MARA CORDAY AND JEFF MORROW GROUNDING 'THE GIANT CLAW'

Title: THE GIANT CLAW Translated: ATTACK OF THE GIANT CLAW Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2

The first half's one of those paranoid thrillers where, in this case, b-movie actor Jeff Morrow, all furrowed brow and timid countenance, thinks he sees a "bird the size of a battleship" while flying his jet fighter plane... causing another crash that makes him targeted by staunch military higher-ups since no one believes him...

Quickly paired with mathematical-strategist Mara Corday, fresh from battling a giant TARANTULA and now a winged creature that, once revealed, turns THE GIANT CLAW into one of the lowest-rated monster movies ever...

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Which is unfortunate because when the flying killer, resembling Mr. Burns from THE SIMPSONS in the form of a hungover vulture, isn't on screen... either terrorizing the world RODAN-style or grabbing airplanes before gobbling parachute-escaping pilots... it's a pretty neat little monster-driven potboiler...

Expository scenes with co-leads Morrow and Corday have worthwhile acting since they're always worthwhile actors, and the suspense relies on how to stop a monster that cannot be stopped...

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

Thrusting the characters into various dangerous situations where the adversary, no matter how campy looking, does mean some pretty lethal, city-panicking, world-dominating business...

Ultimately as inspired by building-climbing/city-ravaging KING KONG decades earlier as it inspired Larry Cohen's creature-nesting-with-giant-eggs Q: THE WINGED SERPENT decades later, THE GIANT CLAW has been unfairly maligned by those judging the campy-puppet cover while ignoring the semi-involving contents inside.

King Kong homage from THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Morgan Jones

Jeff Morrow in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Morgan Jones

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Edgar Barrier and Robert Shayne

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Edgar Barrier and Morris Ankrum

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Edgar Barrier

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Edgar Barrier

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday and Louis Merrill in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday and Louis Merrill in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Vintage (then new) Radio in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW with Edgar Barrier

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW

The Creature from THE GIANT CLAW