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.

I have always more or less considered Ruchard Cunha's films as lousy horror films; well, maybe I was a bit tough with him. Now I watch this film again, of course that's not Jack Arnold nor Nathan Juran at their peak in that sci-fi domain, but it remains worth watching. It is fun and totally in the fifties fashion concerning the science fiction genre. It evokes here the Indians and their legends and of course the damages that the White civilization made to the Natives culture. I am surprised that there were not more movies about this scheme. There were actually, and better than this one. MANITOU for instance.

A series of animal deaths and other disasters hits a rural town. When humans start dying, a local, bewigged, stock native known, not-so-lovingly, as "Injun Joe" speaks of omens and portents. The townsfolk are... unimpressed. The sheriff is flummoxed by it all.

When archaeologist, Dr. Frederick Cleveland (the ubiquitous Morris Ankrum) and his daughter, Janet (Sally Fraser) come to town, they draw the sheriff's suspicion. Especially, since they happen to know a loner, named Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer).

Cleveland just happens to be searching for evidence of an ancient, sadistic, towering conquistador known as Vargas, The Devil Giant.

Coincidence? Hmmm.

Cheeeze-tacular, pseudo-scientific claptrap sets up the idea that the old behemoth could possibly have been reanimated. While Cleveland and Brooks search for artifacts, Janet makes lunch, brews coffee, and cleans up the camp!

Aaaah, the 1950's!

After what feels like a century, Vargas finally makes his appearance, but nothing much takes place. The obligatory romance blooms between Janet and Brooks. More locals are eliminated. Will the sheriff ever believe the truth? Will Janet ever brew the perfect pot of coffee? Will "Injun Joe" ever get a better hairpiece?

Cheddar doesn't get much chunkier than GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN! Highly entertaining hooey!

P.S.- Janet also makes sandwiches...

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.

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.