THE GIANT CLAW

1957/Director: Fred F. Sears/Writers: Paul Gangelin, Samuel Newman

Cast: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, Louis Merrill, Edgar Barrier, Robert Shayne

The Giant Claw sports simply one of the worst, least frightening monsters in the history of movies. But don’t let that stop you from checking out this camp, schlock classic from director Fred F. Sears and producer Sam Katzman and starring Jeff Morrow and Playboy Playmate Mara Corday . The plot is not much different from the multitude of other big bug or animal movies coming out at the time. Mara Corday also starred in two other memorable big creature flicks, Jack Arnold’s Tarantula and The Black Scorpion (reviews coming eventually on both of these flicks). A bird as big as a “battleship” that comes either from the ice age of 17,000 BC or an antimatter universe hovers over the world and makes meals out of jets, airplanes and French Canadians. The giant “chicken” is one of the oddest looking beasts ever, and is simply a string controlled puppet whose wings always stay spread, even when it is nesting. My wife was utterly dumbfounded when she watched some of the film with me. I loved the movie and all its corniness and I am sure any regular reader of the Café will have a good time and more than a few unintended laughs at this movie full of quirky dialog and chessy special effects. One story tells of director Sears sneaking out of a screening of the film as the audience burst out in laughter each time the bird appeared on screen. The monster was added later and none of the cast had any idea what it was going to look like until they say the film themselves. Well we don’t watch this stuff to be wowed by the special effects or captivated by the story. I personally watch them to just escape and have a good time. And if you need a break from the routine I suggest you shake hands with The Giant Claw.

(more…)

-

-

Brown eyed and demure brunette Mara Corday eventually became most remembered by her fans for her roles in three Universal science fiction, giant bug movies all made towards the end of her short acting career. Those films, Tarantula (1955), The Black Scorpion and The Giant Claw (1957) were slight departures from her previous roles which exploited her smoldering almost ethnic sex appeal such as Man Without a Star with Kirk Douglas and A Day of Fury. She acted in films for Paramount, Republic and Universal for only seven years before quitting altogether to become a house wife and mother with actor Richard Long who was most famous for his TV role in The Big Valley.

-

Born Marilyn Watts in 1932 in Santa Monica California, Mara Corday was not only a actress whose career seemed to taking off just as quit, but was also one of the most popular and most photographed models of her time. She eventually would be Playboy playmate for October 1958. She did mostly the cheesecake pinup style photos of the time and some of the spicier black stocking type as well.

(more…)