The Giant Claw (1957)

From my IMDb user comments, written on September 2008 
A giant extra-terrestrial buzzard with an anti-matter forcefield(..I'm not making this up!)is terrorizing the world, flying at intense speeds, downing vehicles in flight, chomping on parachuting innocents attempting to escape, and swooping down to cause death and destruction. It's up to our brave government and scientists to figure out how to penetrate it's forcefield so that the rockets and bullets we fire from our artillery can end it's reign of terror for good. Directed by Fred F Sears(The Werewolf;Earth vs The Flying Saucers)and starring Jeff Morrow(This Island Earth;The Creature Walks Among Us)as an "electronics wiz", Mitch MacAfee who works with the military to solve the crisis regarding the anti-matter forcefield, hoping to find a flaw, creating a weapon of some sort to remove this shield used to protect itself from invading hostile threats towards it's body. Mara Corday is Sally, a mathematics genius and Mitch's love-interest who helps keep him centered and focused. The dialogue is full of delightfully dated and cornball(..terms like "we'll throw everything but the kitchen sink at 'im" or "Holy Toledo" or "I must've lost my marbles"), with much fun derived from the inner arguments between this civilian Mitch and the government assigned to find answers to a terrifying crisis where time is limited and martial law is declared as the giant killer bird causes nothing but problems with the public in cities or across the country. It swoops down to grab a moving locomotive train from it's tracks, lands upon the United Nations building, smashing it to smithereens. Falling debris has city folk running for their lives. The blasted alien buzzard even has an egg for which Mitch and Sally destroy. The film will cause much amusement as the characters carry on with grave expressions, many at each other's throats due to the crisis at hand. Good stuff. The puppet buzzard is a hoot. Many will find it rather embarrassing as I'm sure those who starred in this did, but I couldn't stop giggling at what the characters were forced to say, the cast attempting with dignity to bring an authenticity to such a rubbish, outrageous plot. Like in a lot of these B-movies, a dark, brooding narrative voice speaks about the job of our men and women, also foretelling danger regarding the monster in the sky.







Deliciously ridiculous, laughable puppet creature attacking model planes and gobbling pilots. ✓
Insert buzzard/bird remarks, jokes, and comments ✓
Serious cast trying to craft sincere performances despite the material ✓
Extraterrestrial creature with antimatter shield protecting itself from military artillery and radar waves ✓
Scientific and apocalyptic toned narration and radio broadcasts ✓
Military planes in the sky attacked and giant bird squawking ✓
Giant bird nest with eggs ✓
Cue lots of military footage ✓✓
Cue the toppled buildings, rubble explosions, and running for their lives civilians ✓
Dialogue just too wonderfully campy, particularly when articulated with such brevity. ✓
Low budget creature feature 50s fun. ✓








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