Gog 3D Blu-ray review
Release Date: March 1
Order your copy of Gog 3D here!
-Why the girl?
-We think women are better suited for space travel than men.
-For one thing they take up less room in the rocket.
-They’re also better insulated against atmospheric changes
-Is that why they wear nylons in cold weather?
-Don’t you believe it, they do it to impress us!
Kino Lorber’s newly-remastered 3D Blu-ray of 1954’s GOG is a cause for celebration among old school sci-fi enthusiasts, with its richly vibrant colors and authentic scientific apparatus literally popping off the screen. However, for the uninitiated GOG may be more like a “slog” due to an emphasis on talky scientific jargon that would put Michael Crichton to sleep, as well as a lack of necessary music that only adds to a slow pace.
OSI security agent Dr. David Sheppard, played by Richard Egan (ESTHER AND THE KING, THE HOUSE THAT WOULDN’T DIE), is flown to the base where he investigates the “accident” as well as the other space exploration experiments taking place. What follows is a string of murders seemingly perpetuated by NOVAC (Nuclear Operative Variable Automatic Computer), a central computer controlling all the equipment in within the bunker. Keep in mind this was years before Matthew Broderick tangoed with the WOPR in WARGAMES.
Gog tackles subjects that only readers of Scientific American might have been familiar with at the time, including computers, cryogenics, low gravity, sonic warfare, a centrifuge, and even a potential weapon harnessing the sun’s rays (later to rear its head during the Reagan administration as “Star Wars”). Even the robots strongly resemble bomb disposal/tactical/ robots that would be put into the field only a few decades later. It’s a very forward-thinking film that manages to explore these scientific ideas in a way that is compelling to geeks, though it may not translate to today’s viewers.
The 3D is just as impressive as Kino’s previous release of THE MASK, but its the eye-popping colors in Lothrop B. Worth’s cinematography that really create an exceptional and deeply ’50s-looking experience. Shot in just 15-days for $250,000, the low budget and high-cost of 3D film required TV vet Herbert L. Strock to direct the film with meticulous planning. For example, the high-speed centrifuge sequence was lensed at Strock’s alma matter USC with some very obvious dummies standing in for the human subjects in the space suits.
Egan is a perfectly stiff hero for this type of film, with Tors’ wife Constance Dowling (in her final movie role) is fine as his fellow OSI agent/love interest. The great character actor William Schallert of such sci-fi classics as THE MAN FROM PLANET X and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (as well as several of Joe Dante’s pictures) has a disappointingly small role as an assistant to Dr. Zeitman (John Wengraf), the de rigueur German scientist -no doubt an Operation Paperclip recruit- running NOVAC.
The real stars of the film are the midget-operated Gog and Magog, the four-armed robots who look as silly as you would expect, although there is something compellingly functional about them that would understandably make Cold War audiences wary of artificial intelligence.
Special Features
A longer and more subdued interview with cameraman Lothrop B. Worth discusses the pioneering engineers who he worked with to develop 3D cameras. He talks in-depth about both the technical and political hurdles they had to overcome, from their first 3D production for Arch Obler titled BWANA DEVIL to the Vincent Price shocker HOUSE OF WAX through GOG. For 3D enthusiasts this interview is a treasure trove of insight.
The audio commentary is more a mixed bag, with B-movie scholar Tom Weaver leading the proceedings in a somewhat wonky fashion. He delves deep into business and biographical minutiae to the point where he spends a good chunk of time discussing Curt Siodmak, who worked on the previous two parts of the trilogy but had nothing to do with GOG. Meanwhile, there are far less behind-the-scenes tidbits about the film we’re watching than this reviewer would have liked. Weaver doesn’t even get to Gog itself until a third of the way through, then almost immediately turns things over to 3D expert Bob Furmanek who discusses more technical details. Music expert David Schecter later spends 15-minutes discussing composer Harry Sukman (SALEM’S LOT) and his score, again for academics/superfans only.
Also included are archive trailers for GOG as well as other Kino 3D releases THE MASK and THE BUBBLE.
