Giant from the Unknown

I can't think of any movie that has Morris Ankrum that I didn't really like...and yes, I have seen The Giant Claw (three times, in fact).

That fact notwithstanding, Giant From The Unknown is a pretty good movie. The basic story has a Spanish Conquistador (who happens to be a giant and who happens to have travelled up into northern California after breaking with Cortez) waking up after five hundred years of suspended animation and going on a rampage of death and cattle mutilation.

Don't let the plot turn you off. The script manages to make it all seem pretty believeable, and the acting is pretty good as well. Morris Ankrum is great. Ed Kemmer (Commander Buzz Corey on Space Patrol) is the hero. Cowboy and serial legend Bob Steele is the sheriff, and the lovely Janet Fraser is the love interest.

The monster himself looks pretty good as well...for an unburied conquistador, that is. The finale at the sawmill is an excellent sequence...though don't try to adjust your VCR. That fuzziness is optically-printed snow on the sequence (it took me a couple of minutes to realize that...I thought the print had deteriorated).

Giant From the Unknown is a good all-around example of fifties science fiction that is worth a look by fans of the genre.

Giant From The Unknown is a standard classic in my collection in that I have watched it nearly a dozen times since purchasing the DVD. I like most of my generation grew up on these B-movies almost second hand through late night television shows with strange horror hosts who poked harmless fun at the pictures but really taught us to embrace the classic films usually ignored by big box office standard studios. That feeling of nostalgia is why I still turn to these films as an almost "comfort food" for the soul.

This film although rattled with the faux pas of most classic B-movies in that there is a basic male chauvinism and xenophobia subtext to the story is a fun and light sci-fi flick for all ages. It is just how film and television flowed in those days. Push it aside and Giant From The Unknown like a lot of old movies is really a great story that is both entertaining and filled with adventure. Especially when dealing with the 50's sci-fi genre. It is directed by Richard E. Cunha and stars Ed Kemmer, Buddy Baer, Sally Fraser and Bob Steele.

This movie has a pretty interesting and fantastical story that deals with real giants of historical legends which just sets the mind to wonder. The dialog and acting is classic melodrama which is slightly over-the-top but fun to watch. The Giant is pretty intimidating and unlike most movie monsters of the era he looks convincing realistic. Over all the film is a great way to introduce kids to the old black & white genre stuff and a film that hold's it's own against any giant lizard or mummy. Just let yourself set back and enjoy a fun classic film.

Truth to tell, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from "Giant From the Unknown." I'd seen two of director Richard Cunha's later works, "Missile to the Moon" and "Frankenstein's Daughter," and had found them both incredibly awful, albeit entertainingly so. Indeed, the latter might just be my favorite bad movie of all time. Still, it was to my surprise that "Giant," although certainly not a good movie by any reasonable definition, turned out to be yet another entertaining diversion from director Cunha. In it, a Spanish conquistador, buried 500 years ago by Indians in what is now California, rises from the earth to cause more mayhem. As played by Buddy Baer (brother of heavyweight prizefighter Max), and featuring a makeup job by Jack "Frankenstein" Pierce, this giant does make for one imposing sight. Scientist Morris Ankrum, his daughter Sally Fraser, and an ex-student, Edward Kemmer, all happen to be in this CA mountain community when old Vargas goes on his rampage, and the three make for appealing leads. This film features a fair amount of suspense, some startling moments, not too many unintentionally funny lines, and a fairly compact story line. Granted, some of the backdrops look as phony as can be (that lake, that ersatz dam), and some details don't make much sense if one ponders them later, but darn it, this movie was kinda fun! Maybe I've been watching too many shlocky films lately, and my standards are starting to slip, but still, I did enjoy this one. The DVD looks nice and crisp, too, although the source material seems damaged in spots. All in all, I certainly do not regret having rented this one out....

Ah! The 1950's and science fiction films. This was the decade that brought us giant ants and other mutant insects, evil aliens coming to take over our bodies, good aliens out to save mankind from destroying itself, Godzilla and all his Japanese monster buddies destroying every inch of Japan, and the films of Richard Cunha, Missile to the Moon, She Demons, Frankenstein's Daughter, and Giant From the Unknown. Cunha has a certain directorial style, that for me, is the mixing of bad film-making with an almost uncanny way of making bad seem good...or at least interesting. Giant From the Unknown is indeed a bad film. It tells the story of a professor and his daughter driving through the southwest looking for the remains of a giant Spanish conquistador known for his cruelty. While driving they just happen to come to a town where Ed Kemmer(an affable leading man if nothing else)just happened to find a lizard alive in rock that was thousands of years old. Okay, I know you know where this is going. And it does go there. The giant is alive in century old rock and begins to eat his way through everyone's livestock and likes to kill for no apparent reason. Kemmer falls in love with the daughter Sally Fraser, whilst proud pops(the great Morris Ankrum)realizes his dream come true of finding evidence that this giant once lived. Well, the story is without a doubt ridiculous. But this is a fun film. Jack Pierce did the make-up for the giant conquistador. It is not real impressive, but Buddy Baer certainly is a giant of a screen presence. The acting in general is adequate, and the direction is entertaining. The film does have some fine scenes, particularly the ending in the snowy mountains and the dam. If you just want to be entertained in that magical 50's B picture way....take a look at Giant From the Unknown.

Way way back in my childhood years (well okay, maybe not THAT far back!) I remember seeing this movie many times on the late late show. I was attracted to this film originally because I had previously seen THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FOOT WOMAN and I expected something more. When I say the giant of the title was just a little bit taller than the rest of the cast I was disappointed at first but the spell of this movie quickly won me over. I mean, how can you not like a movie that has former B western star Bob Steele as the no-nonsense sheriff of a small mountain town?

Ed Kemmer (EARTH VS THE SPIDER), Morris Ankrum (INVADERS FROM MARS among many others) and Sally Fraser (WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST) are searching a mountain area with the foreboding name of Devil's Crag in the hopes of finding proof that a legendary renegade Conquistador named Vargas really did exist ("A man of unusual size and strength . . .a depraved degenerate of a man."). To their amazement they discover that he still does exist after some 400 years. Preserved by chemicals in the soil (so Morris informs us) he is revived by a bolt of lightning. Vargas (Buddy Baer, brother of prizefighter Max Baer and uncle of Max "Jethro Bodine" Baer Jr.) is no gentle giant though. At first he just slaughters cattle but then he graduates to people! His attack on mountain girl Joline Brand hints that a brutal sexual assault preceded her murder and he leaves local "crazy guy" Indian Joe hanging from a hook! The scientists join the sheriff and his posse to hunt down and destroy the giant but either he is too tough to be brought down by bullets or that is one really good suit of armour he is wearing. So can the mountain folk win out over the rampaging giant? Well luckily this film is now on DVD so you can find out without having to stay up until 2 in the morning like I did when I was a kid.

The makeup for Buddy Baer was done by Jack Pierce, who created such memorable scary faces as the Frankenstein Monster, I'm-Ho-Tep, Kharis and the Wolfman. It was directed by Richard Cunha who gave us 3 other memorable late night classics: MISSILE TO THE MOON, SHE DEMONS and the unforgettable FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER.