Today I got a tremendous dvd in the mail : "Sci-Fi Creature Classics", four movies on one disc, with a Creature in each one. How awesome is that? The title promises that all of the films are "Classics", and so far I can attest to the truth of that declaration. Heading into Summer, I was badly in need of a 1950s style Sci-Fi Fix. I'd already set myself up with plenty of Westerns and a good supply of early Horror films, but I needed my Sci-Fi too. You've gotta have all three genres to have a successful Summer movie run, just as you've got to have LeBron lose in the Finals for the Summer to get off to a good start.
Hey, wait a sec.......don't get me going on that subject. Let's just talk about "The Giant Claw".
You know how we were talking the other day about the power of titles? Well, titles can have reverse power as well. I first heard of "The Giant Claw" years ago, but because of the title I just figured it was one of those truly godawful C-grade flicks, with a huge rubber crab for a monster. I figured there wouldn't be much story, and that the acting would be terrible.
Now, rubber monsters and terrible acting are okay, just so long as the movie is So-Bad-That-It's-Good.
But such "Bad/Good" movies are rare gems (Ed Wood was a main contributor), and most bad low budget sci-fi and horror movies are just plain bad.
But "The Giant Claw" was great! And that is because it was Cheesy rather than Bad.
But it wasn't entirely cheesy! It had many of the elements that are like dna to '50s era Sci-Fi : The Air Force, an Experiment at The North Pole, a Miraculous Scientific Thesis which Solves The Main Plot Crisis At The Last Minute, and a lot of Mathematical and Physics Related Dialogue To Restore High Mindedness Against The Cheese.
Jeff Morrow stars as a test pilot for the USAF who is also a civilian electrical engineer. When he reports a giant UFO the size of a battleship, the General back at the base doesn't believe him. But we the viewers have already seen a blurry vision of it.
It is a Gigantic Buzzard, and it has to be seen to be appreciated. After several Air Force planes go missing, the USAF brass change their tone. They now believe, and they call in a Science Genius, conveniently named "Noymann" (physics buffs will understand).
Noymann explains that the reason the Giant Buzzard doesn't show up on radar is because it is emitting an anti-matter force field. It has flown in from some far away place in the Universe, and the only way to destroy it will be to break through it's protective field. To cut to the chase, after much trial and error, Jeff Morrow develops a Meson Gun that fires nucleic atoms small enough to pass through the atomic structure of the anti-matter. The Mesons will destroy the shield of the Buzzard, after which the Air Force will be able to destroy the bird with conventional weapons.
Have you ever heard of anything as cool as that? Of course you haven't (why am I even asking?).
My description, though, is not nearly fulfilling and "The Giant Claw" must be seen to be truly understood.
It has one of the Great Cheesy Monsters in all of Science Fiction, and it also has a megaton of Air Force stuff, and stock footage of jets and B-25s, and mind-melting physics applications explained by geniuses.
And throughout all of this, it has romance, between James Garner-lookalike Morrow and the beautiful Mara Corday.
I'm not gonna put too much stock in the crummy sounding titles of certain Sci-Fi Movies after this. I think I'm going to be looking into "The Mole People", "Tarantula" and "Monster On Campus" soon.....I'll bet they're all five star classics.
And yeah, "The Giant Claw" was presented in black and white, in a very nice print on this dvd.
Two Huge Thumbs Up, therefore, due to the You Need A Sci-Fi Fix Factor.
You will need to see it at some point for your life to move forward. :)
Elizabeth, if you are reading, it goes without saying that your photographs this morning were remarkable. It must have been astonishing to be at Crater Lake. I have heard of that place, and looking at your picture, I think it would be a psychic experience to see - for me it would be definitely - because I would be imagining the volcano that collapsed so very long ago to create the depression that eventually filled with water. And I would be thinking of the original volcanic dust that must still exist at lake bottom. The lake itself has a supernatural look with it's deep blue and very still water, and it's island in the middle. A geologist could explain how that arose in the middle of the crater. When you posted the pic, I thought the lake must have been created by a meteor, but I Googled it and discovered that it was from a volcano, which is even more mysterious. The Wiki page says that the collapse was witnessed by Native Americans, 7,700 years ago. That is mindboggling.
I am glad you got to see it. Thanks for posting those excellent photos. Soak in what you have seen.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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