The Crawling Eye (1958)
"The Trollenberg Terror" (original title)

A series of decapitations on a Swiss mountainside appear to be connected to a mysterious radioactive cloud.

Director:

Quentin Lawrence

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (screenplay), Peter Key (story)

Stars:

Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne, Jennifer Jayne

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Forrest Tucker	...	Alan Brooks
Laurence Payne	...	Philip Truscott
Jennifer Jayne	...	Sarah Pilgrim
Janet Munro	...	Anne Pilgrim
Warren Mitchell	...	Prof. Crevett
Frederick Schiller	...	Mayor Klein
Andrew Faulds	...	Brett
Stuart Saunders	...	Dewhurst
Colin Douglas	...	Hans
Derek Sydney	...	Wilde
Richard Golding	...	First Villager
George Herbert	...	Second Villager
Anne Sharp	...	German Woman with Little Girl
Leslie Heritage	...	Carl
Jeremy Longhurst	...	First Student Climber

Storyline

A remote mountain resort in Switzerland is invaded by horrible alien creatures that like to decapitate humans. The beings are also in telepathic communication with people and inhabit a mysterious, radioactive cloud at the base of the Trollenberg mountain.

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Plot Keywords:

mountain | cloud | alien | decapitation | telephone | 

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Taglines:

A man dissolves...and out of the oozing mist comes the hungry eye, slave to the demon brain!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 December 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Crawling Eye

Filming Locations:

Alliance Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tempean Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Carpenter has said that this film, with its creatures hidden in the clouds, was the inspiration for his film The Fog.

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Goofs

The jet bomber at the end of the film is an English Electric Canberra, except for one shot where it mysteriously becomes a late-model Gloster Meteor jet fighter.

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Quotes

Prof. Crevett: D'you see? Television cameras on da roof. We watch *everywhere*. You know, da government - da government, they say to me, "Professor, do you have to have such *expensive* things? Windows are much cheaper!" And I say I have to have, and I *have*! Dat over there, dat is the *only* window. And even for *dat*, we have *protection*. Look.
[activates electric window cover]
Prof. Crevett: Dat will stand up to *any* avalanche. Uh, dat too was very expensive. All this to study cosmic rays, huh?

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Crazy Credits

The films opening credits flash onto the screen when the passenger train rolls into the darkness of a tunnel.

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Connections

Featured in Explorers (1985)

User Reviews

The Eyes have it, or maybe have it!

When growing up in the sixties, one cannot forget a flick that has huge eyeballs moving around and wonderful music to match the eyes in action. I had seen giant ants, lizards, flies and wasps but not eyeballs. The opening scenes with two men mountain climbing in the cold and then one becoming decapitated was a true "eye-grabber." Eyes outside of an observatory and cracking a hole in a cement wall with long tentacles was very exciting for a little boy. Watching Philip Truscott hanging by his neck, kicking and fighting an eye tentacle was one of the many highlights of this film. The ending with the jets was a little weak, because it looked really fake but overall you will enjoy this "eye-popping" feature.