The Gorgon
Encyclopedia
The Gorgon is a 1964
British
horror
film
directed by Terence Fisher
for Hammer
.
It stars Peter Cushing
, Christopher Lee
, Barbara Shelley
and Richard Pasco
. The film was photographed by Michael Reed
, and designed by Bernard Robinson
. For the score James Bernard combined a soprano
with a little-known electronic instrument called the Novachord
. The film marks one of the few occasions when Hammer turned to Greek mythology
for inspiration; this time it is the legend of the Gorgon
that is respun for the Hammer audiences.
of the film was written by John Burke
as part of his 1966 book The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus.
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher was a film director who worked for Hammer Films. He was born in Maida Vale, a district of London, England.Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century...
for Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
.
It stars Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley is an English film and television actress.She is now retired, but was at her busiest in the late 1950s and 1960s when she became Hammer Horror's number one female star, with The Gorgon , Dracula, Prince of Darkness , Rasputin, the Mad Monk , andQuatermass and the Pit among her...
and Richard Pasco
Richard Pasco
Richard Edward Pasco, CBE is a British stage, screen and TV actor.-Early life:Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the son of Phyllis Irene and Cecil George Pasco. He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon...
. The film was photographed by Michael Reed
Michael Reed
Michael Reed BSC is a British cinematographer who worked on several notable films in the 1960s and 1970s, including Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Shout at the Devil...
, and designed by Bernard Robinson
Bernard Robinson (production designer)
Bernard Robinson was born in Liverpool, England in 1912 and died in 1970. He designed sets for several of Hammer's films in their heyday, including The Curse of Frankenstein , Dracula , Curse of the Werewolf , The Phantom of the Opera , The Gorgon and Quatermass and the Pit...
. For the score James Bernard combined a soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
with a little-known electronic instrument called the Novachord
Novachord
The Novachord is often considered to be the world's first commercial polyphonic synthesizer. All-electronic, incorporating many circuit and control elements found in modern synths, and using subtractive synthesis to generate tones, it was designed by John M. Hanert, Laurens Hammond and C. N....
. The film marks one of the few occasions when Hammer turned to Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
for inspiration; this time it is the legend of the Gorgon
Gorgon
In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...
that is respun for the Hammer audiences.
Plot
The year is 1910. In the rural German village of Vandorf, seven murders have been committed within the past five years, each victim having been petrified into a stone figure. Rather than investigate it, the local authorities dismiss the murders for fear of a local legend having come true. When a local girl becomes the latest victim and her suicidal lover made the scapegoat, the father of the condemned man decides to investigate and discovers that the cause of the petrifying deaths is a phantom. The very last of the snake-haired Gorgon sisters haunts the local castle and turns victims to stone during the full moon.Cast
- Christopher LeeChristopher LeeSir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
as Professor Karl Meister - Peter CushingPeter CushingPeter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as Dr. Namaroff - Richard PascoRichard PascoRichard Edward Pasco, CBE is a British stage, screen and TV actor.-Early life:Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the son of Phyllis Irene and Cecil George Pasco. He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon...
as Paul Heitz - Barbara ShelleyBarbara ShelleyBarbara Shelley is an English film and television actress.She is now retired, but was at her busiest in the late 1950s and 1960s when she became Hammer Horror's number one female star, with The Gorgon , Dracula, Prince of Darkness , Rasputin, the Mad Monk , andQuatermass and the Pit among her...
as Carla Hoffman - Michael GoodliffeMichael GoodliffeLawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts....
as Professor Jules Heitz - Patrick TroughtonPatrick TroughtonPatrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
as Inspector Kanof - Joseph O'ConorJoseph O'ConorJoseph O'Conor was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright.- Early years :O'Conor was born in Dublin on 14 February 1916, the son of Frances and Daniel O'Conor. His family moved to London, where he attended the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, the University of London and RADA...
as Coroner - Prudence Hyman as The Gorgon
- Jack WatsonJack Watson (actor)Jack Watson , was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards....
as Ratoff - Redmond PhillipsRedmond PhillipsRedmond Bernard Phillips was a New Zealand born actor and writer.Phillips was born in Reefton, New Zealand and began acting in the theatre while a student at Victoria University of Wellington...
as Hans - Jeremy Longhurst as Bruno Heitz
- Toni Gilpin as Sascha Cass
- Joyce Hemson as Martha
- Alister WilliamsonAlister WilliamsonAlister Williamson was an Australian-born character actor, who appeared in many British films and television series of the 1960s and 1970s. A big, craggy-faced man, he would usually be found playing gruff police inspectors or henchmen in adventure series and police dramas of the period...
as Janus Cass - Michael Peake as Constable
Novelization
A novelizationNovelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
of the film was written by John Burke
John Burke (author)
John Burke was an English writer of novels and short stories.He had written under the names J. F...
as part of his 1966 book The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus.