MONSTER MAYHEM! – GORGO at Genesis Cinema (Weds 28 June 2023)
- Directed by Eugène Lourié
- Starring Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter
- 1961 | 78mins | UK | Event: 18+
“LIKE NOTHING YOU’VE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”
Greedy sailors capture a giant lizard off the coast of Ireland and sell it to a London circus. Then its mother shows up.
GORGO (1961) aka ‘the British Godzilla’ stomps through London in a film that blends GODZILLA (1954) and KING KONG (1933) with the distinctive flavours of European cinema.
Director Eugène Lourié started his career as a production designer for French cinema legends Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls and René Clair. He was then pigeonholed as a director of science fiction “comic-strip monsters” after his first gig in the director’s chair, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953). He followed that with THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK (1958, actually a prototype ROBOCOP) and then THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959), another British kaijū eiga.
GORGO stomps all over the undistinguished flock of kaijū spawned in the UK, including next week’s oddity KONGA and an infamous TV episode of THE GOODIES that featured a giant kitten climbing the BT Tower…. Most significantly, GORGO endows its monsters with a degree of majesty that echoes the radical eco-urgency of our opening film, GODZILLA (1954).
“GORGO is a dazzlingly produced, nifty 78-minute giant monster flick with a huge following.” (DVD Drive-In).
BAR TRASH is a celebration of cult and curious cinema, hosted by Token Homo. All films screen with introductions, intermissions, prize giveaways, themed drinks and subtitles/captions (where possible!). Tickets from £3.