Giant From The Unknown (1958)

Starring Edward Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Bob Steele, Morris Ankrum, Buddy Baer
Directed by Richard E. Cunha
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After murder strikes a mountain resort community, a geologist falls under suspicion, but while the police investigate, he teams with an archaeologist looking for the remains of an ancient giant.

One of director Richard Cunha's four independent sci-fi/horror features, filmed and released in the late 1950s, I would judge this one as probably the best, although all four are entertaining in their own way.  Frank Hart Taussig and Ralph Brooke's screenplay follows the blueprint for a monster movie, with all the key elements in place, from a legitimately creepy monster to a stalwart hero to his love interest to the clever scientist and an unusual setting leading to the climactic confrontation between Kemmer's hero and Baer's creature.  The veteran actors in Cunha's cast are also a big plus, with Ankrum who had already been a staple in these kinds of pictures for some time, and Steele, coming to the end of a long career after making his name in a long series of westerns.  Perhaps the film's strongest asset is Jack Pierce, the creator behind the makeup of so many of Universal Pictures' classic monsters, who gives Baer's murdering conquistador a fearsome look with weathered skin and decomposing teeth.  With the wise decision to keep Baer's monster mute, and Baer's icy stare and Albert Glasser's menacing score also making important contributions, the filmmakers have succeeded in making an effective horror film on a low budget, and one that's definitely fun to watch.