing their own creature. Transporting the Greek Gorgon myth to turn-of-the-century Europe, Terence Fisher invests the rural mittel-European village with a kind of cursed decay. A deserted castle dominates the perpetually mist-bound landscape while a series of unexplained murders leave victims turned to cold, gray stone. The details are carefully hushed up by local doctor and asylum director Peter Cushing, who helps frame an outsider for the latest murder, which brings a parade of outsiders in to clear his name. Christopher Lee, under gray hair and bushy mustache, arrives in the third act to play a shaggy but sharp old professor, a scientist whose reason and determination cuts through the emotionally clouded motivations of both his allies and enemies. Fisher creates a thick atmosphere of suspicion and dread while driving the mystery ahead with a rapid pace, which helps overcome the gaps in logic of the town's murky conspiracy. The special effects are frankly stiff and unconvincing: the snakes sprouting from the Gorgon's head are jittery, lifeless stalks that pale next to the gorgeous creation by Ray Harryhausen in Clash of the Titans, but Fisher manages to give the Gorgon's scenes an eerie beauty. --Sean Axmaker
Classic Comfort Horror 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 Gorgon is a Hammer Horror Classic..... Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in this Gothic moody horror classic that most overlook. This film has great acting, directing and scenes right out of the old Universal movies. The story while not exactly accurate still paints a nice picture that flows very well with action and mystery along the way. Peter Cushing is outstanding and Lee as the Hero who knows all about the Medusa legend and tries to prevent a young man from falling to his demise. The ending is awesome with a fighting sword scene with Cushing and a surprise ending. I just can't praise this enough. One of Hammer's best.
gorgon A great science fiction movie with great acting. I wish this movie was on dvd?
Distinquished gothic thriller. 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.
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!
Masterful Work From Hammer "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.
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