The Flying Serpent (1946)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a completely craptastic film with absolutely nothing going for it. Yet, oddly it has an overall score of 5.0 on IMDb currently--and I just can't see why. After all, the film is made by PRC--perhaps the worst of the Poverty Row film studios. And, on top of that, it has perhaps the dumbest plot of any of their films--and that's saying a lot!! A maniac (are there any other types in these films playing lead?!) has discovered a creature--a flying serpent who was apparently THE Quetzelcoatl from Aztec mythology. However, unlike THE Quetzelcoatl of the Aztec tales who was able to devour planets, this flying serpent is more like the size of a flying Dalmatian. How a flying reptile the size of a medium-sized dog is scary is anyone's guess. And, while I think about it, having it take off and land like a motorized plane AND seeing the wires suspending it is amazingly dumb--even for a 4th rate production! Being a maniac, George Zucco is intent on using the beast to both kill off his enemies as well as protect the area in which the treasure of Monteczuma is supposedly buried. Eventually, though, a wise-guy radio announcer puts two and two together and is able to turn the tables on Zucco--leading to a silly and happy conclusion--happy because it puts this dopey movie to the test.Overall, even for Zucco completists, this will be a very tough film to take. It has absolutely nothing going for it--a dumb script, bad acting and a rehashed plot that manages to make the worst of "The Bat"--the film which has been reworked into this mess. Its only value is as kitsch--a film so bad that it's good for a laugh.

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.

I remember this movie from when I was a kid, and enjoyed it immensely. George Zucco was superb as ever as the villain, and even though the monster was less then convincing it still creeped me out, because everytime I went outside I'd look up in the sky just in case it wanted to swoop down on me. So if your looking for simple entertainment check out this movie.10 out of 10. Viva el monstro bird!