AllMovie

All available information indicates that Manutara was a working title for the infamous horror-rama The Vulture. Broderick Crawford plays Brian Stroud, the scion of an accursed Cornish family. Two hundred years earlier, a Spanish seafarer, buried alive with his pet vulture, placed an onus on the heads of everyone in Stroud's family. Stroud's scientist brother-in-law, Dr. Eric Lutens (Robert Hutton), is worried that the curse will strike again, especially after discovering a huge vulture's nest. Sure enough, Akim Tamiroff, the descendant of the unfortunate sailor, has developed a hideous mutant -- an enormous vulture with the face of a human being. The best scene occurs when Brian Stroud (or Broderick Crawford's stuntman) is carried aloft by a pair of papier-mâché talons. Filmed in color but released in the U.S. in black-and-white, The Vulture was restored to its full-hued splendor (if that is the word) for its ubiquitous late-night TV showings.