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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Good movie but grossly overrated

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Is it the best old Science Fiction B movie you'll ever see? Probably not, but it has a real charm. The huge bird puppet was made by the same Mexican film company that produced it, and boy, that is one ugly bird. Sure the acting is a bit shoddy here and there but isn't that part of what makes the movies like this so good? The fact that it's bad? I love it. I've always been a big fan of films like this.

Well 1950's cinema gave us all manner of monsters, aliens, giant bugs, mythical creatures, doll sized people, invisible people etc...In the realms of over sized animals and bugs (arachnids) there was a large array including giant man eating grasshoppers, scorpions, tarantulas, praying mantis, ants etc...So it was naturally just a matter of time before a movie came along that had a giant man eating bird, because why not? If it can be even remotely scary there's a chance there's a 50's movie about it.In this wondrous movie life is generally fine and dandy for all the characters concerned, that is until a giant bird comes out of nowhere and starts to attack planes and such. Naturally most of the main characters in this movie are military types because of course they are. Two of the protagonists aren't military types but are in fact civil aeronautical engineers that appear to be working with military types, so its all military type stuff as usual.Yep so this giant bird is attacking planes and causing lots of panic and alarm. The problem is no one can prove its a giant bird at first, many think its a hoax or a UFO. Thing is, this giant bird is really quite giant, its described as being as big as a battleship, sooo...how has this not been proved yet?? Cameras are apparently not in use in this movie and everybody seems to be somewhat shortsighted because I really fail to see how a battleship sized bird could go undetected. Then you gotta ask yourself where this thing came from? How did it get so big? What does it eat other than people and planes? Where does it live? Are there more of them? Oh wait it actually comes from an anti-matter galaxy, because of course it does. But how did it...ah who cares, don't question it.So the giant bird in question turns out to be an alien basically, from another galaxy. That doesn't stop it from looking like a bird from Earth though (kinda like a cross between a Vulture and a Condor). Anyway I say that lightly because this giant bird is most probably the most ridiculous looking special effect ever. The main clear problem is the birds head, oh boy! This thing literally looks like a Warner Bros cartoon I kid you not. The shape of the head is all wrong, it has this comical tuft of hair sprouting from the top of its head, the beak is permanently open with no movement and the eyes are...umm...beyond farcical. The rest of the bird isn't too bad truth be told, the body looks fine, the wing span, feathers, claws etc...all look perfectly reasonable for this type of B-movie. Its that head, that hideous, static, wide eyed, dopey looking Looney Tunes head.Unfortunately like many of these really bad B-movies the film is padded out with lots and lots of stock footage, generally military footage. Next to that you have a load of narration to fill in all the gaps where they couldn't afford to actually film. Much of the run time revolves around boring dialog scenes with the characters as they discuss how to stop the creature, where it came from, what it wants etc...Then numerous other scenes of people in planes (exceedingly bad plane sets) looking out of cockpits in shock and horror as a large shadow passes overhead. When we do actually see the giant creature you can even see the wires holding it up.The weird thing is at times the effects aren't too bad. When the giant bird attacks Manhattan the model skyline with overflying giant bird and military aircraft actually looks quite nice. Obviously the black and white helps cover any noticeable flaws but overall some scenes do look acceptable. In fact when the bird attacks the Empire State Building I can confidently say it actually looked pretty solid, the crumbling skyscraper did look pretty competent. Alas things take a nosedive when the bird eats the obvious model planes and the live action pilots who are shot against a poor rear projection sequence. Then of course there's all that stock footage of crowds spliced with real footage of a very small group of people reacting and running in terror.Would you be surprised if I told you this bird turns out to be impervious to all Earthly weapons? Didn't think so, aren't these monsters always somewhat invincible? No amount of gunfire, shells, missiles, rockets or even nukes can ever bring these f*ckers down. Turns out this thing can create its own anti-matter force field that also gives it stealth from radar, handy huh. Again its a shame really because the movies poster is so incredibly awesome, really striking. Other than that there really isn't anything I can recommend here unless you like to see amazingly bad special effects. On that front the movie is top notch, a full riot to be sure, but I can't give it a good score for that because the movie is terrible. I do believe this movie is only well known (or infamous) simply because of its terrible giant beastie model. Everything else is pretty much as you would expect and no different from all the other 50's monster movies. Shout out for the epic Morris Ankrum who clearly made a mistake agreeing to be in this. He still manages to be epic though, its the hair and tash that does it.1.5/10

Did the scrawny-looking bird puppet used in this movie inspire Jim Henson to create "Big Bird"? One might be excused for thinking so. Apparently the producers were going to employ stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen to create the special effects, but then decided to go with something requiring less time and money. The result elicited nothing but laughter from audiences, even in 1957. I understand that the actors never actually saw the ludicrous- looking "monster" until after the movie was completed, which undoubtedly explains how they all managed to get through the production with straight faces. That's probably just as well, since playing this sort material absolutely seriously is the only way it can possibly work. They love to make fun of films such as this on shows like "Mystery Science Theater 3000". However, films such as this really don't need that treatment because they're already so "bad" that they require no external enhancement to be appreciated for what they are. As legendary low-budget film maker Roger Corman once observed, "You cannot set out to make a 'cult movie', only the audience can make a 'cult movie'".

The monster is not scary but it does manage to bother me because it is one ugly piece of junk, and I am irritated throughout the film by the screech noise it makes. So, I guess in its own odd way it accomplishes its task and is effective on me as a viewer. The cast is great. Mara Corday was one of the most poised and capable actresses of the 50's in my opinion, mainly for her work in low-budget fare. She is always watchable, no matter what the budget.Edgar Barrier, immortalized in another legendary awful but much loved film (Cobra Woman '43) is good as always. And Morris Ankrum is on hand yet again to save the world and keep it safe for humanity. If Morris hadn't saved the world more than once in the 1950's, I couldn't be here today to write this review! As someone who was alive and safe in the 50's due to his brave efforts, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Morris.By moving along briskly and including plenty of nonsensical science, "The Giant Claw" somehow holds your interest, just as somehow the cockeyed monster manages to affect me.One reason this film was effective in 1957 is because at that time folks did scan the skies for deadly objects- namely satellites and missiles. World wide you could look up and see the Sputnik at times with the naked eye. But it was only a bright dot, not a big scraggly buzzard.