In The Gorgon (1964) my Arts Editor and I found a good, but not great, murder mystery, involving both terror and horror. A well-staged traditional approach to a mid-19th century European village in a nameless country, people are dying after being attacked – and presenting odd symptoms to the local medical authorities. But when one of the victims is an out of town young artist, his family becomes involved. His father and brother are sturdy, determined men, much to the dismay of the locals, and when their ally, Professor Meister (Christopher Lee), becomes involved, hell begins to break loose.
The acting is more than acceptable (I particularly liked the fight scene, sword against candle holder – quite exciting!), the makeup erratic. The problem lies in the story. In the main, it’s OK, as we see the back and forth of the mystery of the murders and the mysterious reticence of the locals and the constabulary. However, this reticence is never explained; it feels more like the director wanted a mysterious atmosphere, and this was how he was going to get it, logic be hanged. Similarly, too often the characters exist to fulfill the plot – if any of them have interests outside of the story, those will be secrets never hinted at hear. The result is a certain lack of … empathy with the characters. And this despite a good cast, although Lee is simply too young to pull his part off.
We enjoyed it, but in the end I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see it.
