The Giant Claw (1957)

Global panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.

Director:

Fred F. Sears

Writers:

Samuel Newman, Paul Gangelin

Stars:

Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jeff Morrow	...	Mitch MacAfee
Mara Corday	...	Sally Caldwell
Morris Ankrum	...	Lt. Gen. Edward Considine
Louis Merrill	...	Pierre Broussard (as Louis D. Merrill)
Edgar Barrier	...	Dr. Karol Noymann
Robert Shayne	...	Gen. Van Buskirk
Frank Griffin	...	Pete - Pilot (as Ruell Shayne)
Clark Howat	...	Maj. Bergen
Morgan Jones	...	Lieutenant, Radar Officer

Storyline

When electronics engineer Mitch MacAfee spots a UFO as "big as a battleship," from his plane, the Air Force scrambles planes to investigate. However, nothing shows up on radar, and one of the jets is lost during the action. MacAfee is regarded as a dangerous crackpot until other incidents and disappearances convince the authorities that the threat is real. Some believe it is a French-Canadian folk legend come to life, but it turns out to be an extraterrestrial giant bird composed of anti-matter whose disregard for human life and architecture threatens the world.

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Plot Keywords:

anti matter | giant egg | muonic atom | ufo | giant bird | 

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Taglines:

Flying beast out of prehistoric skies!

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mark of the Claw

Company Credits

Production Co:

Clover Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poster artists were purportedly not shown the puppet nor any other artwork from the film's production and concluded that the monster was a giant eagle or hawk. Thus, the creature in the posters looks nothing like the beast in the film.

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Goofs

Due to use of footage from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, a flying saucer can very briefly be glimpsed in Grand Central Terminal during the bird's attack on New York City.

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Quotes

Pierre Broussard: You like Pierre's apple jack, oui?
Mitch MacAfee: Ahh, a perfect antidote for snakebite, thunder, lightning, and disbelieving generals. Fill 'er up, Pierre.

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Connections

Referenced in Found (2012)

User Reviews

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

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"