The Giant Claw (1957) review

2. The Giant Claw (1957)

Directed by: Fred F. Sears

Produced by: Sam Katzman

Screenplay by: Samuel Newman, Paul Gangelin

Starring: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday

Many of the movies I’ll be reviewing this month are independent, low-budget productions; but today’s film, “The Giant Claw,” was distributed by Columbia Pictures. When “Godzilla” came out in 1954, it started a long trend of kaiju films that featured giant monsters causing mass destruction; one of the first Japanese imitators was “Rodan,” their first one shot in color, about an irradiated Pteranodon-like creature wreaking havoc. Just a few months later, this movie came out in the U.S., most likely intended to cash in on the craze. On the surface, it doesn’t sound too terrible; it’s about a giant bird destroying aircraft, and the efforts of an aeronautics engineer and the U.S. military to take it down when it puts the public in danger. Indeed, several aspects of the movie are quite good; but everything about the look and nature of the monster itself shunts it into the realm of an absurd mess, one you’re bound to enjoy.

Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) is conducting a radar test flight when he spots a UFO; his superiors initially don’t believe him, but aircraft start disappearing, and Mitch’s flight home is attacked, killing the pilot in the process. A farmer named Pierre (Lou Merrill) rescues him and his mathematician love interest Sally (Mara Corday), claiming it was a mythical monster bird he calls La Carcagne. They’re all soon made aware of the bird, which is “as big as a battleship,” isn’t affected by any of their weaponry, and can’t be tracked on their radar equipment. Why? Because it’s extra-terrestrial and surrounded by an antimatter shield. So Mitch, Sally and the various scientists and military generals search for any method to defeat this creature before the devastation becomes insurmountable.

The acting in this, by B-movie standards, is quite impressive; Jeff Morrow has some naturally funny little quirks in his mannerisms, and shares pretty good chemistry with Mara Corday as Sally. There’s one particularly cute exchange where he meets her with a pencil in his teeth as they’re saying hi, even though there is the occasional sexist quip typical of the time period. Corday was often cast in miniscule genre roles, and was once described by Leonard Maltin as having “more acting ability than she was permitted to exhibit.” I even like Morris Ankrum and Robert Shayne as Generals Considine and Buskirk, and these are usually pretty annoying character types. Their frequent techno-babble dialogue gets a little boring after a while, but it’s easy to see the commitment in these performances, and there’s a decent build-up of tension and mystery.

But okay, you see that picture; you want me to talk about the bird, right? Well, just look at it. Look at it! For about 27 minutes, you can actually take what’s going on somewhat seriously; but once the monster shows up, the story loses all credibility. Everything about it—eyes, nose, teeth, hair, screech, movement—is an assault on human sight and common sense. Apparently, they were going to have acclaimed stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen in charge of the effects; but due to money constraints, producer Sam Katzman hired a Mexican effects studio, and this what we get. According to Morrow, no one in the film knew what the monster looked like until the premiere; even the poster shows its head out of frame. When he saw it in his hometown, the audience roared with laughter; he eventually left the theater early out of embarrassment and allegedly went home to get drunk.

So because none of the cast knew how the monster would look, they had to imagine how terrifying it would be, which makes for some hilarious reaction shots whenever it shows up. I mean it, this is presented pretty seriously, even down to the stoic narration by director Fred F. Sears. There’s panicked shots of the citizens, talks of instituting martial law, and I haven’t even gotten into the explanation of this bird’s flight pattern; it’s so convoluted and nonsensical, yet you’d think Morrow was trying to earn himself an Academy Award. One of the only deliberately silly scenes is your basic horror trope with a bunch of teenagers joyriding past curfew and making stupid jokes; it’s no surprise what happens to them. But how can you not get a kick out of such an extreme contrast of unflappable tone and ridiculous-looking threats? It has the appearance of a spoof film, but the fact that it tries so hard to be legitimate makes it even funnier.

If it wasn’t for the visual of the bird, “The Giant Claw” would probably get lost in the crowd as a typical dumb sci-fi flick of the decade, albeit containing a solid leading performance, with its weird monster lore, fluctuating mood, and stock footage from much better films with infinitely more convincing effects like “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,” which Sears also directed. Instead, it’s one of the most memorably bad movies I’ve ever seen; every time that bird comes swooping in towards the camera or they compare it to a battleship—seriously, it happens a lot—I burst out laughing. Reportedly, Katzman had a reputation for making movies fast and cheap but also lucrative; whatever the means, he gave audiences something unique here, and I think it’s the kind of unique we should all witness at least once in our lives. If the look of this monster makes you at all curious, I say give this one a look.

My rating: 7/10