The Cyclops (1957)

An expedition to Mexico finds and does battle with a mutated 25-foot man with one big eye.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writer:

Bert I. Gordon

Stars:

James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney Jr.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Craig	...	Russ Bradford
Gloria Talbott	...	Susan Winter
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Martin 'Marty' Melville (as Lon Chaney)
Tom Drake	...	Lee Brand
Duncan 'Dean' Parkin	...	The Cyclops (Bruce Barton) (as Duncan Parkin)
Vicente Padula	...	The Governor (as Vincent Padula)
Marlene Kloss	...	The Salesgirl
Manuel López	...	The Policeman (as Manuel Lopez)

Storyline

Susan Winter undertakes an expedition to a remote area of Mexico, hoping to find her fiance, Bruce Barton, whos plane-crashed there some time ago. The area is suspected to have a good supply of uranium, so Susan has promoted this to wealthy Martin Melville to get money for her expenses. In addition to Melville, she is accompanied by guide Russ Bradford and pilot Lee Brand in his small-engine craft. But the plane crashes, stranding the four in an isolated valley, which they soon discover is highly radioactive and inhabited by mutated life forms - giant insects, enormous lizards, and a 25-foot-tall human male with a deformed face, just one eye, and only brute animal instincts to feed and protect its turf...

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Plot Keywords:

kaiju | psychotronic film | mexico | creature feature | punched in the face | 

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Taglines:

DOUBLE HORROR BILL of ARCH FIENDS! (original ad - all caps; co-feature of "Daughter of Dr. Jekyll")

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cautivos del monstruo

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

B&H Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released on a double-bill with Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957), also starring Gloria Talbott.

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Goofs

After landing, and Lon Chaney and the pilot are thinking about leaving the rest of the group by stealing the plane, Look closely, the planes wheels are still chocked with rocks. They could not have taken off.

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Connections

Featured in Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest: The Cyclops (1971)

User Reviews

Shrewdly Done Programmer

Too bad the half-faced one-eyed guy is so hokey. The Cyclops head is grotesque but sticking it on top a normal man's body ruins much of the illusion. The matte shots creating the colossal effect are badly dated but then these were well before computerized effects. Seems our adventurous foursome have gone looking for Susan's true love who's disappeared on a plane flight into the Mexico wilds. Unfortunately for them, but good for us, radioactive uranium deposits saturate the search area. Thus, in typical 50's fashion, monsters are created out of ordinary critters. Actually the oversized lizards are pretty well done without the obvious matte marks that surround Cyclops. Then too, the small cast does a professional job, without mocking their parts--- something of a surprise for the often hammy Chaney Jr. Of course, I'll watch anything with cat-eyed Gloria Talbott, especially when she's in tight pants and top. The actress had a rather brief movie career, mainly in horror features of this type where her exotic features fit in perfectly. And, surprise, surprise, 50's audiences get yet one more look at Bronson Canyon, without which I doubt the monster genre would have happened. Still, the LA area locations are well framed, including The LA Arboretum used for jungle shots instead of the usual shaky studio sets. All in all, it's competent drive-in fare that's more shrewdly done than most.