Flying Battleships

Sorry I haven't been around to do any reviews in forever. It isn't that I haven't been in the mood to write lately, as I just haven't been watching anything. I have managed to go to the theater and catch up on movies there, but those have been the only ones. I have done two reviews over at Top Horror Movies Club, if you want to check them out. I was bored the other night and started exploring movies on Youtube no less, and came across a list of giant monsters in film. Not knowing one of them, I found out it was from The Giant Claw (1957). The full movie can also be found on Youtube, so I decided to watch it. I wasn't really planning on staying up long enough to finish it, but I did. Since I haven't watched anything else, I decided to review it.

A UFO has been spotted, but it is flying too fast for anyone to know what it is. It is written off since nothing shows on radar. While on a flight, electronics engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) spots what everyone else is talking about. Mitch notices that the UFO seems to be circling, so he sets up a plan with the military to be at the right place at the right time. They soon discover that their UFO is a giant buzzard looking bird. None of our weapons seem to do anything, and the bird keeps attacking planes and buildings for no apparent reason, what is a world to do?

The giant monster video that I watched only had one still from the film. The giant bird, which that much was clear, standing on top of a building. The still, to me at least, looked neat enough for me to track down the film. Sure the bird looked a little silly, thankfully it was a distance shot so I couldn't see just how silly, but I still thought it might be a fun b-movie all the same. I wasn't too far off really. The Giant Claw as a b-movie is fairly standard as far as they go. I want to say as far as they go for the time period, but I haven't actually watched all that many sci-fi/horror themed films from the 50's. I have always wanted to explore them more though. So thing are moving along and the film is okay. Nothing great, but it hasn't been one of the worst I have ever watched either. At first we can't see what is in the skies, all we see is an unmoving blur. Once we do see the bird though, things fall apart quickly. The bird, which is a marionette and shows it, is so bizarre and funny looking that it is just impossible to take it seriously.

According to trivia on IMDb, the bird was supposed to be a stop-motion creation. Because of the budget, a marionette was ordered from a place in Mexico City. According to Jeff Morrow, the cast or crew had no idea what the bird looked like while filming. Morrow didn't even see it until he went to the premiere of the film, which he says he slinked out of due to everyone laughing at the bird. Hopefully director Fred F. Sears learned to make sure you know what you are getting for your money before using it. It wasn't just the bird that ended up being so wrong for The Giant Claw. Maybe the crew no longer cared since they knew the bird wasn't going to go over well, but there are times when the strings are visible. The acting, while not great, was at least okay. The lead actress was Mara Corday, who felt more like a supporting actress more than anything else.

Okay, I admit that after a while I was no longer paying real close attention to the plot of The Giant Claw. It was getting late when I started watching it, which is why I didn't think I would finish, and once the bird made it's appearance to where I could actually see it, I just zoned out some after that. I still got how they beat the bird, where it came from (more or less) and why it was doing what it was doing (also more or less). I know I could have paid it more attention than I did, but I don't really feel like I missed much. If you are looking for a film to make fun of at a party, I don't think you can get much better than The Giant Claw. Even so, the bird alone is worth a look, even if you don't finish the whole film.
2 out of 5 I still think that one still is cool looking