The Cyclops (1957)

Wonderful character development!

That was an excellent one.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

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

I always liked the perky and pretty Gloria Talbott. She was almost always saddled with pretty poor roles (I guess "The Leech Woman" was a fairly good one) in low-budget productions. True to form, Talbott appears in this impoverished sci-fi/horror movie about yet another guy grown to monstrous size.The fiancée of Susan Winter (Talbott) is a test pilot who disappeared in Mexico, so Talbott joins a group of searchers trying to find him. Well, they do...and he's grown to monstrous size with a large hole where one of his eyes should be. The remainder of the movie focuses on the monster trying to kill the expedition's members, including the crazy Melville (Lon Chaney, Jr.). The story ends with the monster dead and the survivors flying away.The movie comes to us courtesy of schlockmeister Bert I. Gordon, who specialized in 1950s monster movies with really poor special effects. He delivers another turkey here, including a monster who's identical to the one in "War of the Colossal Beast" (maybe Gordon had some leftover makeup). The whole thing is so cheap and embarrassing that I felt sorry for the cast. Even by Gordon's low standards, this one's really bad.

I had a chance to see "The Cyclops" as part of a retro double feature a few weeks back, and it's a classic indication of the perversity of human nature that the annoyance value of this movie kept me thinking about it long after I stopped pondering classics such as "Bride of Frankenstein".This movie has a fine cast, but they appear to be mostly going through the motions on this one, probably because the lapses in logic and plot holes in the screenplay make it impossible for most people to take it seriously. Lon Chaney has a particularly ridiculous character to play, and while I am a fan of this great actor, I almost cheered when his character bought it. The special effects are, well, about what you'd expect from Bert I. Gordon. I've never seen a person apparently so obsessed with traveling mattes and gigantism; if he'd done it better, it would be inspiring. As it is, his technical limitations make for really contrived and unconvincing scene layouts. Not bad enough to be funny, not good enough to be involving, but I kept watching in case something interesting or magical happened before the end. It didn't.By no means the worst movie in the Bert I Gordon canon that I've seen..."Village Of the Giants" was much worse in spots. (But it also some cheerfully goofy dance scenes,. bawdy teen freakouts, and some hot babes to enjoy.) I felt especially bad for Talbott and Chaney.

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.