The Vulture (1967 film)

The Vulture is a 1967 British/Canadian/American horror film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Robert Hutton, Akim Tamiroff, Broderick Crawford, and Diane Clare.[2]

The Vulture
Theatrical poster.
Directed byLawrence Huntington
Produced byLawrence Huntington
executive
Jack O. Lamont
Written byLawrence Huntington
StarringRobert Hutton
Akim Tamiroff
Broderick Crawford
Diane Clare
Music byEric Spear
Edited byJohn S Smith
Production
company
Homeric Films
Iliad Films
Film Financial Co Ltd
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
December 23, 1966 (Deming premiere)
May 3, 1967
Running time
91 minutes
CountryCanada
United Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget£50,000[1]

Plot

One stormy night in Cornwall, schoolteacher Ellen West becomes hysterical when she sees a gigantic bird with a human face fly out of the open grave of Francis Real, an 18th-century seaman. Real, buried alive with a huge, murderous bird he had found in the South Pacific, had sworn vengeance on all descendants of Squire Stroud, the man who ordered his interment; nevertheless, Brian Stroud, the present squire, is unconcerned by the prophecy of doom.

American scientist Eric Lutyens, husband of Brian's niece Trudy, is troubled when he finds the mutilated body of a sheep in what appears to be a vulture's nest. He visits Professor Koniglich, a scientist friend of Brian's who believes himself to be a descendant of Real, and correctly surmises that Koniglich had attempted to disintegrate his own body in the grave and reassemble it through nuclear energy; unfortunately, the professor had failed to consider the bird buried there, and a mutation resulted.

Before Eric can warn the Strouds, Brian and his brother Edward are found dead on a cliffside, and Trudy is carried away to the same site by the bird after she is lured to Koniglich's house. At the cliff, Eric finds his wife threatened by the beast with Koniglich's head and screams at her to use the gun he had given her. Trudy shoots the bird and it crashes to its death on the rocks below; Eric then weights it with an anchor, tows it out to sea, and sinks it.[3]

Cast

Production

The script was based on an original story by Huntington which was first known as Manutara. He sold it to producer Jack O. Lamont who managed to get some financing from Paramount provided American names were cast in the leads. The remainder of the £50,000 budget was raised from Britain's Homeric Films and NFFC along with Canada's Ihod Productions.[1]

Reception

TV Guide awarded the film one out of four stars, writing " Ridiculous casting makes this one a laugh riot."[4] On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar called it "ludicrous", criticizing the film's monster, backstory, and what he called a"budget-strapped threadbare look". [5]

gollark: I can agree with that a bit.
gollark: Cool.
gollark: NationStates?
gollark: Admins on what?
gollark: Indeed.

References
  1. John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951-70 Hemlock Books 2013 p 190-193
  2. https://allmovie.com/movie/the-vulture-v53059
  3. "The Vulture (1967)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  4. "The Vulture - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TVGuide.com. TV Guide Staff. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  5. Sindelar, Dave. "The Vulture (1967)". FantasticMovieMusinngs.com. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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