The Flying Serpent (1946)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

The Worst Film Ever

It is a performances centric movie

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This very minor PRC horror film (which the prolific director actually signed under the alias Sherman Scott!) was basically a variation on an earlier popular effort from the same company i.e. the average Bela Lugosi vehicle THE DEVIL BAT (1941), replacing the star with George Zucco and its monster with Quetzalcoatl, the titular Aztec legend (though retaining its blood-draining habits and, hilariously, miniscule size!) that would also be featured in Larry Cohen's much superior Q – THE WINGED SERPENT (1982). Indeed, the bird/reptile hybrid is never shown in detail: it is either conveniently hidden inside the darkness of a cave or otherwise taking to the air to hunt its prey. The latter, then, is another fount of amusement as Zucco has to pluck out one of its feathers and plant it on the person of his next chosen victim (curiously enough, the method is not too dissimilar from that in Jacques Tourneur's marvelous NIGHT OF THE DEMON {1957}) in order to get it to do his bidding and, needless to say, the monster does not take kindly to having its priceless plumage snipped! Anyway, Zucco is the usual wild-eyed Professor with a passion for something or other (in this case, archeology, which has led him to Montezuma's treasure) and a grudge against most anyone (beginning with an ornithologist whose writings about both Quetzalcoatl and the fabled fortune are likely to attract curious/greedy outsiders thus interfering with the villain's plans) The irony is that, with the mysterious murder – which soon multiply, as more and more people 'get on his back' – a radio personality/mystery writer by the name of Richard Thorpe(!) turns up to 'broadcast' the investigations, with even one of the deaths occurring 'on air'! As always, Zucco's female ward (in this case, his stepdaughter – there is, in fact, a whole 'nother puzzle surrounding her mother's death, at the hands of Quetzalcoatl itself, but which is never properly unraveled) falls for the intrepid hero and, in the end, the misguided Professor succumbs to the very creature he had unleashed (albeit unconvincingly since, for no obvious reason other than as a plot contrivance, he flees the scene upon being exposed carrying one of the proverbial feathers in his hand!), which is then dispatched (via nothing more remarkable than normal bullets) by Thorpe. Regrettable comic relief is provided by the radio guy's engineer partner and their flustered Head Of Programs, who keeps moaning about why nobody is more concerned with Montezuma's wealth and calculating how big his own cut will be! Ultimately, while this is certainly nothing to write home about, at least it is not as embarrassingly goofy as the somewhat similar Sam Katzman-produced cheapie THE GIANT CLAW (1957)

The diabolical Professor Andrew Forbes(George Zucco)holds possession over an ancient Aztec feathered flying serpent, Quetzacoatal, and Montezuma's treasure it was assigned to protect, imprisoning the beast in a cell within a hidden cavernous lair. Forbes plucks a feather from the serpent, using it to lure the beast towards victims. Anyone who threatens to expose his secret(..possession of the treasure and the serpent)are targeted. The serpent is a half-bird/half-reptile which feeds on blood..it severs the jugular vein of victims, draining their bodies of blood. A popular mystery writer, Richard Thorpe(Ralph Lewis), is hired by a radio station to solve the mysterious case of a murdered ornithologist who posed a threat towards discovering Forbes' secret. Forbes learned about how his bird follows the "scent" of his removed feathers when Quetzalcoatal murdered his wife. His step-daughter, Mary(the cute Hope Kramer)begins to question pop's odd behavior and temperament possibly endangering herself. It doesn't help that Mary and Richard begin a courtship as he sets his sights on catching her step-dad in his fiendish acts. After a successful series of murders, it's only a matter of time before Forbes leaves a trail Richard will sniff out.Poverty row no-budgeter benefits from Zucco's sinister villain..he's quite hissable. I was hoping for stop-motion effects being a fan, but the Quetzalcoatal is mostly an embarrassing puppet. The film itself is rather talky, unatmospheric and feels a lot longer than it is. Probably for Zucco completists more than the average horror fan unless you like these little schlocky B-movies with failed attempts at slap-sticky physical humor. It'd probably help if the monstrous bird didn't look so damn silly and unconvincing(..although this might appeal to fans of cheese).

George Zucco's archaeologist character has a major problem at the beginning of the 1946 cheapie "The Flying Serpent." He had recently discovered Montezuma's treasure horde in an Aztec cave in New Mexico, and now fears that the locals might start to get snoopy. Good thing he's also found Quetzalcoatl, the legendary Aztec serpent/bird god, and has learned that the creature will track down and kill whoever is in unwitting possession of one of its feathers. Thus, pretty soon, Zucco is planting Q plumage left and right, sitting back and enjoying the carnage... Anyway, this 57-minute film is minimally fun, and Zucco is always interesting to watch, but the picture is unfortunately done in by supercheap production values, a tediously talkative screenplay, occasional goofball humor, and the simple fact that we never get a solid, steady look at Quetzalcoatl itself. Worse, the film's resolution is asinine and inane, with Zucco behaving uncharacteristically stupid and contrary to common sense. Matters aren't helped by the badly damaged film print offered to us on the Image DVD that I just watched, with problematic sound, to boot. Many other viewers have noted the similarity between this picture and another PRC effort, "The Devil Bat," a Bela Lugosi vehicle released five years earlier. In that film, Bela had lured his flying killer to the intended victim by using a special shaving lotion; here, those darn feathers have been substituted. Bottom line: I would have to say that "The Flying Serpent" is a movie for George Zucco completists only, if such an animal exists. Other viewers who are interested in a film featuring the feathered serpent god alive and well in the 20th century would probably be better advised to seek out Larry Cohen's 1982 film "Q."

If ever there was a far-fetched story, The Flying Serpent is it. The script-writer doesn't even bother to offer any logical explanations for the principal event, let alone gaping holes in the subsidiary story line. Even the size of the title serpent itself seems to vary considerably from that of a large parrot to a small orang-utang.Admittedly, by the extremely humble standards of Producers Releasing Corp, production values are slightly above the usual level of extreme poverty. Director Sherman Scott (Newfield) does his best to whip up an occasional bit of interest in the lethargic proceedings and the players, led by the indomitable George Zucco, all struggle manfully to lend a bit of credibility to their roles (though often defeated by an over-talkative screenplay).The ending is especially ridiculous as all the villain needed to do to ward off the killer serpent… well, I won't spoil the plot by telling you what a dope this guy actually turns out to be! Mind you, he has done plenty of stupid and illogical things already, so I suppose you could say he runs true to form right through to the end.