The Cyclops

Another great 50's Bert I. Gordon offering. Woman sets out in remote South American jungle area to try and find missing fiance. Hires rough, gruff, alcoholic Lon Chaney Jr. as her reluctant pilot. Crashes in remote area. Something is watching...big time. Seems her fiance has grown to gigantic proportions due to high radiation content of area; also had the misfortune to lose an eye along the way (hence the title). Interesting factoid is that the same actor (Dean Parkins) who played the fiance/cyclops was in the previous Bert I. Gordon film War of the Colossal Beast, using essentially the same makeup. Great rainy Saturday afternoon fair. Fun watching a (probably really) tanked up Lon Chaney Jr.

Bert I. Gordon, when you hear that name many people smile but some tremble. Many of us remember his back projected monsters (THE BEGINNING OF THE END), transparent giants (THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) and his malevolent ghosts (TORMENTED). Okay so his effects were usually less than special but his movies were always entertaining. That brings us to the movie I am here to-night to talk about, THE CYCLOPS.

Susan Winter (Gloria Talbott, looking just so gosh-darn sexy with that short haircut) is searching for her fiancée who vanished 3 years earlier while flying over a dangerous mountain range in South America. Refused permission to fly into that same mountainous area she and her crew go anyway. On board is Russ (James Craig) who is secretly in love with Susan and is probably hoping all they find is a pile of bones, pilot Lee (Tom Drake) who is just in it for the money, and Marty (Lon Chaney) who is looking for uranium. Oh he doesn't want to mine it; he just wants to file a claim as part of an elaborate stock swindle he is planning.

Okay so they make it to the lost valley (actually the ubiquitous Bronson Canyon) and right away Russ sees, or thinks he sees, a giant lizard. Lon finds his uranium, in fact the whole valley is loaded with it; he's gonna be rich!

While exploring the group discover there are indeed giant lizards, also giant spiders, birds, rodents and . . . well . . . every living thing in that valley is huge! Russ starts thinking maybe it isn't uranium in the ground but some other, more dangerous radioactive element (hey it was the 50's, you had to keep "radiation" in the plot!). Guessing they all might start growing too if they hang around too long Russ, Marty and Lee all want to split but Susan says no . . . and she has the keys to the plane! (So 3 guys can't overpower 1 woman just long enough to take the keys? Just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . .only a movie . . .")

Finally they all locate a cave where it looks like someone has been living. In fact someone is still living there, a 25 foot high one eyed monster (Duncan "Dean" Parkin). Now hands up all of you who know right away who the giant cyclops really is. Ah . . . I thought so!

From then on it's a race to see if they can get back to the plane before the giant gets them. Do they make it? Oh come now, you don't expect me to spoil the ending, do you?

There is a nice behind the scenes story attached to this movie. Lon Chaney's biological mother, Cleva Creighton, visited to location every day to bring Lon his lunch. If it seems a little odd that a 51 year old man should be brought lunch by his mom consider this; Lon Sr and Cleva divorced under bitter conditions and Lon told his young son that Cleva was dead. When Lon Jr found out the truth it created a rift between him and his father that never really closed. After the death of his step mom, Hazel Hastings, in 1932 Lon tracked down Cleva and remained very devoted to her until her death in a Hollywood nursing home in 1967.

The makeup for the Cyclops was handled by Jack Young and it is very good, quite convincing and scary as all heck! Duncan Parkin also played the title role in WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST wearing an equally scary makeup design. Paul Frees got a hefty payday for standing in an echo chamber and growling to dub the Cyclops "voice".

Now forget the fact that you can see right through some of the monsters and that matte lines are jumping all over the place. After nearly 50 years this is still a fun movie. Pop some corn, open up some root beers and get comfy on the sofa some Saturday afternoon and enjoy this one. You'll be glad you did!

Hokey 50s sci fi from Bert I Gordon, who despite the prevalent hokum, crappy effects and cheap sets, keeps cranking fun flicks from the 1950s sci fi heyday. It's one of those films, if you first saw it as a kid, it's left a pretty strong impression, just with the horrendous makeup. That was back before we noticed things like plot inconsistency and illogical character behavior, both of which are pretty rampant in this film. Apart from the monster makeup, which is one of the most powerful and distinctive of all 50s sci fi monsters, Gloria Talbot is the best thing this movie has to offer, as a young woman who undertakes a mission into remote Mexico to find her fiancée, missing for three years after a plane crash. She and her unlikely cohorts discover instead a lost world of gigantic animals (very poorly matter or even superimposed real animals, depicted in large size) and, of course, her surviving fiancée, now grown to gigantic proportions due to radiation abounding in the area, horribly disfigured and mute due to injuries from the crash. There's a still powerful bit of pathos in the confrontation between Talbio and her fiancée, but the rest of the story plays out pretty dully, although the film remains entertaining if you're able to suspend your disbelief and overlook the gaping holes in logic and behavior of the characters. An effective monster movie score from Albert Glasser, who scored most of Bert I. Gordons sci fi films, gives the plot most of its propulsion. This film was reported made in 1955, which puts it as a precursor to Gordon's THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957) and its sequel, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958), wherein the big dude sports the same makeup used for THE CYCLOPS. Other than the similarity in height and appearance, the film's story lines are unrelated.

Bert Gordon was definitely a great B science fiction film maker. I love all his movies, ALL OF THEM. I almost forgot this one, and what a shame. I discover it again with great pleasure. It is not lousy, it is fun; it is not stupid, it is a good time waster, especially for Bert Gordon's fans, and there are many on earth. You will easily find here his trademark: gigantic animals; the Bert Gordon's trademark. Every horror movie buff should watch this one. Lon Chaney Jr shows a wooden performance, compared to other films which he played in. But let's be honest, it is not the highlight of Bert Gordon. However, this is a must see for horror fans.

Susan Winter (Gloria Talbott) is searching for her missing boyfriend test pilot Bruce Barton. He's been missing for three years in the Mexican jungle. She has joined up with wealthy Martin Melville (Lon Chaney Jr.) looking for uranium. The other two people on the search plane are friend Russ Bradford (James Craig) and pilot Lee Brand (Tom Drake). They encounter giant creatures created by the radiation.

The special effects of the giant creatures are compositing two different footages. It's not the best looking. The big-size half tends to be transparent. It's classic B-movie stuff. It's a lot of cheese. It needs more drama from Melville. When he first push the plane down, I thought he would be tied up and later cause problems. The others are not reacting enough to his aggressiveness. The plot is not good enough. As for the cyclops, his mask is fake old style. It's not that good, but it is weirdly interesting. That's this movie. It's not good but weirdly interesting.