The Flying Serpent

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Movie
Original title The Flying Serpent
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1946
length 59 minutes
Rod
Director Sam Newfield
script John T. Neville
production Sigmund Neufeld
music Leo Erdody
camera Jack Greenhalgh
cut Holbrook N. Todd
occupation

The Flying Serpent is an American horror film from 1946. In 1982, the film was remade as American Monster .

action

Long ago, during the conquest of Hernán Cortés , the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II hid his people's gold treasure in the north of the country, now New Mexico , and had them guarded by the deity Quetzalcoatl , a mixture of bird and reptile.

Archaeologist Andrew Forbes finds the treasure and has Quetzalcoatl guard it. Forbes' wife was accidentally killed by Quetzalcoatl's pen; Now Forbes wants to use Quetzalcoatl's abilities to get revenge on his enemies.

Ornithologist John Lambert recently published an article on Quetzalcoatl. Forbes now fears the article could now attract crowds of treasure hunters.

Lambert happened to find Quetzalcoatl's pen. In search of the treasure, he is attacked and killed by Quetzalcoatl. The radio presenter Richard Thorpe wants to get to the bottom of the matter with the help of his friend, the ornithologist Louis Havener, and the support of Sheriff Bill Hayes.

The autopsy reveals that all of the blood has been sucked out of the victim's body. Sheriff Hayes, in turn, could not find any suspicious footprints at the crime scene. Forbes reports on his last meeting with Lambert about the article and denies any connection with the death of his wife despite the similar circumstances. Forbes' daughter Mary reports on the striking feather that Lambert found. The investigation comes to the conclusion that it is murder.

When Thorpe drives to the location of Lambert's body with Forbes and the sheriff, Forbes drops Quetzalcoatl's feather on the floor. A little later, the Sheriff of Quetzalcoatl is attacked and killed. Thorpe finds the feather and has it examined by Havener, who is immediately killed by Quetzalcoatl. Thorpe fails in an attempt to shoot the snake creature that flies away.

Treasure hunter Vance Bennett brought back a sealed pen from Honduras . Richard has found out that Quetzalcoatl protects the treasure from explorers and is attracted by the scent of the feather. He also suspects that Forbes is behind the murder cases.

At the scene of the crime, Forbes is set up in a trap by Bennett pretending that he has just found the pen he brought with him. Thorpe and Richard watch Forbes as he releases the Quetzalcoatl. After fooling Forbes into believing Quetzalcoatl killed Bennett, Forbes next plans the murder of Thorpe.

When Mary expresses the suspicion that he is behind the murder cases and that the snake creature also killed her mother, he reveals to her that he is in truth her stepfather. When Thorpe broadcasts from the scene this time, Forbes lures Mary to the hiding place of the snake creature and the treasure. Thorpe comes to Mary's aid and overpowers Forbes, and Quetzalcoatl's cage opens. Forbes flees with the pen, but is killed by Quetzalcoatl. Thorpe shoots several times at the snake creature, which is now fatally hit.

Thorpe announces on the radio that he and Mary are getting married.

background

The Flying Serpent was manufactured by PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation), which specializes in low-cost productions. The film is largely a modified remake of The Devil Bat (1940) by director Jean Yarbrough with Bela Lugosi in the lead role, also a PRC production and one of the studio's most successful horror films. While Dr. Carruthers (Lugosi) breeds giant bats in The Devil Bat , which he trains to kill all the people he has previously sprayed with a special perfume, Dr. Forbes (Zucco) in The Flying Serpent a flying Aztec deity, killing all people to whom he has previously slipped a feather of the "feathered serpent". And both scientists are ultimately killed by an attack by their own creature. The Devil Bat and The Flying Serpent also had the same screenwriter, John T. Neville, whose last work was The Flying Serpent .

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