THE GIANT CLAW -- IN COLOR!

Mara Corday and Jeff Morrow

THE GIANT CLAW (1957). Director: Fred F. Sears. Colorized. 

"I don't care if that bird comes from outer space or Upper Saddle River, New Jersey!"

Pilot and engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), Lt General Considine (Morris Ankrum), and General Buskirk (Robert Shayne) are understandably alarmed when an unidentified flying object turns out to be a gargantuan bird from outer space that is snatching airliners and military planes out of the sky. Worse, the bird has an anti-matter shield that protects it from missiles, bombs and bullets. As MacAfee and Dr. Noymann (Edgar Barrier) try to come up with a method to get through the monster's shield, the bird snatches trains and autos off of the earth after all planes are grounded. Then Mitch and Sally come across the creature's nest -- and an egg!

The big bird takes Manhattan!

Apparently there was talk of Ray Harryhausen being called in to provide a stop-motion monster for this movie, and one can only imagine how exciting the picture would have been had the producers been able to afford him. Instead they came up with a cheap little puppet that is somewhat creepy but also rather comical, making the movie hard to take seriously. That's a shame, because The Giant Claw has a good and disquieting premise and several decent sequences. 

The big bird protects its offspring

There's the attack on the nest, which also involves a French-Canadian named Pierre (Louise Merrill), who thinks the bird is a horrible supernatural creature and predicts his own death. The climax when Mitch frantically struggles to complete the machine that will dissipate the anti-matter shield as the bird rapidly pursues their plane is quite suspenseful. And then there are those poor scientists who wind up caught in the bird's mouth and get swallowed up like worms. There's lots of stock destruction footage from such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (also directed bn Fred Sears) and other monster movies, along with stock music from It Came from Beneath the Sea and other productions. None of this matters because The Giant Claw is a lot of amusing fun. While it may not make the monster look any better, the colorizing process works well for the movie. 

Verdict: A hoot and a holler! ***. 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

Curtis, Marlowe, Taylor and Blake 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956). Director: Fred F. Sears. NOTE: This is the colorized version.

"When an armed and threatening power lands at the steps of our capital, we don't greet them with tea and cookies!" -- Adm . Enright

Scientist Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife, Carol (Joan Taylor of 20 Million Miles to Earth), encounter a flying saucer while driving to his office at Operation: Shyhook, where rockets are being blown out of the sky. Russ can't figure out how the aliens are communicating with him, so he misses a message about their arriving at the base. Stupidly, armed forces start firing at the aliens when they land, but it wouldn't have made much difference, as these representatives of a dying universe are here to take the earth for themselves no matter what. Now it's up to Russ to come up with a weapon that can bring the multitude of saucers crashing down before they can destroy Washington, D.C. and before their disintegrator beams can destroy him and the weapons.

Russ and Carol enter the main saucer

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a fun if minor sci fi movie distinguished by some very good Ray Harryhausen effects. Though the FX genius couldn't add too much personality to these saucers as he could living animals, the UFOs still perform quite well, and the other effects are generally okay considering the very low budget -- an entry foyer into one of the spaceships actually rattles as the characters step into it. The sound effects are unnerving and creepy, however. 

Morris Ankrum

Marlowe and Taylor offer professional performances, and the latter is able to summon up the necessary emotion when required. Morris Ankrum [Beginning of the End] is notable as Carol's father, who comes to a bad end, and there are also appearances by Thomas Browne Henry as an Admiral who's itching to fight the nasty aliens; Donald Curtis as a Major who tries to assist Russ and his wife; Harry Lauter as a technician working with Russ; and Larry J. Blake as an ill-fated motorcycle cop. Curtis and Lauter were both in Harryhuasen's It Came from Beneath the Sea. 

The saucers invade Washington, D.C.!

For me the biggest problem with the movie is that not one of the many characters ever register the slightest awe or sense of wonder at the fact that aliens from a faraway world even exist, let alone that they've come to earth. (This was also a problem with the much later alien invasion movie Independence Day). You'd think this sort of thing happened every day. Russ and Carol at least seem a bit amazed and frightened when they first spot the saucer, but that aspect is quickly jettisoned. The whole movie is on the intellectual level of a cliffhanger serial along the lines of King of the Rocket Men. Just as Universal used the same music cues in its sci fi movies over and over again, Columbia studios did the same thing in its sci fi films, so the score for this is very familiar. Fred F. Sears' direction is totally routine.

Verdict: Not quite a fifties sci fi classic but entertaining on its own terms. **3/4.