Molecular osmoses at work
Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) is an electronics engineer and pilot doing radar testing at the North Pole. He sees what he reports as a UFO going at supersonic speed. Everyone thinks he’s crazy until others start reporting the same thing. So far Mitch is the only one who has survived seeing the UFO. The ground crew doing calibrations based on Mitch's test flight did not see anything on their instruments that remotely resembled what Mitch says he saw. One of the ground crew is Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday).
Mitch and Sally end up on a small plane on their way back to New York over the Adirondack Mountains when their plane is forced down. A local farmer named Pierre Broussard (Louis Merrill) rescues them. They hear talk from him about a French-Canadian folk legend. La Carcagne. It turns out the monster is not the stuff of legends. It is an extraterrestrial giant bird composed of anti-matter. It absorbs energy from the things it destroys. Including people.
They believe it is here to make a nest. Mitch and Sally find the nest and destroy the egg. Destroying eggs is one thing. They need a plan to destroy the bird once and for all. They need a weapon that will penetrate the creatures anti-matter shield. In the mean time the bird destroys everything that moves.
When the announcer for a movie is dead serious about his narration and you know you’re eventually going to see a big rubber monster you start smiling as soon as he starts talking. “The Giant Claw” is one of the funniest dopiest monster movies of the 50’s. The movie was made in 1957 by Columbia Pictures. It was produced by Sam Katzman and directed by Fred Sears.
It is reported that the giant bird marionette cost producer Sam Katzman $50.00. Anybody surprised? Jeff Morrow said that when the movie was shown the audience burst out laughing at the sight of the “Monster”. He had to sneak out of the theater so he wouldn’t be recognized. That shows that even for the 50’s the monster was lame. Although it would not be quite as bad if it wasn’t for the googly eyes the buck teeth and the extra long Mohawk. “The Giant Claw” looks more like a Chinese Crested dog that just won the ugly dog contest. Yes, he is so ugly you have to love him.