"The Gorgon" (Dir: Terence Fisher, 1964) was a product of Hammer films, a British film company that became known for producing a series of memorable horror films, original and also inspired by the preceding Hollywood "B" grade horror films genre that produced films like "The Mummy", "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", updated with the addition of sumptuous colour photography whereas the originals were predominantly black and white, due to budgetary constraints. Colour cinematography may have added a gloss to these films but the high relative costs compared to black and white often meant cut-backs and economies in other areas, and following the modus operandi set by U.S independent producers like Roger Corman, these Hammer films often re-used sets from other productions and employed a stable of actors who became notable for their association with the brand, such as Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Barbara Shelley, who all appear in this film. Hammer's production base was Bray Studios in Buckinghamshire and locations in and around the sleepy rural town of Bray feature prominently across all their films for exterior locations and as far as interiors are concerned, even though many sets and props crop up repetitively in all their films, they are used very creatively combined with imaginative lighting design (taking note of the earlier expressionist lighting design of monochrome cinematography to allow the films to translate to early monochrome television in the U.K) cinematography and visual effects work that make full use of film studio artisan skills like model-making and matte painting.
I watched the film on YouTube, having not watched it before - though I do have a vivid recollection of seeing one of the many film posters as a kid and being terrified by it due in part to being familiar with the myth of The Gorgon from school English language lessons - and apart from the rather annoying interruptions by YouTube adverts that break the flow of the story, it does succeed in generating an atmosphere of a lurking horror, revealed by chilling glimpses of the titular subject in the first act and the subsequent petrification of the Gorgon's first victim, another feature of Hammer films in showing some horrible fate in gruesome detail. The budgetary limitations imposed on the Hammer style of film-making resulted in locked-off shots and minimal camera movement, with films often shot back-to-back in short turnaround and the films were released as double-features pairing two Hammer films, a marketing ploy in common with many American "B" grade sci-fi and horror films like "The Wasp Woman" etc. For example, the poster above includes a mildly humorous reference to their version of "The Mummy" under the main title and it was very likely released with the film.
I'll avoid a detailed breakdown of the plot, which can be found on its Wiki page and instead will highlight the performances of the cast, all of whom play their roles with the necessary conviction and especially notable is Barbara Shelley as "Carla Hoffman" whereas Christopher Lee, as a Hammer stalwart who would later find fame in his portrayal of "Dracula" in a slew of Hammer films based on Bram Stoker's creation, leans a little into over-the-top melodrama, perhaps to contrast Peter Cushing deadly serious portrayal as "Dr Namaroff". The key role of "The Gorgon" herself went to a relative unknown, Prudence Hyman, a former ballerina who had a few roles in other Hammer films, though it had been proposed that Shelley would play the role since it is the character of "Carla Hoffman" who is possessed by the spirit of the ancient horror at the time of the Full Moon. However, Hyman makes the role her own along with some not especially convincing cable-operated rubber snakes and aided by clever use of chiaroscuro lighting design that reveals just enough for the viewer's imagination to fill in the rest.
Returning to the film poster shown above, this is just one of many for the film that didn't flinch from highlighting the horrific elements of the films required to lure in the curious or deter those who weren't especially fans of a genre that occasionally gave censors concerns about the effects of such films on the especially sensitive and it certainly fulfils that agenda. I found the pacing of the film to be a little plodding, possibly made worse by the interruptions by adverts, but this was the norm for many films of the 50's and 60's and would have added to the sense of foreboding that permeates the film where the Gorgon makes a final appearance in the third act in greater chilling detail. While in contemporary terms the Gorgon (in the film she is the surviving member of the 3 Gorgon sisters, Medusa being the most well-known) has been viewed through a feminist lens, in this film she is interchangeable with other female deities from myth, such as Kali, as an object of fear and terror and any feminist subtext is barely noticeable in the plot.
Here's a short AI generated clip of Prudence Hyman taking a tea-break from a make-up screen test...:)
"The Gorgon", Dir: Terence Fisher, 1964
YouTube
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