Katzman Honored on Blu-Ray

June 27, 2021 by Jon Kitley in Misc. Ramblings and tagged Creature with the Atom Brain, Sam Katzman, The Giant Claw, The Werewolf, Zombies of Mora Tau | Leave a comment

Since The Giant Claw is one of my all-time favorites from the ‘50s, the announcement of this being on released on Blu-ray had my attention. Then to find out it would be in a special edition box set celebrating the works of low budget producer Sam Katzman. This guy was a producer that spanned just shy of 40 years that produced 239 pictures. In the decade of the ‘50s, he produced 105 titles, averaging out to almost 1 a month! He made everything from horror and sci-fi films to westerns, musicals, rock and roll, and just about every other exploitation genre out there.

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Horror History: Morris Ankrum

July 26, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Invaders from Mars, Morris Ankrum, The Giant Claw, Zombies of Mora Tau | 2 Comments

Morris Ankrum Morris Ankrum
Born Aug. 28th, 1897 – Died Sept. 2nd, 1964

Now this is a guy that needs a little more attention. He is one of these character actors that was never a big star but appeared in so many of our favorite films, such as, of course, The Giant Claw (1957)! But you can also see him in Rocketship X-M (1950), Invaders from Mars (1953), Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), and even in Bert I. Gordon’s Beginning of the End (1957).

He actually was an attorney and even an economics professor before he was bitten by the acting bug and joined the theater. It was in the ’30s when he started appearing in movies, appearing in close to 300 movies and TV shows before he passed away. He was usually showing up as a military officer of some type, someone of authority, not to mention in more than a few westerns.

So when the next time you’re watching some old sci-fi/horror flick, see if old Mr. Ankrum doesn’t show up somewhere!

Horror History: Sam Katzman

July 24, 2019 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Creature with the Atom Brain, Earth vs the Flyin Saucers, Sam Katzman, The Giant Claw, The Werewolf, Zombies of Mora Tau | Leave a comment

Sam Katzman
Born July 7th, 1901 – Died Aug. 4th, 1973

Katzman was known as one of those B-movie producers, usually taking pennies to get films made. But how could that be considered bad, if he stayed in business for almost 40 years. And during that time, he produced 241 films. That averages out to 6 films a year, but early on, such in 1953, he produced 17 films! Okay, so most of them may have not been memorable, but when he worked in the sci-fi / horror genre, I think they were. Especially one particular title, The Giant Claw (1957).

He is the man responsible for instead of paying the money for someone like Ray Harryhausen to create the title creature, he spent a rumored $50 to some guys down in Mexico. You could barely tell by the end result, can you?

Besides that epic, he also produced genre films like It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956), The Werewolf (1956), The Night the World Exploded (1957), and Zombies of Mora Tau.

So while he might not have made the right choices all of the time, the choices that he did make are probably one of the reasons we’re still talking about him today.