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The Giant Claw (1957)

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Credits for The Giant Claw


The Giant Claw
American poster for The Giant Claw
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Humanity's Crisis! Claws of the
Giant Monster Bird (DVD 2011)
See alternate titles
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Producer(s) Sam Katzman
Written by Paul Gangelin, Samuel Newman
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Production company Clover Productions
Distributor Columbia Pictures
Rating Not Rated
Running time 75 minutes
(1 hour, 15 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.85:1 (intended ratio),
1.37:1 (negative ratio)
Rate this film!
3.00
(13 votes)

For the monster, see La Carcagne.
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The Giant Claw is a 1957 American giant monster film produced by Clover Productions. The film was released to American theaters by Columbia Pictures in June 1957.

Plot[edit | edit source]

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

Staff[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Monsters[edit | edit source]


Weapons, vehicles, and races[edit | edit source]

Development[edit | edit source]

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 a fictitious French-Canadian legend called La Carcagne.[1]

Production[edit | edit source]

The Giant Claw was filmed under the working title The Mark of the Claw, referencing the clawed footprint 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.[2] 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.[2]

Theatrical releases[edit | edit source]

Alternate titles[edit | edit source]

  • 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[edit | edit source]

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

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

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[edit | edit source]

U.S. The Giant Claw trailer
Ken Films Super 8 digest version of
The Giant Claw

External links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

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]

  1. ↑ Smith, Richard Harland. The Giant Claw (1957). Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved on 9 January 2022.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Warren, Bill (2010). Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties Volume 1: A-K. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 332, 334. ISBN 978-0-8995-0170-3.

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