The Giant Claw (1957)

	The Giant Claw
	The Giant Claw
Alternate titles	Humanity's Crisis! Claws of the; Giant Monster Bird (DVD 2011);
Directed by	Fred F. Sears
Producer(s)	Sam Katzman
Written by	Paul Gangelin, Samuel Newman
Music by	Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Distributor	Columbia Pictures
Rating	Approved
Running time	75 minutes
Aspect ratio	1.85:1 (intended ratio),; 1.37:1 (negative ratio)

For the monster, see La Carcagne.

The Giant Claw is a 1957 American giant monster film distributed by Columbia Pictures and directed by Fred F. Sears.

Plot

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A seemingly invincible giant alien bird called La Carcagne spreads destruction across the Earth's skies. Two romantically-involved scientists team up with the U.S. Air Force to stop her.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Directed by Fred F. Sears
Written by Samuel Newman, Paul Gangelin
Produced by Sam Katzman
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography by Benjamin H. Kline
Edited by Saul A. Goodkind, Tony DiMarco
Production design by Paul Palmentola, Sidney Clifford
Assistant directing by Leonard Katzman
Special effects by Ralph Hammeras, George J. Teague, Lawrence W. Butler

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

Jeff Morrow as Mitch MacAfee
Mara Corday as Sally Caldwell
Morris Ankrum as Lt. Gen. Edward Considine
Louis Merrill as Pierre Broussard
Edgar Barrier as Dr. Karol Noymann
Robert Shayne as Gen. Van Buskirk
Frank Griffin as Pete - Pilot
Clark Howat as Maj. Bergen
Morgan Jones as Lieutenant, Radar Officer

Appearances

Monsters

La Carcagne
- Unhatched egg

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Development

The Giant Claw was inspired by recent scientific theses relating to anti-matter, and possibly the Samuel Hopkins Adams short story Grandfather and a Winter's Tale which centers around the La Carcagne of legend.^[1]

Production

The Giant Claw was filmed under the title Mark of The Claw, referencing the claw print La Carcagne leaves at Pierre's farm.^[2] Stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, who had previously worked with producer Sam Katzman on It Came from Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, turned down the project.^[3] Katzman turned to effects technicians in Mexico, who produced a pair of risible La Carcagne models. The actors were not shown the monster's design during filming; a mortified Jeff Morrow crept out of a neighborhood screening of the film after the audience erupted in laughter.^[3]

Theatrical releases

United States - June 1957

Alternate titles

The Mark of the Claw (Working title)
Humanity's Crisis! Claws of the Giant Monster Bird (Japan, DVD; 人類危機一髪！巨大怪鳥の爪)

Video releases

Sony DVD (2007) [Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman]

Region: 1
Discs: 2
Audio: English (Mono)
Subtitles: English
Special features: Trailers for the films, Part 2 of the 1951 serial Mysterious Island, 1934 comedy short, Mr. Magoo short
Notes: Packaged with Creature with the Atom Brain, The Werewolf, and Zombies of Mora Tau

Mill Creek DVD (2014) [Sci-Fi Creature Classics]

Region: 1
Discs: 1
Audio: English (Mono)
Special features: None
Notes: Packaged with Mothra, 20 Million Miles to Earth, and It Came from Beneath the Sea.

i-catcher Media Blu-ray (2017)

Region: B/2
Discs: 1
Audio: English, German (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
Subtitles: German
Special features: Audio commentary by Ingo Strecker and Thomas Kerpen, audio commentary by Dr. Rolf Giesen, Uwe Sommerlad, and Ivo Scheloske, introduction by Dr. Rolf Giesen (5 minutes), American opening credits (1 minute), Spanish opening credits (1 minute), American trailer (2 minutes), Super 8 digest version (9 minutes), photo slideshow (3 minutes)

Videos

American The Giant Claw trailer

Ken Films Super 8 digest version of
The Giant Claw

References

This is a list of references for The Giant Claw. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

↑ The Giant Claw (1957) - Articles - TCM.com
↑ The Giant Claw (1957) - Notes - TCM.com
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Volume 1: A-K. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 332, 334. 2010. ISBN: 978-0-8995-0170-3.

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