csteidler Archaeologist George Zucco has discovered an ancient Aztec treasure along with the mythical bird that guards it. He's mad, quite mad….He keeps the treasure hidden in a cave and visits it secretly.Back in town, his step-daughter has noticed that he's been acting strangely—disappearing for days on end, talking about some great imminent discovery. She shares her concern with an ornithologist friend….who soon thereafter is found savagely murdered, his throat cut and all of the blood drained from his body. What is up? Did the ornithologist's death have anything to do with the mysterious feather that Zucco had dropped at his house? Cut to New York: a radio station is sending (handsome young) mystery writer Dick Thorpe to New Mexico to investigate the strange crime and to broadcast daily reports from the field. As the plot thickens and bodies begin to pile up, Dick's daily remote broadcasts get better and better: "Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a murder at the studio. Professor Louis Havener was struck down by the feathered serpent as he stood at the window examining the feather we had just found....We'll be back on the air again tomorrow morning at the same time." The radio writer and the step-daughter (Ralph Lewis and Hope Kramer – not household names for me, I'm afraid) eventually team up on the investigation; however, while the young couple are ostensibly the protagonists in the story, it is unquestionably Zucco who has the meaty role in the picture.For example, why does he keep the treasure hidden? "Because it's mine. Mine, do you hear? All mine. I'm the richest man in the world!" Oh, the bird is good, too. Special flying effects combined with a dramatic music score actually combine well enough to make the attack scenes just a bit spooky.It's very silly, really not very good…but great fun nevertheless.

MARIO GAUCI This very minor PRC horror film (which the prolific director actually signed under the alias Sherman Scott!) was basically a variation on an earlier popular effort from the same company i.e. the average Bela Lugosi vehicle THE DEVIL BAT (1941), replacing the star with George Zucco and its monster with Quetzalcoatl, the titular Aztec legend (though retaining its blood-draining habits and, hilariously, miniscule size!) that would also be featured in Larry Cohen's much superior Q – THE WINGED SERPENT (1982). Indeed, the bird/reptile hybrid is never shown in detail: it is either conveniently hidden inside the darkness of a cave or otherwise taking to the air to hunt its prey. The latter, then, is another fount of amusement as Zucco has to pluck out one of its feathers and plant it on the person of his next chosen victim (curiously enough, the method is not too dissimilar from that in Jacques Tourneur's marvelous NIGHT OF THE DEMON {1957}) in order to get it to do his bidding and, needless to say, the monster does not take kindly to having its priceless plumage snipped! Anyway, Zucco is the usual wild-eyed Professor with a passion for something or other (in this case, archeology, which has led him to Montezuma's treasure) and a grudge against most anyone (beginning with an ornithologist whose writings about both Quetzalcoatl and the fabled fortune are likely to attract curious/greedy outsiders thus interfering with the villain's plans) The irony is that, with the mysterious murder – which soon multiply, as more and more people 'get on his back' – a radio personality/mystery writer by the name of Richard Thorpe(!) turns up to 'broadcast' the investigations, with even one of the deaths occurring 'on air'! As always, Zucco's female ward (in this case, his stepdaughter – there is, in fact, a whole 'nother puzzle surrounding her mother's death, at the hands of Quetzalcoatl itself, but which is never properly unraveled) falls for the intrepid hero and, in the end, the misguided Professor succumbs to the very creature he had unleashed (albeit unconvincingly since, for no obvious reason other than as a plot contrivance, he flees the scene upon being exposed carrying one of the proverbial feathers in his hand!), which is then dispatched (via nothing more remarkable than normal bullets) by Thorpe. Regrettable comic relief is provided by the radio guy's engineer partner and their flustered Head Of Programs, who keeps moaning about why nobody is more concerned with Montezuma's wealth and calculating how big his own cut will be! Ultimately, while this is certainly nothing to write home about, at least it is not as embarrassingly goofy as the somewhat similar Sam Katzman-produced cheapie THE GIANT CLAW (1957)

MartinHafer 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.

warlorde 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!