The Flying Serpent ** (1946, George Zucco, Ralph Lewis, Hope Kramer, Eddie Acuff, Wheaton Chambers, James Metcalf, Henry Hall, Milton Kibbee) – Classic Movie Review 3747

George Zucco stars as demented archaeologist Dr Andrew Forbes in Sam Newfield’s similarly suitably demented 1946 Poverty Row horror movie.

The admirable George Zucco enlivens a Z-grade horror flick as demented archaeologist Dr Andrew Forbes who gets a godly Aztec ancient bird, Quetzalcoatl (Q, the winged serpent), to kill those after his riches in Sam Newfield’s similarly suitably demented 1946 Poverty Row B-movie.

Forbes discovers a living, breathing, flying serpent creature known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl (the killer bird god) and discovers he can knock his wife down with a feather – permanently! He accidentally kills his wife Mary (Hope Kramer) by giving her one of the flying serpent’s feathers, so it tracks her down and slaughters her.

Though cheap and ridiculous, with rotten effects, this rousingly done old chiller is still amusing for all that.

Also in the cast are Ralph Lewis, Eddie Acuff, Wheaton Chambers, James Metcalf, Henry Hall, Budd Buster, Terry Frost and Milton Kibbee.

The original story and screenplay are by John T Neville, though the film is similar to The Devil Bat (1940), one of Producers Releasing Corporation’s (PRC) biggest successes.

Sam Newfield [Samuel Neufeld] is credited as as Sherman Scott. His brother was Sigmund Neufeld, head of PRC, where Sam made so many of his films that he used pseudonyms so audiences wouldn’t notice that only one man directed so much of their output.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3747

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