source: The Giant Claw

Trailer—The Giant Claw

The Giant Claw

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.

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.

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.

One of the many lovably corny sci-fi flicks from the '50s, "The Giant Claw" is pretty much what you might expect. The monster is a giant extraterrestrial bird that looks an animatronic thing in an amusement park; needless to say, you can see the string more than a few times. Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday are the nominal stars, but the big, menacing avian is of course what we always want to see. True, every scene with the big guy is basically the same, but do we watch these movies to analyze them? The point is to relax and enjoy the havoc wrought by the monster. There's no shortage of fun to be had here. And if I may say so, Mara Corday is a REAL FOX! PS: Director Fred Sears died a few months after the release, due to having put too much strain on his health.

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.

A nice remembrance from childhood watching this one Saturday evening at my cousins place in Brooklyn. Probably a WOR channel 9 creature feature, but definitely one of the schlockiest of their stock. Still, what really sets these old 50s monster B and C flicks apart from today's low-rent stuff is the great seriousness of the characters and their delivery done with earnest. This style is standard fare from low-budget Corman through the cheapo AIP and Columbia stuff, and this is what makes these lesser efforts with poor quality effects rise to a level that makes them as enjoyable as the grade A Universal-International and 20th Century Fox sci-fi stuff.