Sam Katzman – Missile Test

The Corpse Vanishes

Sixty-four minutes. That’s it. The Corpse Vanishes, one of five movies featuring Bela Lugosi in 1942, uses just sixty-four minutes to tell its story. That’s not unusual for the time, but there is a ruthless efficiency to this flick that many others lack. Director Wallace Fox made sure there was nary a wasted frame in this movie, even though he filmed the same opening twice.

A strange occurrence of serial criminality has descended on the city. Brides are dying at the altar, then men, posing as undertakers, take away the corpse, never to be seen again. The film opens at one of these weddings. The bride swoons, a doctor pronounces her dead, and the body is taken, Bela Lugosi’s leering face the only clue to her fate. Then, just minutes later, another wedding with the same outcome, only this one was attended by Patricia Hunter (Luana Walters), an intrepid reporter from the local paper. Continue reading “The Corpse Vanishes”

The Giant Claw

The Giant Claw In the Arctic, vigilant eyes watch the skies. America is in a mortal conflict with communism. In order to protect the free peoples of the west, early warning stations have created an impenetrable net across the Arctic. Should the commies try anything, we’ll be ready. But, it’s not spy planes or ICBMs that menace the nation in this film. A giant monster from places unknown has appeared, and is wreaking havoc. If this sounds at all familiar, that’s because the setup to The Giant Claw is basically the same as yesterday’s giant monster film, The Deadly Mantis. The only major difference is in the monster. The Deadly Mantis featured a giant praying mantis, while The Giant Claw features…well, I’ll get to that.

Released in 1957, The Giant Claw comes to us care of writers Samuel Newman and Paul Gangelin, and director Fred F. Sears. This is the ninth giant monster flick of this year’s Horrorshow, and the pattern established by The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is getting somewhat wearying.

Something terrorizes isolated communities. Some dashing military officer or other authority figure is on hand to take charge of the situation. A scientist or doctor is also present to form wild, yet ultimately correct, hypotheses about what could be happening. Said scientist has an attractive assistant, who catches the eye of the square-jawed lead. Monster continues to attack, leading to a final confrontation in a major city in which the beast is dispatched. Make some cosmetic changes here and there, pick out some reels of stock footage that Bert I. Gordon overlooked, and one has a 1950s giant monster flick. Continue reading “The Giant Claw”

It Came from Beneath the Sea

Ray Harryhausen is a Hollywood legend. In a time of painstaking manual effects work, his skill as a stop-motion animator was in high demand for those films requiring the fantastical. But, what happened when such a talented worker was called on for a flick with only $150k in its budget?

It Came from Beneath the Sea exemplifies just about everything common in 1950’s b-monster fare. There’s a gigantic monster that was created by American nuclear testing (of course); a square-jawed hero in the form of Commander Pete Mathews of the United States Navy (Kenneth Tobey, making his second appearance in this year’s Horrorshow); a scientist-in-residence who provides useful exposition in Dr. John Carter (Donald Curtis); and a plucky love interest who challenges, but still resides in, 1950s Hollywood sexual mores in Professor Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue). Add all these ingredients, stir in some scenes of wanton destruction and much fretting in a laboratory, and one has a monster flick. It’s as easy as that. Continue reading “It Came from Beneath the Sea”