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.

Cyclops, The (1957)

*** (out of 4)

A woman (Gloria Talbott) travels to the Mexican desert to locate her husband whose been missing for three years. She finds him but he's now a huge, one eyed Cyclops. Here's a classic of the 50's sci-fi directed by Bert I. Gordon who would make a career out of these "man/animal grows big" films. The entire cast, including Lon Chaney, Jr. are a lot of fun and the dialogue gets some nice chuckles as well. Gordon made a lot of these "big" pictures throughout his career but I think this one here is the best of the bunch.

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.

Crazy, super sized fun film! It's one of those large creatures films that was so popular in the 1950s thru the early 1960s. If you like those types of sci-fi, horror films then you might like The Cyclops! Susan Winters' (Talbott) fiancée is missing. He has not shown back up from his trip to Mexico so Susan decides to get help from Martin Melville (Chaney) to fund her trip in exchange for some of the uranium that is suppose to be in rich supply in the area. She enlists the help of Russ Bradford (Craig) as a guide and Lee Brand (Drake) a pilot. What they discover are an abundance of uranium, over-sized creatures and The Cyclops! I really enjoyed watching this film again after years of no-see! 7.5/10