To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

There's a saboteur afoot at a secret government facility in the desert; a professor from the Office of Scientific Investigation and a female agent seek answers to the malfunctions which have resulted in the deaths of top scientists. Producer Ivan Tors, who also gets an original story credit, loved mixing science-fiction with science-fact, but perhaps gets too carried away here with his love of teaching science (the tour of the facility's many laboratories constitutes nearly half the film's running-time). While the exhibitions and scientific theories are certainly interesting, the technical jargon becomes monotonous. Nicely-produced on a low budget, and with some suspense near the finale, but--as a thriller in the sci-fi genre--it lacks a good old-fashioned charge of excitement. ** from ****

I was pleased to see Gog, after having been interested in it for some years, since I read a positive review in, if memory serves, the Radio Times Encyclopedia of Film. Watching it, it turned out that the plot elements mentioned in the review that made the film so enticing to me were in fact only revealed a fair distance into the film and that the review had more or less spoiled the big reveal, as it were. Still, having settled into the film I was just glad of the enticement to check it out, as it's a good little item, decked out in interesting concepts and solid performances. The plot centres upon an underground scientific research laboratory that comes under investigation when strange accidents fell its personnel. Seems like mere sabotage, but what's really going on...? What transpires is engagingly speculative and charmingly dated, explanation and action threaded through an inspiring joy in science. There's a good deal of scientific chat in this one and a number of interesting gadgets, to give many examples would spoil some of the turns of the film but I did rather enjoy an apparatus assembled for observing the surface of the sun. The interest in science and slightly dry tone here is down to Ivan Tors who came up with the source story. He was prolific in science fiction of this era ad a notable proponent of science fiction as a vehicle for relatively grounded speculation rather than space monsters or giant bugs. The screenplay has more chat than action for a lot of the time though, with the result that the film is slightly plodding and pacing lapses are the main problem with Gog. The acting is also rather stiff, though Richard Egan and Constance Dowling hit the right dedicated notes as the pair in charge of solving the mystery, while assorted scientists are essayed in suitably smart and buttoned up fashion by the likes of Herbert Marshall and John Wengraf. Director Herbert L. Strock brings the film together in agreeably tight fashion, with some effectively intense moments and an overall efficient claustrophobic intrigue. It all comes across nicely, just rather slight, it tightens the screws rather well at times but doesn't maintain them, the effects are handy but rarely wow making, the acting comes off but never really pops, the film just has a bit of a minor league feel to it, fun but never essential. Still, it's a good 'un by and large, definitely worth a look for anyone with an interest in B grade science fiction. So check it out!

Perhaps I imagine the scene (I saw this movie on TV when I was 7-9, 45+ years ago), but my favorite recollection was when they suspected there was an aircraft spying on/manipulating their affairs, someone grabs a radio transmitter microphone and broadcasts the equivalent of: "Flying wing, flying wing, are you there?" ((Stock footage of YB-49)) "Roger" "Do you see anything unusual?" ((Stock footage of air force pilot)) "No." The movie proceeds apace.I must find a tape or DVD!(As it happens, IMDb has extremely rigid submission guidelines. I always understood, and agreed, that the brevity was the soul of wit. IMDb claims they will also object to "blah blah blah", so I am forced to meta-comment on their guidelines. Really. I was just hoping some other aero-nerds would appreciate supporting roles from a YB-49!)

In my opinion this is one of the best films made by Ivan Tors. Tors created "Science Fiction Theater" for TV and made several SciFi films (like The Magnetic Monster) before this genre was really popular. He brought real science to the screen in plots that may seem dated today but afterall, it was 1954. In GOG, Tors brings in then brand new inventions such as jets, computers, robots, high frequency sound, cryogenics, sunlight as a weapon, electronic surveillance, atomic power and even man-made satellites (which would not become reality for 3 more years). To an audience unfamiliar with such things, it was exiting and scary. Especially scary when you were made to think such super weapons were under the control of a foreign power. The Korean War had just ended and the USSR was making aggressive comments about atomic war with us. This movie gave me nightmares for quite awhile.-BullMoose