As Mitch's plane goes into a power dive, it briefly moves backwards as the model wires get stuck.
Light hand-drawn X's can be seen on the map before Mitch draws his own X's, indicating where he is supposed to make his marks.
Due to use of footage from _Earth vs.
the Flying Saucers (1956)_ (qv), a flying saucer can very briefly be glimpsed in Grand Central Terminal during the bird's attack on New York City.
After Mitch causes the explosion in the lab by using the mu mason projector, Sally and Dr.
Noymann stand up in the next room and rush into the lab where Mitch lays prone on the floor.
Sally passes through the door into the lab first.
In the next shot from within the lab, Dr.
Noymann is passing through the door first.
When the giant bird attacks the squadron of planes sent to destroy it, the planes that it has in its mouth are delta wing whereas the fighters were of the standard wing design.
As the plane carrying the meson cannon flies towards the bird (who is on top of the United Nations building in New York City), the footage of the plane shows it over San Francisco.
When the jets are attacking the bird, several shots of the planes are reversed to make it seem as though they are flying in the opposite direction, as the writing on the sides of the planes in these shots are backward.
In one of the office scenes where the characters are discussing how to destroy the bird, the shadow of an off-screen character can clearly be seen on Sally as he removes his hat and smooths his hair.
It's hard to see how this movie got made as anything but a comedy. You can't imagine such a laughably hokey monster bird being brought on set and actors and crew alike not falling-about with laughter.
Did the scrawny-looking bird puppet used in this movie inspire Jim Henson to create "Big Bird"? One might be excused for thinking so.
The Giant Claw is a rather boring film with a ridiculously outlandish and funny monster puppet. The plot is pretty bad as well, which is a shame as Jeff Morrow does a good acting job and obviously is trying his best, it must have been a real letdown for the actors and actresses involved when they saw the finished product.
I'm a huge science fiction fan, constantly on the lookout for any film with a futuristic theme – everything from "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe", to "Forbidden Planet", to "Pacific Rim". As a classic film buff as well, I know that, from film's earliest days, up until George Lucas redefined the box office potential with the megahit "Star Wars", science fiction movies were usually relegate to "B" status and assigned budgets accordingly.
Fred F. Sears directed this science fiction/horror picture that stars Jeff Morrow as pilot Mitch MacAfee, who one day reports seeing a huge UFO flying overhead.
The movie is called " The Giant Claw " and it was originally written by Samuel Newman. In 1957 I and my boyhood friends were 11 and twelve year olds.
Civilian electronic engineer Mitch MacAfee is flying a military jet over the North Pole for a test when he spots an UFO, the size of a flying battleship. He is viewed with skepticism.
Some films are born lousy, some achieve lousiness and some have lousiness thrust upon them.This film definitely falls into the third category, since the biggest spoiler connected with this film is the screen grabs you'll probably already have seen in advance (Columbia were careful not to issue official 8 by 10s at the time, which if any were ever printed would probably fetch a fortune today) of a monster which in the words of the late Bill Warren "has been known to bring strong men to their knees in helpless laughter".
It's schlocky B-movies like this that give legitimately good '50s sci-fi monster movies a bad reputation. People are often quick to completely dismiss great ones like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Them!
