The Crawling Hand

Last updated

The Crawling Hand
Crawlinghand.JPG
One-sheet
Directed by Herbert L. Strock
Screenplay by Wm. Idelson
Herbert L. Strock
Based onfrom an original story by
Joseph Cranston
Malcolm Young
Wm. Idelson
Produced byJoseph F. Robertson [1]
Starring Peter Breck
Kent Taylor
Rod Lauren
Cinematography Willard Van der Veer
Edited by Herbert L. Strock
Music by Marlin Skiles (uncredited)
Production
company
Joseph F. Robertson Productions
Distributed byDonald J. Hansen Enterprises
Release dates
  • September 4, 1963 (1963-09-04)(Hartford, Connecticut)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language English
Budget$100,000 (estimated) [2]

The Crawling Hand is a 1963 American science fiction horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Alan Hale and Allison Hayes. [3] It was later featured on the television shows Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and The Canned Film Festival . [4]

Contents

Plot

An astronaut, out of oxygen and coming in for a crash landing, somehow manages to re-establish radio contact and tell ground control to activate the ship self-destruction mechanism. After wondering why the astronaut couldn't do it himself, ground control pushes the red button, causing the ship to explode at 70,000 feet (21,000 m); scientists Steve Curan (Peter Breck), Max Weitzberg (Kent Taylor), and their assistant Donna (Allison Hayes) later discover that the late astronaut was infected by some sort of alien lifeform. [2] [5]

Meanwhile, Paul Lawrence (Rod Lauren), a science student and his girlfriend Marta Farnstrom (Sirry Steffen) find a severed human arm on a beach in California. Recognizing the sleeve of the astronaut's uniform, Paul takes it home for further study, but the hand murders the landlady and possess Paul himself, causing him to attack other people around town including Marta and the soda shop owner. [2] [5]

Upon learning that the late astronaut fingerprints were found on Paul's landlady corpse, Curan and Weitzberg arrive in California to question Paul, but a skeptical Sheriff Townsend (Alan Hale Jr.) believes that Paul is the culprit. [2] [5]

In a lucid moment, Paul captures the hand and takes it to the city dump, where he stabs it with a broken bottle and it is eaten by cats, freeing Paul from the alien influence. Paul and Marta live happily ever after, while Curan and Weitzberg return to Washington. [2] [5]

Meanwhile the federales charged with transporting the offended appendage open the box used to confine the apprehended hand. The film ends with a quick zoom to the inside of an empty box as the words "the end" appear on black.

Cast

Note: character names are not indicated in on-screen credits.

Release and reception

The Crawling Hand was first released in 1963 by Donald J. Hansen Enterprises with American International Pictures distributing the film in the summer of 1964. Afterwards, it was distributed for broadcast syndication by Medallion TV as part of their "Creeping Terrors" package, which included other low-budget films such as Jungle Hell , Monster from the Ocean Floor , and Robot Monster . [6]

Welch D. Everman described The Crawling Hand as "a film by grown-ups telling kids to grow up themselves" disguised as a teen science fiction. [5] Rob Craig praised the editing, photography and music, while criticizing the script; Craig also stated that Michael J. Weldon, founder of the Psychotronic Video magazine enjoyed the film's use of The Rivingtons single "The Bird's the Word". [6]

Home media

Drive-in advertisement from 1963 for The Crawling Hand and co-feature, The Slime People. The Crawling Hand & The Slime People ad - 10 Sep 1963.jpg
Drive-in advertisement from 1963 for The Crawling Hand and co-feature, The Slime People .

The Crawling Hand was distributed on VHS by Video Gems and Rhino Home Video. [5] It was also featured in Episode 6 of Season 1 of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . [7] This episode was released on VHS by Rhino Home Video in October 1999 and on DVD in June 2002, including the uncut film as a bonus feature.

In other media

Rick Moody's novel The Four Fingers of Death, released in July 2010 by Little, Brown and Company, is a metafictional novelization of an imagined 2025 remake of The Crawling Hand (which means that Moody's fictional 'novelization' is set in a future very different from that of the 1963 film). [8]

References

  1. ↑ Vandergriff, Rick (September 5, 1990). "Aspiring Mogul Back in Action Film". Los Angeles Times . p. F1. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Fischer, Dennis (2011). "Herbert L. Strock". Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895–1998. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland. pp. 596–597. ISBN   978-0-7864-6091-5.
  3. ↑ Robinson, Johnny (November 2, 1963). "Next Week's Films". Lewiston Evening Journal . p. 4-A. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  4. ↑ Margulies, Lee (June 10, 1986). "'Canned Film Festival' on TV, Worst of the Big Screen On Its Way". Los Angeles Times . p. 10. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Everman, Welch D. (1995). Cult science fiction films: from the Amazing Colossal Man to Yog--The Monster From Space . New York City: Carol Pub. Group. pp. 42–43. ISBN   978-0-8065-1602-8 – via Internet Archive.
  6. 1 2 Craig, Rob (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 101. ISBN   978-1-4766-6631-0.
  7. ↑ Beaulieu, Trace; Chaplin, Paul; Mallon, Jim; Murphy, Kevin; Nelson, Michael J; Pehl, Mary Jo (1996). The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide. New York City: Bantam Books. p. 9. ISBN   978-0-553-37783-5.
  8. ↑ Martin, Clancy (August 6, 2010). "Book Review - The Four Fingers of Death - By Rick Moody". The New York Times.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.