The Crawling Eye (1958)

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	...	Crevett
Frederick Schiller	...	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
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:

cloud | mountain | alien | telepathy | tentacle | 

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Taglines:

WARNING: If you've ever been hypnotized, do not come alone!

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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

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For its release in America the film was cut down to 75 minutes, because American distributors wanted to get to the monsters faster. The full running length of the film is 84 minutes and is fully restored on the DVD release.

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Goofs

After Brett drinks a glass of wine, the glass is half full in the next shot.

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Quotes

Sarah Pilgrim: *Was* there an accident, Mister Klein?
Mayor Klein: O-On a mountain, uh, dese things sometimes happen.

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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 The Sci-Fi Boys (2006)

User Reviews

An under-appreciated gem.

This film has too much bad rap. Most people just pass it off as another "bad 50's sci-fi flick". You want bad? See THE CRAWLING HAND or BRIDE OF THE MONSTER.

The plot, adapted from the BBC teleserial, brings our attention to Forrest Tucker an American who bears a striking resemblance to Paul Birch. Anyway, he meets a touring telepathic sister act including Jennifer Jayne and Janet Munro (star of plenty of Disney flicks; and mother of Caroline Munro?). After stopping at a small town in Switzerland called Trollenberg, Forrest goes up to a secret lab and meets a goofy German scientist, in which he reveals he came to this place to study a radioactive, stationary cloud. What's inside? Well, if you can't tell from the title, there's no hope for you. In terms of acting, suspense, and writing (courtesy of Hammer regular Jimmy Sangster), this film holds up pretty well today. But the effects are mediocre, but cool-looking; the eyes emit a cool sound when attacked. But there are some stretches of belief: Forrest doesn't act like he knows what the cloud is, and yet later we find out he dealed in a similar experiment in The Andes! But some creepy moments later make up for this, like the beginning sequence, in which the group of students find their friend headless. (But how could he scream when he was falling if his head was already chopped off? Oh Well.)

Still, this film does make for some funny spoofs, like the imitation on the cartoon FREAKAZOID and being notable as the first movie ever made fun of by MST3K. It must be a step forward somehow.