In the clutches of the giant
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | In the clutches of the giant |
| Original title | Giant from the Unknown |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 77 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard E. Cunha |
| script |
Frank H. Taussig , Ralph Brooke |
| production | Arthur A. Jacobs for Screenplay Enterprises |
| music | Albert Glasser |
| camera |
Richard E. Cunha aka Dick Cunha ,, William Norton |
| cut | Screenplay Enterprises |
| occupation | |
| |
In the claws of the giant (original title Giant from the Unknown ) is an American horror or science fiction film from 1958. The male lead is occupied by Ed Kemmer , who from 1951 to 1955 in the role of Commander “Buzz “Corey was the star of the sci fi television series Space Patrol . The performer of the giant is the boxer Buddy Baer , who appeared in numerous B-movies .
Except in the USA, the film was only shown in Argentina , Brazil , Mexico , Spain and West Germany . The first performance in Germany was September 8, 1961.
action
Strange things are happening around the small town of Pine Ridge, California . Cows are mutilated and old Harold Banks is apparently murdered. His body is also badly damaged, as Sheriff Parker has to tell the local residents. The events took place in the Devil's Cage region, which is cursed according to an Indian legend . The sheriff therefore bans residents from entering the region until the incidents have been resolved.
Parker suspects Wayne Brooks, a young archeology student, of the crime. Wayne has been alone in the Devil's Cage area for the past three days, so he has no alibi. However, since Parker has no solid evidence against him, he cannot arrest Wayne.
Surprisingly, the archeology professor Cleveland and his daughter Janet arrive in Pine Ridge. You are looking for artifacts from the Spanish colonial days of California . Cleveland wants to round off his early history of California with the excavations, which he wants to publish as a book. Wayne guides them through his lab, which they love. The young researcher also shows them a lizard that has survived an apparent death in the rock for around 500 years . The species itself is extinct.
Wayne, Professor Cleveland, and Janet decide to work together to find the Spanish artifacts. As an expert on California's colonial history, Cleveland knows that the Spanish conquistador Vargas operated in the region, who was called a giant and was considered extremely brutal because of his enormous body size. Vargas and his men had split off from a larger expedition of conquistadors out of lust for gold and are missing, their bodies never being found.
In the investigation area, Wayne, Janet, and their father find Spanish equipment, including an oversized breastplate and morion, and a giant battle ax . A thunderstorm creates electrical voltages that bring a human body under a tree back to life. It's Vargas. While the three archaeologists sleep in tents, he takes some unearthed pieces of equipment, including the morion, the breastplate and the battle ax, and disappears into the forest.
Based on traces and the "theft" of the objects, the professor suspects that Vargas has come back to life. He assumes certain peculiarities of the local flora such as oak leaves as the cause of the apparent death . Shortly afterwards, Vargas kills the Indian Joe and the young farmer Ann Brown. After Sheriff Parker mistakenly arrested Wayne as a murderer, the facts are cleared up by the statements of Cleveland and Janet. Parker puts together a vigilante group that goes on the hunt for Vargas with the archaeologists. At short notice they succeed in encircling the giant in a rocky region and injuring him with gunfire, but Vargas manages to break out at night. He kills a guard and injures Ann's brother Charlie Brown, who, blind with revenge, has gone alone in search of the giant.
Eventually Wayne manages to put Vargas in a dilapidated water mill . Despite his injuries, the giant is still a dangerous opponent. Wayne escapes the mill; on a dam wall there is a final battle. The weakened giant is unbalanced in a blow to Wayne and falls into the reservoir. Cleveland wants to salvage the giant's corpse for science, but the sheriff gives him no hope: the reservoir drains into an underground volcanic crater. But there is consolation for the professor: Janet and Wayne are now lovers.
Production notes
The film was designed within two months and shot in Fawnskin on Big Bear Lake . The film took six days to film and the cost of production was just $ 55,000. The Vargas mask Buddy Baers came from Jack Pierce , who had made the famous Frankenstein mask back in 1931 . For the special effects was Harold Banks responsible; his name was apparently used as a gag for the murdered Devil's Cage.
The plot shows - according to Bill Warren due to the extremely short production time - a serious error. The cattle mutilations and the murder of Harold Banks take place before the giant awakens, so he is not an option for the acts. The film was shown as a double feature with She Demons , a science fiction film in which Nazis conduct human experiments on a South Sea island and which is also directed by Cunha.
criticism
... ridiculous horror.
FILMDIENST , quoted from Hahn / Jansen, p. 265.
Lore
A bilingual DVD (German / English) was released in 2013. The original version is posted on youtube.com .
literature
- Ronald M. Hahn / Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films. 720 films from 1902 to 1983 , Munich (Wilhelm Heyne Verlag) 1983, p. 264f. ISBN 3-453-01901-6
- Bill Warren: Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties , Jefferson, NC / London (Mc Farland & Company, Inc., Publishers) 2010, pp. 334ff. ISBN 978-0-7864-4230-0
Web links
- In the clutches of the giants in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Original trailer on youtube.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the Giant's Clutches. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 8, 2018 .