Rampaging robots and a sinister saboteur keep things hopping in the Golden Age 3D adventure Gog. Produced by the renowned Ivan Tors and brought back from near-oblivion by the 3-D Film Archive, Gog may not be tops in drama or action, but it’s a fun sci-fi adventure tale that can now take its place with the other classic 1950s 3D efforts which are slowly but surely returning to the hearts and minds of fans who appreciate them.
The Production: 3/5
Rampaging robots and a sinister saboteur keep things hopping in the Golden Age 3D adventure Gog. Produced by the renowned Ivan Tors and brought back from near-oblivion by the 3-D Film Archive, Gog may not be tops in drama or action, but it’s a fun sci-fi adventure tale that can now take its place with the other classic 1950s 3D efforts which are slowly but surely returning to the hearts and minds of fans who appreciate them.
After a series of mysterious deaths occur at the Office of Space Investigation, the government sends Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) to investigate. Head of the agency Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) is utterly baffled by the murders, but he sends his assistant Joanna Merritt (Constance Dowling), who also happens to be Dr. Sheppard’s sweetheart on the down low, off with Dr. Sheppard to tour the facility to see if they can arrive at some answers. Sheppard is impressed by the various experiments he sees: numerous testing being done with antigravity, sound waves, body freezing, centrifugal force, and even artificial intelligence plus demonstrations with two robots GOG and MAGOG that can carry out complicated instructions without error. But the murders keep happening, and it’s only the discovery of some mysterious radio receivers that put Sheppard and Van Ness on the road to the discovery of the underground facility’s dastardly saboteur.
The screenplay by Tom Taggart is very talky in the early going, and the film seems very top heavy with exposition in explaining all of the science behind the myriad experiments we watch being carried out throughout the film’s first half (according to the commentary, something insisted upon by the movie’s producer Ivan Tors who was a science junkie; ironically much of what the film presents as science fiction is now science fact). But as the saboteur continues to cause things to go awry, the action heats up as our heroes battle disasters-in-the-making on several fronts. While the film’s relatively low budget is painfully obvious in places (GOG and its sibling are no match for MGM’s Robbie the Robot who would come along two years later), the solution of the mystery of the saboteur’s identity is rather novel and not at all what one might expect it to be judging from the cast of suspects in this underground operation. What’s more, the 3D is used effectively throughout, and some stock jet fighter footage is used nicely to enhance the film’s climactic face-off between the humans and the robots.
With two pros like Herbert Marshall and Richard Egan handling the majority of the serious acting in this piece, the lesser talents of some of the other players like leading lady Constance Dowling, computer expert John Wengraf playing Dr. Zeitman, or Marian Richman’s Helen aren’t exposed quite so cruelly. It’s always great to see familiar faces like Philip Van Zandt as key scientist Dr. Elzevir and Steve Roberts as head of security Major Howard have some quality scenes to act, and David Alpert as radiation expert Peter Burden and Michael Fox as the first victim Dr. Hubertus also add greatly to the film’s effectiveness. The young William Schallert as the assistant to Wengraf’s Dr. Zeitman also gets a moment or two to shine.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: 4.5/5
The film is framed in its intended theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is presented in 1080p resolution using the MVC/AVC codec. Brilliantly brought back to explosively colorful life by 3-D Film Archivists Greg Kintz and Bob Furmanek, the transfer is wonderfully sharp and clear with much detail in facial features especially. The color is breathtaking when one examines the meager materials the team had to work with. Reds, oranges, and greens look particularly impressive and are beautifully balanced in the left and right eye frames while skin tones are lusciously appealing. Contrast has also been consistently applied to make for a near-perfect picture. Only some random dust specks flick by occasionally to remind us of the age and dire condition the original film must have been in at the start of the project. The movie has been divided into 10 chapters.
The 3D is tremendously entertaining. Along with the expected depth generated by the Natural Vision 3D photography, director Herbert L. Strock (who incidentally couldn’t see 3D himself and relied on his cinematographer to keep him honest) creates the interesting frame compositions with objects on different planes that maintain visual interest throughout, and the few forward projections (a hypodermic needle injection, a screwdriver, GOG’s robotic arm) make for amusing visual tricks. When the stock flat footage of jet fighters intrudes into the wonderful world of 3D late in the movie, it’s a shock to the system! Surely that’s a true sign that 3D has really worked its magic on the viewer.
Audio: 4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack offers an era-typical mono track with solidly recorded dialogue, the delightful Harry Sukman background score, and the atmospheric effects mixed in a deft blending where not one element overpowers the others. Age-related problems with hiss, crackle, pops, and flutter have been dexterously handled with no after effects.
Special Features: 3.5/5
Audio Commentary: film historian Tom Weaver contributes a very well researched discussion of the making of the film with lots of details about Ivan Tors and his film and television career along with the other members of the cast and crew who merit attention. He’s assisted twice by separate discussions about the film’s 3D history (by Bob Furmanek) and its composer Harry Sukman (by music expert David Schecter) making for a very full and complete commentary track.
Restoration Featurette (6:49, HD): 3-D Film Archivists Bob Furmanek and Greg Kintz display the original materials they had to work with in discussing their efforts to bring the 3D version of the film back to viable life.
Herbert L. Strock Interview (8:26, SD): the film’s director-film editor reminisces about the making of the film in this 2003 interview.
Lothrop Worth Interview (19:02, SD): the co-creator of Natural Vision 3D and the film’s cinematographer talks about his career and his first three major 3D films shot with Natural Vision.
Theatrical Trailer Gallery (HD): trailers for Gog (1:51), The Mask (2:47), The Bubble (1:41), and a reissue trailer for The Bubble (1:12).
Overall: 3.5/5
Gog is a fun package of vintage 3D entertainment, and those so equipped are encouraged to give it a try. Even in 2D, the film looks beautiful and offers Saturday morning-style thrills for the young at heart.
Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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