Gorgo (1961)

Starring Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Christopher Rhodes, Joseph O'Conor
Directed by Eugene Lourie
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Two men from a salvage vessel are successful in capturing a prehistoric creature off the coast of Ireland and sell him to a London circus, but the creature's mother is soon on her way after them.

One of the best kaiju productions made outside of Japan, the picture obviously owes a debt to the Toho productions that came before, but looks great, especially in HD, with well done special effects and fine cinematography.  Freddie Young's photography captures dramatic closeups of both the monsters and the fleeing London crowds, giving energy to the destructive sequences which are well-framed and edited as well.  Angelo Lavagnino's score is wonderful, with beautiful Irish melodies for the island where Gorgo is discovered and the young boy who stows away to follow the creature, as well as more foreboding themes for the military's battle with the creature.  As one can expect in any of these films, a fair amount of stock footage is used, but once they get to London, we're seeing some impressive miniatures as Gorgo's mother menaces London Bridge and Big Ben.  Travers and Sylvester aren't the most dynamic leads, but acquit themselves well enough, and the whole package is well directed by Lourie, improving on the set pieces utilized in his earlier monster films.