So Bad It's Fun

There are movies that are so bad they are fun to watch.  I have to admit the movies of Ed Wood do not fit this category for me.  They are so bad they are painful.  Fortunately Sam Katzman sometimes fills the bill.  Katzman (1901-1973) was a producer and director whose career started in 1933.  He worked in Westerns, serials such as Columbia's Superman (1948), Jungle Jim movies with Johnny Weismuller (earning the nickname "Jungle Sam"), and even produced an Elvis Presley movie.  Reportedly he did not care for the experience because the large budget made him uncomfortable.  He worked cheap and fast but usually delivered watchable product.  But even a low-budget mogul such as Katzman could pinch pennies in the wrong area.  In this case it was special effects that suffered.
The Giant Claw (1957) is a comedy riot, which is not what was intended.  A good cast of professionals including Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, and Edgar Barrier have the misfortune of playing straight against an unexpected comedy star.  The basic story was no worse than the general run from the time, but the effects were among the worst ever to appear in a fifties Science Fiction - Horror flick.

Which came first, the ugly chicken or the bad egg?

Ralph Hammeras and George J. Teague are credited (or blamed) for the the movie's not-so special effects.  Katzman reportedly had the title creature sculpted by a puppet maker in Mexico.  The stars did not see the Ugly Big Bad Bird until they saw the movie at its premiere showing in Jeff Morrow's home town.  Morrow said he left before the movie ended so he would not have to face his family and friends.
I guess you could call this a guilty pleasure because it is fun to watch.  The plot involves Ugly Big Bad Bird flying across the galaxy to lay its egg on Earth.  Definitely a bad move since Colonel Sanders was frying chicken in Kentucky.  It manages to create a lot of stock-footage havoc before our heroes manage to win.

I remember seeing this (excuse the expression) turkey on a double feature when it was first released in 1957.  We lived a block away from our neighborhood theater ard rarely missed a horror film.  Even at eight years old I knew a baddie when I saw one, but it was still enjoyable, for all the wrong reasons.  With decent effects The Giant Claw would be pretty much forgotten, but the Ugly Big Bad Bird has assured it of immortality in the hearts and funny bones of baby boomers everywhere.  When mentioned there is often a sense of awe that borders on respect for its near-perfect badness.  I guess that amounts to something.
It can be fun to ridicule such movies as being bad but we should recognize the fact that people made thes things and they deserve some respect for their professionalism and for making the best of a bad situation.
Jeff Morrow worked steadily in films and 

Dr. Freud anyone?

television including The Robe, The Creature Walks Among Us, Perry Mason, and Police Story. (That's a series that should be made available on DVD)  Mara Corday appeared in Man Without A Star, Tarantula, The Black Scorpion, Wanted: Dead Or Alive, and Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet.  Morris Ankrum appeard in darn near everything else.
So, if you haven't seen it, give it a try.  If you have seen it watch a few minutes when you get a chance and have a few guffaws at the weirdest monster from the Fifties.