Behemoth the Sea Monster (1959)

Cheap and cheerful, Behemoth the Sea Monster borrows from the American giant monster films of the 1950s, especially director Eugène Lourié's earlier influential classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. It's worth a look for the novelty of the London setting, the appearance of Hammer Horror regular André Morell, and the final FX work by King Kong legend Willis O'Brien.

American scientist Steve Karnes (Gene Evans) is giving a speech to British scientists about marine life and the dangers by nuclear testing. Later, he learns of thousands of lifeless fish washed ashore on the Cornish coast and the death of a fisherman from radiation burns. Teaming up with Professor James Bickford (Morell) to investigate, the pair find a passenger ship destroyed, with the loss of all on board, while tests show the dead fish were full of radioactive contamination. Karnes begins to suspect the creature the fisherman described seeing is a beast mutated by nuclear testing, with a desire to come back to London.

In the first ten minutes we get all the tropes you expect from this genre. 1) A conference of scientists with ominous warnings. 2) A bureaucrat who dismisses said warnings. 3) A pretty girl, and a hunky love interest. 4) somebody having a deadly encounter with something, linked to the opening scene, and shot from the point of view of the something. 5) The dying man muttering portentous semi coherent warnings with his dying breath. Following this comes lots of padding, occasional exposition, further deaths and possible monster sightings. Finally, the full reveal of the monster and a trail of destruction. In this respect, Behemoth the Sea Monster is no different, but it is still entertaining for the most part. There is some hokey Dr Who level rubber glove puppet special FX, some atmospheric scenes in Cornwall, and the always watchable Morell.

In fairness, the stop motion monster in the final scenes is not too bad considering the low budget, and this was the final credited work of Willis O'Brien. While he did not invent the technique, he refined and brought it to popular attention through King Kong, inspiring the likes of Ray Harryhausen.

Lourie would go on to give the monster smashing up London in the more colourful and fun Gorgo. This took the action from destroying anonymous docks and houses, to smashing London landmarks like Tower Bridge.

Gorgo (1961)

Gorgo is a rare British excursion into kaiju, the genre usually associated with Godzilla, where huge seemingly indestructible monsters smash up major international cities. The two dimensional human characters are more than made up for by the sympathetic monsters, fast paced script and competent special effects.

A huge volcano erupts off the coast of Ireland, nearly sinking a salvage ship working nearby. While awaiting repairs on a nearby island, Captain Joe Ryan (Bill Travers) and first officer, Sam Slade (William Sylvester of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame) hear tales of a giant monster and mysterious deaths and disappearances amongst the fisherman of the island. When they discover that the monster is all too real, the pair and their crew manage not only to capture it, but also transport the creature to be shown off in a circus, where it is named "Gorgo" - but a group of scientists thing the 65 foot tall Gorgo may only be a youngster, and his mother is three times that size, and wants her child back.

The script with a plot straight from the Toho studios template, with a bit of King Kong thrown in as well is competent if unoriginal. The main point of interest is how unsympathetic the two main characters are, driven by greed, blind to the consequences until it's far too late, although Ryan gets to redeem himself by saving a cute little orphan boy. By contrast Gorgo and his mother, like King Kong are likeable, despite the destruction they cause, because of the treatment they have received from human beings

Director Eugene Lourie keeps things moving along in an entertaining way, and the scenes of panicking crowds as London gets smashed up are full of nervous energy and hysteria, with lots of handheld shots, close-ups and fast cutting. The special effects are also borrowed from Japan, with a man in a rubber suit stomping models of famous landmarks into the ground.

These scenes of destruction are even more interesting when put in an historical context. The film was released 20 years after the Blitz saw Nazi bombs raining down on England and right in the middle of the Cold War, when the end of the world could be around the corner. Filmmakers and film goers were eager to explore any potential apocalypse, are still are, but always seemed to prefer doing so in a fantasy context.


Gorgo (1961) Full Movie by TheCryptoCrew

Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958)

Gideon of Scotland Yard (aka Gideon’s Day) is an interesting oddity from director John Ford, with not a horse or cowboy in sight. The script from T.E.B Clarke (the man behind Ealing classics The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt) has no real plot, instead giving us a typical, if rather busy day in the life of Chief Inspector George Gideon. Our hero has to investigate a hit-and-run murder of a corrupt colleague, a bank robbery, a payroll theft, the intimidation of one of his underworld sources, and a psychotic sex killer.

By going with a series of sub-plots rather than a linear story or MacGuffin, none of the characters, situations or investigations are gone into in any depth, but the film moves along at such a pace that it never becomes boring, and the light-hearted tone makes it enjoyable to watch.

Gideon fulfils many typical fictional police officer tropes: he is gruff, but fair, utterly incorruptible, calm under pressure and unable to balance work and home life. He is not a Sherlock Holmes style detective, and with no baffling mysteries to solve, most of his crime fighting seems to consist of getting tips from informants or other officers and then persuading the criminals to give up. In one memorable scene, he calmly explains to one villain the consequences of his actions, while puffing on his pipe, seemingly oblivious to the gun pointed at his chest. Elsewhere he tells a group of bank robbers “Sorry to inform you, but we have the place surrounded, so come on out, gentlemen, and save us all trouble”. The other characters, such the put-upon but supportive wife, the Cock-err-nee informant and his gin-guzzling wife, and the wet-behind-the-ears constable are similarly two-dimensional and played broadly, and mostly for laughs, by the actors.

The most fascinating aspect of the film is the glimpse into the era of London, not much more than a decade after World War 2, when the UK still had capital punishment but did not yet have Rock and Roll. The world presented is one of affluence, at least from that we see of Gideon’s home life, and poverty, as represented by a huge swarm of urchins at a Church Boys Club. It is also in many ways a more innocent world that seems, at times, like a different planet from the cynical, knowing one that crime films and TV shows inhabit today and one that makes the idea of things such as police corruption or sexual murder even more shocking.

The only real mystery with Gideon of Scotland Yard is why John Ford made it, as the movie lacks his usual themes such as masculine identity, or the mythology of the United States. Competently put together, and enjoyable to watch, but is it so devoid of any distinct identity, it could be the work of any capable journeyman director.