# Gog (1954)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

GOG (director: Herbert L. Strock; screenwriters:Tom Taggart/Richard G. Taylor/based on a story by Ivan Tors; cinematographer: Lothrop B. Worth; cast: Richard Egan (David Sheppard), Constance Dowling (Joanna Merritt), Herbert Marshall (Dr. Van Ness), John Wengraf ( Dr. Zeitman), Steve Roberts (Maj. Howard), Byron Kane (Dr. Carter), 1954)

    Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

This sci-fi'er left a lot to be desired. It didn't work out in 3-D, its original intention of how it was to be shown, as the public's taste for that fad cooled, or in the conventional 2-D, how it was actually shown when released. For the first 30 minutes or so I felt I was stuck in a detention classroom for dummies (ah! those childhood memories never seem to go away), as there was one pedantic lecture after another trying to explain the secret experimental work being done underground in a New Mexico lab with five different levels of depth and a giant mirror out front to deflect the sun's rays, that if directed upon a target would easily burn it up. A weapon that was reputed to be more potent than the H-Bomb, and something that America, the good guys, were going to put up in outer space so that they could control the world from their enemies.

Ivan Tors is the producer and the one who wrote the story that the film is based on. He also foisted his wife, Constance Dowling, on the film as the lead actress. Her problem was that she was stiffer than a stiff in her romantic role, as Joanna Merritt. She is a plant from Washington, spying for them about what is happening on the secret project. She previously had a romantic relationship with the lead investigator, Dr. David Sheppard (Egan), who was just flown in at the request of the center's director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall). Her job now becomes to help Dr. Sheppard track down the mysterious malfunctions taking place at the center. This was the last film she appeared in, after a brief film career, working previously as a Samuel Goldwyn girl.

During these Cold War years, machines were regarded with apprehension by the public, who were worried that the enemy would out do America in science and have weapons that will blow them up. That the plot of the film would be about two robots, GOG and MAGOG, built in a neutral European country, but who enemy agents were able to slip into it a radio transmitter that was not detected by American security, highlights the American paranoia about foreigners and machines controlling the world. Even if these machines could do a 1,000 times the work man can do, they were also a 1,000 times deadlier than man, and this reactionary story dwells on the negative side of what machines could do, even if the machine in this instance is a magnificent brain.

Herbert Marshall, has an uninspiring role, as the man in charge of this project, which is the installation of the first manned space station built. This station will be sent to outer space upon its completion. The base is under the "command" of NOVAC, an anagram for Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer. What all the fuss is about, is if American know-how can save the world for democracy, as the project comes under attack. Since NOVAC has been compromised by those who've reprogrammed the computer to undermine the space-station project and have ordered NOVAC to dispatch the two robots to kill the scientists and the project itself, its now up to Dr. Sheppard to stop those robots.

The action in the film, which is none too thrilling, is in watching how many of the 150 workers will get killed and what novel ways are the killings to be done. There will also be some action scenes involving the ruggedly handsome B- actor and former school teacher, Richard Egan, putting a flame thrower to the robot, which will enable America to launch its space station uninterrupted.

If the film was funny or its technology was more interesting, or if the killings weren't so melodramatic, and the acting not so staid, and the patriotic jingoism wasn't so shrill, I might have found this film bearable. But since that wasn't the case, I found the film to be an academic bore.

    REVIEWED ON 9/8/99    GRADE: D

Dennis Schwartz: " Ozus' World Movie Reviews "

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

    ozus@sover.net

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