Welcome back for another installment in our yearlong Review Stew! This week we’re off to the jungles of Mexico in search of a missing test pilot. Keep your eyes open though, we need to make sure we don’t come across… The Cyclops (1957).
Title: The Cyclops
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Released: July 28, 1957 (United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 6 minutes
Available to stream on: HBO
Test pilot Bruce Barton went missing in the jungles of Mexico nearly three years ago. His girlfriend, Susan (Gloria Talbott), is flush with cash and determined to find him. In fact, she’s put together a search party to accompany her to Mexico.
The search party includes scientist Russ Bradford (James Craig), a mining expert by the name of Marty Melville (Lon Chaney Jr.), and pilot Lee Brand (Tom Drake). When they arrive in the Mexican jungles at Bruce’s last known location, they realize that the area is rich with uranium. This has Marty beside himself, knowing that they’re literally standing on a massive payday. However, Lee reminds him that they won’t be paid for it if they can’t get any of it out of here. Besides, they’re here to find Bruce and/or Bruce’s remains.
The uranium deposits, and longterm exposure to them, might explain what the group encounters next.
As they venture deeper into the jungle, they begin to encounter monster-sized animals. A mouse bigger than a grizzly bear appears in a clearing, and a 747-sized eagle swoops down and attacks it. Escaping them leads the group right into the path go giant iguanas and dragons and spiders… oh my!
Unfortunately for the group, they seem to have found everything under the sun in this jungle, except for Bruce.
Can it be that the group miscalculated where to search?
Well, if nothing else, at least The Cyclops (1957) is just over an hour long.
That’s not to say that this was a “bad” film, it’s perfectly fine for what it is. Instead, it is frustrating in that it left you wishing they had done more.
For instance, the plot and characters are both paper thin. When you think there might be a deeper development, like with the pilot or Marty for example, we quickly keep moving and it’s never brought up or mentioned again.
Now, I know, character development isn’t the name of the game in a creature feature. It’s all about the creatures.
About that, it would have been more fitting if this were titled Honey… I Blew Up the Jungle.
We see tons of giant creatures but don’t see our title character until about 45 minutes in to a movie that is only 66 minutes long. I will say that I enjoyed the creature design for the Cyclops. Especially given the budget that this was made with and when it was made. Honestly, my biggest gripe is that we didn’t get more time with the Cyclops.
While you shouldn’t necessarily drop everything to seek this out, you could do a lot worse if you just blindly throw on an old creature feature.
So, have you seen The Cyclops (1957)?
If so, leave a comment below or hit me up on Bluesky and let me hear your thoughts on it!
As always, you can follow me over on Letterboxd to keep up with everything else I’ve been watching.