The Giant Claw (1957) on Netflix
Civil aeronautical engineer Mitch MacAfee spots a UFO during an Arctic radar test flight. After several planes disappear, a farmer's report reveals a giant bird that flies at supersonic speed.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix2.3/5
- IMDb4.6/105,046 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
During an Arctic radar test flight, civil aeronautical engineer Mitch MacAfee spots an unidentified flying object that does not appear on radar. Jet fighters are scrambled, but one pilot is lost. When an airliner also vanishes after reporting a UFO, MacAfee and mathematician Sally Caldwell are flying back to New York City when their aircraft is attacked; their pilot dies and they crash-land in the Adirondacks. Farmer Pierre Broussard rescues them and that night reports seeing a giant bird he calls la Carcagne. Three more planes disappear, with a pilot describing a bird "as big as a battleship."
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Giant Claw (1957)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Sam Katzman originally planned to use stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen for the monster, but budget constraints made him hire a low-budget effects studio in Mexico City, whose poorly made marionette became the film's showpiece.
- Jeff Morrow said no one in the film knew what the title monster looked like until the premiere; watching it in his hometown, he heard the audience laugh every time the monster appeared, left the theater early, embarrassed that anyone might recognize him, and allegedly went home and began drinking.
- The monster draws on la Carcagne, a bird-like banshee from French-Canadian folklore, taken from a Samuel Hopkins Adams story published in The New Yorker in January 1951; the Japanese film Rodan (1956) was another influence.
