French-born director Eugene Lourié was no stranger to the dynamic world of giant monsters, having helmed THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959). In the early 60s, he went to England to direct his first color film of the sort, this time with actors in suits (alá Godzilla) playing the mammoth creatures, rather than employing stop motion animation. The resulting film, GORGO was originally issued on DVD by VCI many years ago, but they have now seen it fit to revisit the title as a "Widescreen Destruction Edition."

Days after an underwater eruption near the Irish coastline, fishermen Joe Ryan (Bill Travers) and Sam Slade (William Sylvester) encounter a prehistoric monster that comes ashore to carry out an attack on the locals. Eventually they are able to net the beast and haul it to London to display in a rich businessman's circus, much to the dismay of young Sean (Vincent Winter), an orphan boy sympathetic towards its freedom. What they don't realize is that the creature's mother is ten times bigger and in a desperate search for its child. The angry Mama Gorgo finds its way to the big city, and goes on a rampage of mass destruction before uniting again with the imprisoned offspring.

GORGO is a classic 75-minute giant monster flick with a huge following due to its successful 1961 MGM theatrical release, followed by decades of late night TV airings. The rubber-suited monsters look like a cross between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a dragon (complete with wagging ears), and the miniature special effects (including the virtual destruction of London) by Oscar winner Tom Howard are very impressive considering that this was made over 45 years ago. Despite one drawn out stretch of makeshift stock footage and some awkward characterizations, the film still holds up very well. Aficionados who watch a lot of films of this sort will spot horror movie regulars Nigel Green and Laurence Kauffman, as well as an uncredited Harvey Hall (from all three entries in Hammer’s “Karnstein Trilogy) as a military squadron leader.

VCI’s updated DVD of GORGO presents a different transfer that’s a noticeable improvement over the old one. Although it’s still far from perfect, the image is much cleaner and brighter, and picture detail is much better defined. Colors are also better rendered (though they hardly live up to the prominent “Technicolor” buildup on the front cover), and the excessive grain that plagued the original release is now minimal. It’s here presented 1.85:1, rather than the original release’s 1.66:1, so the framing is tighter on the top and bottom now (too tight in spots), but there appears to be a bit more information on the sides. The 5.1 audio amplifies music and sound effects nicely, and an additional French language track is included.