The Giant Claw (1957) User Reviews

Quit being so "picky", and just enjoy this fun little film!

[MarshallO · 6/10 · 21 April 2007]

I'm really getting tired of people "dissing" this film by apparently taking the attitude that all films have to mimic "Citizen Kane" in order to be worthy of enjoying! Sure, the "science" in the film is decidedly unscientific, and the monster DOES look like Beaky Buzzard from a Warner Brothers' cartoon, but, so what? The film is enjoyable for what it IS: just a fun-to-watch, schlocky "sci-fi" film of the fifties--with acting that is NOT "amateurish" (as another reviewer noted)--with the additional benefit (to us guys, at least) of having one heck of a sexy-looking heroine (Mara Corday).

Lighten up, and ENJOY.

"Well, everybody's talking about the bird!"

[jamesrupert2014 · 5/10 · 15 May 2017]

"The Giant Claw" is an adorably horrible monster movie featuring a silly plot, inept script, pedestrian acting, and the most endearingly ridiculous monster ever to threaten mankind. Stories abound about disappearing budgets, Mexican puppet makers, Jeff Morrow slinking out of the theatre when he first saw his feathered antagonist, etc., all of which elevate the movie to the rarified status of one of the "Worst Movies Ever". This is, of course, nonsense, as most people would not bother to finish the "Worst Movie Ever"; whereas, people watch "The Giant Claw" (and its ilk) over and over again. I'd bet in 50 years people will still be snickering over the anti-matter space buzzard when, for example, "Star Trek: Beyond" doesn't even make it into trivia contests. How do you rate a movie that is awful by any measure but yet makes the world a better, or at least a more whimsical, place simply by existing? Metaphorically, HAL would give it a 0, Dave would give it a 10, so I'll split the difference and give it a 5.

Makes "Mothra" look like "Gone with the Wind"

[BruceCorneil · 5/10 · 10 July 2003]

Yet another of those decidedly creaky but fun Z - Grade sci fi flicks from the golden days of late night television.

In one of the Pentagon scenes military chief Robert Shayne sums up the seriousness of the situation when he glumly informs Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday that , after attacking the creature with guns, rockets and cannons, it seems that nothing can stop it. Unfortunately, all the concern would simply trigger peels of laughter from viewers who already know that the "monster" looks like a really bad kid's puppet. I mean, like man , that's got to be the most grisly looking buzzard in the entire history of ornithology.

But, after being hit repeatedly by several ballistic missiles and showing no signs of slowing down, the creature does, indeed, appear to be unstoppable.

Eventually, Jeff and Mara decide to climb aboard a DC 3 prop plane which has some sort of unspecified, experimental gun poking out the back of it. Apparently the idea is to squirt puffs of talcum powder in the pot boiler's face in the hope of blinding it and forcing it to crash land into the North Atlantic. And guess what ..... the whole crazy scheme WORKS!

Sure enough the buzzard cops a blast right in the baby blues, goes into a nose dive and takes a dramatic plunge into Neptune's Garden. OK, so what if the final impact does look suspiciously like a pile of garden rubbish being chucked into a tank of water by someone who was standing just off camera. Even the most world weary monster chasers couldn't help but to feel just a touch sad as we watch the brave bird slowly disappear beneath the waves, Titanic style.

Of course, it probably deserved it when you think about all those model cars that it destroyed and all those papier-mache buildings that it sent crashing to the floor of the Columbia Studios.

In terms of its production values, "The Giant Claw" makes "Mothra" look like "Gone with the Wind"

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Puppet!

[Bucs1960 · 5 August 2002]

What a hoot!!!! This film tops them all......and the 50's had some real "winners" in the genre. And like all that went before and after, this will win your heart. Knowing that computer generated effects and advanced use of the blue screen were things yet to come, we usually have to bite the bullet and figure they did the best they could with what they had. BUT, in this case, they really hit bottom with the monster bird. It has to be the worst of all.....it's a damn wooden puppet on strings that bobs around like Big Bird on a binge......pretty pitiful. Jeff Morrow probably wanted to commit suicide or die of terminal embarrasment after seeing this film in its finished state. And the lovely Mara Corday, who was always stuck in the lower echelon of film making, had to count this as a low point in her career. She deserved better. And of course Morris Ankrum never learned....he just kept plugging away in "B" films and became on of the most famous faces seen in supporting roles. Now, after saying all those negative things, I can honestly say that I love this movie....it is so outrageous that you are just sucked in, forever becoming a fanatic of low budget, 50's horror/science fiction films. Yes, it is really bad, really bad.....but somehow you can't quit watching. Have fun with it!!!!!

Best of the worst

[tamstrat · 5/10 · 22 February 2005]

This movie is literally the funniest, most absurd movie I have ever seen, and that includes "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The monster, the amazing flying puppet is not to be believed unless you see it for yourself. My favorite scene is when Mara Corday and Jeff Morrow see the bird (can it even be called a bird?) for the first time in the slide show. Ms. Corday gasps in horror at the closeup of the bird's ridiculous beak....God she was probably gasping at the thought of what could happen to her career when this turkey was released in theaters... I know the producers were trying to save money on the special effects but dear God, I believe first grader's could've made a more scary, realistic looking creature. But don't let these comments keep you from seeing and loving this movie, I have it on video and whenever I need a good laugh and lift my spirits I put in "The Giant Claw" and for some unknown reason my gloom is lifted and all is right with the world.

Attack Of The Giant Buzzard

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 23 February 2009]

One of the finest and campiest science fiction films of the Fifties was The Giant Claw. For once a monster's existence is not based on atomic radiation.

I have a soft spot for The Giant Claw, the claw in fact belonged to a space buzzard. Now how this big bird (and he looked something like Big Bird from Sesame Street) flew through airless space to nest here on earth is not explained, but it has arrived and the bird's here to lay some eggs. It picks a spot up in the Canadian northwest to do so.

But flying at supersonic speeds the whole planet is a feeding ground for it. And mankind can't get at it because it has an invisible anti-matter shield. Anything we shoot at it just bounces off and doesn't touch it. Of course the bird drops it shield long enough to ingest its meal which could be as much as a whole airplane in one gulp. The space buzzard's got the appetite of a buzzard and the feedings habits of same.

It's up to scientists Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday to bring the big guy down and of course they do since we're all still here. But it's how they do it that's the story.

This particular monster is one of the funniest ever put on the big screen. Anyone over the age of seven will laugh themselves silly looking at Big Bird. But that's the film's charm.

A giant bird with teeth!

[soulexpress · 2/10 · 23 August 2017]

THE GIANT CLAW contains damned near everything that makes bad '50s sci-fi so much fun: a goofy-looking monster; scenes of destruction with Styrofoam buildings, model cars, and HO-gauge trains; made-up science (my Google search of "masic atoms" turned up nothing); scientific equipment slapped together with whatever junk was handy; a female lead with a brilliant mind who nonetheless does all the "girl" things like serving coffee to the men; and the usual dollar-store acting.

The story: a killer bird the size of a battleship (and with teeth) flies around the Earth on a swath of destruction. It is impervious to guns, bombs, and fighter jets, nor does it appear on radar screens. Scientific analysis of a discarded feather concludes that the bird emits a protective energy shield that makes it nearly invincible. Also, since the feather contains no elements known on the Earth, the bird must be an extraterrestrial from some anti-matter galaxy millions of light years away. (Don't you dare question it!) As the lady scientist deduces, the bird came here to build a nest and lay an egg. When the film's heroes shoot up the egg with rifles, it seriously pisses off the bird, which sets about trashing a cheap mock-up of New York City. (Did you know that buildings explode when a monster claws off a chunk of its top floors?)

I watch films like THE GIANT CLAW for the same reason I listen to records by the Shaggs: they're fundamentally awful, but I can't help loving them.

The perfect definition of "It's so bad it's good"

[gzilla1998 · 4/10 · 18 August 2014]

I watched this movie with a friend on a Sunday evening, expecting to get some laughs after what I had heard about this movie. The DVD was only $4, and I like monster movies, so I thought, why not? The laughs were crazy. I don't think I've ever laughed harder at a non comedy movie. The monster is ridiculous, possibly the worst I've ever seen on screen. A giant turkey vulture with a mo-hawk being operated by clearly visible strings. The science is ludicrous, the bird is extra-terrestrial and it has an anti-matter shield? What were they thinking? The acting is okay though, the performers are genuinely trying, but some of the lines are still cheesy and sometimes hysterical. If you like B movies or monster movies, or just want a good laugh with some friends, go out and buy it for cheap.

" The Monster Bird from another Planet "

[thinker1691 · 1/10 · 21 November 2013]

The movie is called " The Giant Claw " and it was originally written by Samuel Newman. In 1957 I and my boyhood friends were 11 and twelve year olds. At that very young age we attended in a group the weekend Monster theater at which time the above film was featured. Having never seen the movie, we of course were taken completely by surprised by the flying monster, each time it appeared. I and the rest of our group exploded with frightful wails of terror, screams of fright and piercing cries of horror. This noise was echoed and multiplied in volume many times when they joined the cacophony of noises throughout the rest of the theater. Truth was, the management was tickled pink by our childish fears and antics. The movie itself proved nonsensical, poorly made, Juvenal, Shylock, half baked and phony in every respects. Still for 1957 it was the stuff of frighting childhood dreams and we were of that age. As an adult, I am amused at what I considered frightening and snicker at sci-fi scenes from B-Picture actor like Jeff Morrow, Dabbs Greer and what the character's called a nightmare chicken. Yet in retrospect, they were the heroes of my youth and the foundation of what today are considered Classic Monsters of my childhood. Enjoy the novelty, youth doesn't last long.

Giant Buzzard From Outer Space!

[ClassixFan · 7/10 · 14 May 2000]

This film is simply put.....pure entertainment! Nothing to be taken seriously, but rather to be savored as one of those classic gems from the 50s. Sure, the *Beastie* of this film is a huge turkey or buzzard from some distant galaxy, the acting is stiff and forced, the effects laughable, but if you watch this film for nothing more than to be entertained, you'll not be disappointed. This film is what makes *B* films so much fun....they're cheesy and campy and made on a budget of about $1.50, but you can't help watching it and coming back time and time, again.

ATTACK OF THE GIANT TURKEY!

[Dejael · 4/10 · 1 December 2003]

(The above Summary line is not my own but was given to this clunker by the Medved Brothers several years ago in their GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS books.) (*May contain spoilers*) This movie is a BOMB. What started out as a serious attempt to do a good sci-fi B-monster movie was reduced to trivial junk by the incredibly bad special visual effects, among the worst to ever be seen in a movie. This dubious honor goes to Ralph Hammeras, who before this ridiculous mess, had a solid career as a special visual effects artist and cameraman. However the guilt does not fall on him alone. When we think of Columbia Pictures in the 1950s, we must remember B-movie unit line producer Sam Katzman, who endeared himself to no one. Katzman is the real responsible party for making this film a useless dud. We are fortunate that his attempts to obfuscate the fine visual effects work of Ray Harryhausen and Charles H. Schneer on their three black & white classics made while working with Katzman at Columbia, were futile, and Harryhausen managed to keep Katzman from ruining his pictures too by not allowing him into his studio, although he couldn't keep him off the set. Katzman was a bargain-basement low-budget B-movie maestro whose work is for the most part forgettable. It was his decision to force Hammeras into doing the visual effects on a shoestring budget (which looks like about $1.98) down at a low-rent studio in Mexico City because Hollywood was just too expensive for Katzman's budget. The results on the screen are painfully obvious as a fairly good third-rate script was trashed to complete hysterics by the gangly, ugly giant bird-on-a-string which menaces no one but the actors who are painfully annoyed. Film star Jeff Morrow (THIS ISLAND EARTH, 1955, and KRONOS, 1957) told me this film was the biggest mistake of his career, causing him no small amount of grief at the box office and the scathingly laughable reviews. When he signed to do the picture, he had no idea that the visual effects work would be so patently ridiculous. Morrow's acting in the picture is superb as Captain Mitchell McAfee, reminding us of Ken Tobey's performance in The THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951). However, apart from the fine work of supporting character actors Morris Ankrum and Robert Shayne, that's where the praise for this film must end. (Morrow had done such an admirable job in the classic sci-fi B-thriller KRONOS also released in the summer of 1957, which holds up so well even today, though dated, because of its thoughtful, literate script, fine cast, production values and impressive but uneven special visual effects which made the film work so well.) When he went to the premiere screening of the film at the Fox Westwood Theater with his wife Anna Karen and friends, he told me he just wanted to crawl down under the seat and hide when he saw this spindly papier-mache marionette puppet as his character's nemesis. He then got up and walked out of the theater and went to the nearest pub for a stiff drink, and never saw the entire film until several years later on TV. He was still embarrassed by this movie to the end of his days. Incredibly bad, ridiculous mess is now only worth watching to laugh at. A useless waste of all the talent involved, including Hammeras, who could have been doing something much more worthwhile with his time than making this bomb for Katzman. Watch at your own risk - don't let your friends catch you watching this!

You need to enjoy bad movies to like this movie

[shadeclan · 10/10 · 3 October 2006]

This movie is very poor in the standard sense. The plot is warped, the monster is goofy, the science is wrong and the actors are terribly, terribly melodramatic. However, these same things are also what make make the movie good to a bad movie connoisseur like myself. The monster is priceless - it is what makes this particular bad movie stand out over most others. BadMovies.org calls it "A Giant Antimatter Space Buzzard (hehe)" and Andrew is right on target. The serious treatment of the actors towards the ridiculous creature (which they didn't see until the movie was released) combined with the utmost in 1950's pseudo-scientific jargon make this move a classic! This movie is my personal favorite of all b movies. Truly a must-see for the discriminating bad movie goer.

Is it really that bad? I don't think so.

[ksj870 · 6/10 · 30 May 2011]

The Giant Claw is one of the most critically maligned sci-fi movies of the 1950s. Granted, it is no classic, but all the same this reviewer considers it a perfectly acceptable example of b-movie fun. The biggest target for critical arrows is the movie's monster--a giant bird from an anti-matter galaxy that turns the Earth into its aerie and hunting ground. It's hard to defend the appearance of the puppet that is our monster, as it certainly is rather silly and even by the standards of 50s effects, not very scary. I can't help but wonder how critical and popular reaction might have differed when the predator first appeared on-screen if it had been, say, a dragon, or even just a better-realized bird. Screenwriters Samuel Newman and Paul Gangelin actually put together a competent script that demonstrates some creative thought. The rationale for the monster's appearance is actually fairly reasonable, and it's neat that the reason for the monster's invulnerability to our most powerful weapons is due to an anti-matter force field as opposed to an impossible degree of physical toughness. Moreover, the relationship between our leads--played by stalwart Jeff Morrow and the vivacious Mara Corday--is developed with greater realism than the usual stock romance typical of many genre films. Some viewers criticize what they perceive to be an abrupt shift in the relationship of the main characters as they go from being near-adversaries to lovers, but if you pay attention it's obvious the verbal sparring between the two early on is of the flirtatious variety, and quite expertly written and acted as well. The cast is good overall, and Morrow and Corday are both quite likable as our heroes. Any perceived flaws in the visual effects are surely compensated for by the striking presence of Ms. Corday, whose physical charms are better than any technical effects could ever hope to be. The action scenes are handled well enough by director Fred Sears, and are comparable to those seen in many other period films. Overall, The Giant Claw is a competently made and genuinely entertaining film. The lackluster monster effects are admittedly poor, but once you get past that the rest of the film has a lot going for it. I think that fans of 50s sci-fi who can overlook the film's reputation may find that despite it all, The Giant Claw isn't all bad.

It must be bad karma. This movie is much better than some.

[Bob-45 · 5/10 · 4 January 2013]

Better written than "The Night the World Exploded," "Creature With the Atom Brain," Twelve to the Moon," "The Deadly Mantis," "Beginning of the End, "The Black Scorpion" and "Fiend Without a Face;" better paced than any of those, plus "Kronos," "Spacemaster X-7," "Rodan" and "The H Man"; at least as well directed (by Fred Sears) as "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," this movie gets most of its pans due to a ludicrous monster and some supporting actors better befitting a "Three Stooges" short. However, even the monster is better than pretty much anything Japan produced after its 50s "Golden Era". Besides, you pretty much cannot go wrong with Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday.

I wish the movie had included the occult legend of a "Stargate" at each of the poles. That would certainly explain how a creature could pass from an "anti-matter galaxy" and ours. Nonetheless, this scientific mumbo jumbo is far more convincing than the "Element 112" nonsense of "Night the World Exploded." Thanks to Morrow, Corday, Morris Ankrum and Fred Sears expert direction, ludicrous monster or not, the movie actually generates some fairly good suspense. I give "The Giant Claw" a "5".

Mexican Poultry

[tieman64 · 20 September 2010]

"What it does have is the all time dumbest 50's monster." – Joe Dante

What the hell? An extra-terrestrial semi-retarded giant chicken appears in earth's atmosphere and promptly starts attacking mankind. It's therefore up to a scientist and a mathematician to stop the beast.

This film is renowned for being one of the worst "creature features". The dialogue consists of fare like "That bird is extraterrestrial! It comes from outer space!" and "It was a bird as big as a battleship!" and the rest of the film if comprised of the usual 1950s scifi/horror B-movie ingredients: a silly monster, bad dialogue delivered with complete sincerity, annoying teens as the monster's victims, abundant stock footage, a squeaky clean male hero, a busty but smart female sidekick, corny scientific explanations and a plot completely devoid of logic.

And yet…this is probably the only film in cinema history to star a giant prehistoric extraterrestrial United Nations hating rubber chicken. That's exactly how I like my giant poultry: politically incorrect.

6/10 - The film now plays well as an unintentional comedy. To save money, this film's producers outsourced their special effects to a suspicious company in Mexico. Little is known about that company, other than the fact that they make unconvincing poultry.

"Keep your shirt on, and I'll get my pants on."

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 27 November 2012]

A movie such as the howler "The Giant Claw" may not exactly overflow with quality, but that's precisely what makes it an endearing artifact from the 1950s science fiction boom. Provided one can turn off their brain and is ready to laugh a lot, this can be good fun. Well, fun, anyway.

The story has an enormous Muppet-like turkey / buzzard from outer space flying to Earth to cause much death and destruction while the usual stock heroes rack their brains trying to come up with the means to annihilate it.

Jeff Morrow ("This Island Earth") is the egghead hero, lovely Mara Corday ("Tarantula") his leading lady, and the supporting cast features such prominent character actors of the period as Morris Ankrum ("Earth vs. The Flying Saucers"), Edgar Barrier (Welles' "Macbeth"), and Robert Shayne ('Adventures of Superman'). The dialogue is often hilariously ridiculous, and it gets to a point where one has to believe that the filmmakers, led by director Fred F. Sears ("The Werewolf"), had their tongues in their cheeks the entire time. The actors deserve a lot of credit for keeping straight faces while mouthing their lines.

Of course, no matter what the intentions were, what truly makes "The Giant Claw" something special are the hysterical, not-so-special effects; the monster ranks as one of the dumbest-looking to ever be created for a feature film.

Things get off to a comfortably predictable start as we're obliged to listen to the standard narration / exposition common to so many other 50s genre efforts. From then on, the movie is simply a horrendous hoot. Bad movie lovers can also amuse themselves by playing a drinking game whenever words or phrases such as "battleship", "electronic engineer" and "La Carcagne!" are uttered. All in all, this is 75 minutes of agreeably silly entertainment.

Trivia note: the Karol Noymann character played by Barrier also turns up in "Invisible Invaders", where he's played by John Carradine; both movies were written by Samuel Newman.

Five out of 10.

The duck from "You Bet Your Life" was more realistic and scary!!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 28 September 2008]

This is a truly terrible sci-fi/horror film from 1957. In fact, despite Ed Wood, Jr.and his dreadful films getting a lot of publicity, this turkey is every bit as bad as the worst of Wood. Now the acting is a bit better than you'd find in the Wood epics (such as PLAN 9 and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER), but the special effects managed to be significantly worse than Wood's! However, bad movie aficionados will be happy to hear that it's so bad that it's still excellent viewing. Like a Wood film, it's great to watch this crap-fest and laugh along with your friends.

The film begins with a scientist flying about doing some testing in his jet. However, out of nowhere, a UFO streaks by and his report of this over the radio triggers a panic by the Air Force. However, later, they realized that the UFO didn't appear on the radio and they think the scientist is a nut! But, when soon after this planes start disappearing all over, they realize there must be something to his sighting.

So far, the film isn't great but it's watchable. However, by the time the horrible flying monster appears, you know you're watching a turkey. First, through horrid use of stock film and crappy models, airplanes keep changing mid-flight. Some may not be bothered by this, but with airplane lovers like me, seeing an F-80 turning into an F-86 to an F-102 fighter plane made me crazy--especially since the planes look nothing like each other. Second, through "clever" cinematography, all you really see of the monster is a ball of fuzz for half the film! This is frustrating and you hope that when you finally do see it clearly, it will be worth the wait. Well, no such luck!! The "monster" looks less realistic or scary than the duck from Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" TV show!! In fact, it's significantly less realistic than any of the Japanese giant monsters!! In fact, Big Bird from "Sesame Street" is even a bit scarier and realistic!!! It's just god-awful in every way and might just be the dumbest movie monster in history--about as bad (or worse) as the monsters in ROBOT MONSTER or TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE!!! The bottom line is that this is an absolutely dreadful film that sane people won't like. Bad film fans like me (who are a crazy bunch) will probably love it! All others...be afraid,....be VERY afraid!!

FYI--You might notice that some clips in this film are from other sci-fi movies!! I am positive the crashing Washington Monument scene was stolen from EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS but I also saw a couple other scenes that I swear are from other films. What a hack job!

Big Bird

[richardchatten · 3/10 · 15 November 2020]

Some films are born lousy, some achieve lousiness and some have lousiness thrust upon them.

This film definitely falls into the third category, since the biggest spoiler connected with this film is the screen grabs you'll probably already have seen in advance (Columbia were careful not to issue official 8 by 10s at the time, which if any were ever printed would probably fetch a fortune today) of a monster which in the words of the late Bill Warren "has been known to bring strong men to their knees in helpless laughter".

It would never had been very good. The model work of toy trains, planes and buildings also sucks; and the script contains enough cliches like describing sultry heroine Mara Corday as "a mathematician and systems officer" engaged in "Earth curvature calibration work".

In reality the "feathered nightmare on wings" they're so impressed by would actually be pretty scary. It reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago in 'Private Eye' of a giant rabbit laying waste to a city while everybody ignores it, and an onlooker observes "I suppose if it was a gorilla people would take it seriously".

"If you see the big bird it's a sign you're gonna die soon"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 22 December 2021]

Well yes, the giant bird as it manifests in the film can't be taken seriously. On its first appearance all verisimilitude plummets. Which is a shame as there are some things to like about 'The Giant Claw'. Apart from the stock footage the cinematography is fine. Enhancing the cast it has Morris Ankrum in his patented capable military leader persona dealing with alien threats and it does have the enchanting Mara Corday as the mathematical Sally Caldwell. Unfortunately Jeff Morrow as the hero Mitch MacAfee is unlikeable and a bit creepy. The monster does have a scene where it is standing on top of the Empire State building, naturally evoking comparison with the superior 'King Kong' (The 1933 version, not the awful Peter Jackson one of course) that does it no favours. It could have been better but it doesn't rise to being average sadly.

A good drinking game is to have a shot when someone says 'battleship'. You'll soon be sozzled.

Bird Scares Three Year Old

[chevrette · 4/10 · 9 October 2008]

I love old "monster movies" for the pure camp value. This one does not disappoint if you find that sort of thing amusing.

The acting is pure 1950s stilted crap. You do get used to it when you've seen enough of these... the dialogue is very silly and ultimately forgettable. You're just there for the giant bird.

The "science" in this movie is hilarious. A monstrous otherworldly avian that can manipulate anti-matter... intent on wreaking havoc and eating people... an alien who has come to Earth to nest. Some of the best scenes in the movie (that don't have the bird in them) include the "scientists" explaining what is going on.

A lot has been said about the ridiculous bird marionette. It looks like a new baby bird... bald and ugly with ruffled feathers. It even caws like a hungry, angry fledgling. However, the bird scared the crap out of my three year old, who had big scary bird nightmares for the evening. It's a bit creepy.

I was very sad about the scene where they shoot the egg. (Somehow the egg is not protected by an antimatter shield.) But I'm a bird lover, what can I say?

Why did they make this movie?

[dhreid · 7/10 · 9 November 2006]

I really cannot understand why this movie was made. At least you get to see some standard 'B' actors such as Jeff Morrow, Morris Ankrum and Mara Corday who is a cute as she can be. Well you guessed it, this thing is about a big bird, what you couldn't have guessed is that it crossed the universe, believe it or not, to build a nest and lay eggs on our 'pale blue dot'(from Carl Sagan). This film has got to win the award for the use of the most stock film shots ever. In more than one sequence, you see folks running in panic in the streets of New York. --Shots taken straight from the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. The special effects were not special, the bird was laughable, and there are so many continuity mistakes. I must have missed the transition from Mara thinking Jeff was a real immature jerk to the heavy romance. (??) Never-the-less I watched the movie wishing it would end yet interested enough to want to know how it would end. It seems to me that considering what a menace this bird was supposed to be, that there would be whole raft of scientists and military types trying to figure out how to kill this thing, there weren't, just a handful. Maybe because of the ridiculously low budget. I am glad however to have a copy to add to my 50's B Monster collection. There is no other film in my collection as bad as this one. I loved it!

The Giant Claw (1957) **

[JoeKarlosi · 5/10 · 3 March 2013]

Moderately fun 1950s silliness centered around a pilot (Jeff Morrow) who spots a battleship- sized UFO sweeping around the skies. Nobody believes his assertion at first, until other pilots start experiencing the same phenomenon and then start disappearing -- turns out the culprit is actually a gigantic buzzard who's eating them (!). The flying puppet bird-monster itself looks patently ridiculous with visible strings to maneuver it, and is easily one of the poorest creatures seen in such pictures. But that can be part of the cheesy good time, and the lead actors are enjoyable because they take this all so seriously. Mara Corday is the fetching love interest. Also starring Robert Shayne and Morris Ankrum.

** out of ****

I haven't thought of this movie in years

[dmorgan-31 · 8/10 · 17 October 2007]

I saw "The Giant Claw" several times on the Saturday afternoon creature feature in the late 60s and 70s. I LOVED IT!

This was before I started actually reading science fiction, and my friends and me really liked the science fiction movies that were being shown on the TV when you had about five channels. This movie ranks up there with "The Deadly Mantis" (giant praying mantis), "Them" (the giant ants), and "Tarantula" (the giant tarantula, of course). Being a kid growing up during the height of the space race, science fiction was always an "almost anything goes" genre to occupy a lazy afternoon. This movie is easily competitive with the Japanese monster movies, and I think that the creation of movies like this peaked out at "The Green Slime" (1968).

All you have to do is turn off your brain and throw out your "willing suspension of disbelief." It's just a plain old fun movie, good for everyone to watch on a rainy day. And if it would ever be shown again, I can watch it with popcorn AND a beer.

How can anyone not like The Giant Claw?

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 23 May 2008]

The Giant Claw starts as electrical engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) working for the US Government is piloting a Military jet plane for reasons which escape me, while flying along Mitch notices 'something' up there with him which he describes as a UFO but no-one down below monitoring him on radar see anything & thus don't believe him. However when reports start coming in regarding planes mysteriously going missing amidst reports of UFO's the people in charge change their minds about Mitch. Soon the Giant Claw has revealed itself, a huge bird like creature from outer space with an anti matter shield that likes to eat people & destroy buildings. Earth's weapons are useless against it, can a lowly electrical engineer & his lady friend mathematician Sally (Mary Corday) find a way to destroy the Giant Claw before it destroys us?

Originally worked on under the title The Mark of the Claw this black and white 50's monster flick was directed by Fred F. Sears for Columbia shortly after he had directed Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) for them & I would have thought that Columbia was looking for another hit sci-fi film. Instead Columbia got one of the silliest sci-fi monster films ever made, according to the IMDb director Sears actually died of a heart attack in late 1957 just five months after The Giant Claw had been released in theatres. The script by Paul Gangelin & Samuel Newman is obsessed with the word battleship & takes all the usual monster film clichés & cobbles them together like the first twenty minutes where some unseen monster is going around causing lots of damage, someone seeing it yet no-one believing him, the romance between the hero & the token female character, the expected scenes of crowds of people running & screaming, the military people who want to destroy it, the scientists who come up with loads of pseudo scientific nonsense that in reality doesn't mean a thing or make any sense, the awkward sounding narrator who is used to quickly announce various bits of exposition, the very stiff & frankly absurd script & dialogue, cardboard cutout character's, the copious amounts of stock footage & a short sub eighty minute duration. It's all here & it's rarely as fun as in The Giant Claw, basically if your the kind of person who takes watching films very seriously then you will hate The Giant Claw but if you can just go with it & enjoy a film, no matter how bad it is, for what it is then the chances are you will get some guilty pleasure from The Giant Claw. I mean how can anyone not like a film about a giant turkey from outer space destroying the Earth? Definitely a so bad it's great sort of film.

Director Sears can't really be blamed for how bad the notorious effects are, the producers were apparently going to have the monster created using stop motion animation but couldn't afford it so they gave the contract to a place in Mexico to cut costs &, quite frankly, the Giant Claw looks as silly as any giant monster from any film you care to name. Having said that it's eyes move, it's nostrils flare, it's mouth opens & closes & it's wings flap (well usually) so at least it's got some sort of movement even if it's not entirely convincing. There are a few continuity errors as well, the planes often change make between shots with the sequence where the planes first attack the Giant Claw & it grabs one in it's mouth which as a model is completely different to what it originally looked it when it was stock footage being particularly noticeable. Some of the destruction scenes set in New York are taken from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Apparently when released theatre audiences laughed at The Giant Claw back in 1957, star Jeff Morrow has said he never saw the bird until the premiere since all the special effects scenes were shot separately & when he did see it he sneaked out of the cinema to avoid any embarrassment after it had finished. You can't blame him I suppose...

Technically the film is basic, the special effects are really poor & the script is full of laugh out hilarious lines but it's fun & I loved every silly moment of it. The acting is as wooden as a tree, no-one comes out looking particularly good.

The Giant Claw is a fun 1957 monster film, whether you like it as much as I did will entirely depend on how much tolerance you have for awful looking monsters, rubbish special effects, an unintentionally hilarious script & dialogue & of course it's shot in black and white which will put some off all by itself. Me, I thought it was great & it's as simple & straight forward as that.

You've Gotta Laff.

[screenman · 1/10 · 6 September 2011]

It's hard to see how this movie got made as anything but a comedy. You can't imagine such a laughably hokey monster bird being brought on set and actors and crew alike not falling-about with laughter.

Yet here it is - like the most lugubrious refugee from Sesame Street.

It's flown in from outer space. Which is quite clever because there's no air in outer space so it couldn't even breathe let alone fly. And in any case it would be as rock solid as any frozen chicken. But let's not dwell on science.

It's undetectable by radar and can't be killed by conventional means because it's somehow surrounded by anti-matter. Why the anti-matter only repels weapons and not the atoms and molecules of Earth's atmosphere - well let's not dwell on that either.

After this Punch & Judy projectile has whizzed about a bit damaging terrestrial collateral, heroic boffins work out that they can spray nuclear particles at it from an aeroplane mounted cannon and neutralise its force-field. Sorted.

As I say; it beggars belief. The fact that it was intended as a serious movie is the basis of its entertainment value. If you ever get the chance; watch in awe. It's hilarious.