War of the Colossal Beast

I first saw the War of the Colossal Beast when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I enjoyed it so much that my father purchased me a 3 minute movie of it that had to be played on a movie projector. Today I own both The Amazing Colossal Man, & War of the Colossal Beast. I liked the sequel better than the first one. The special effects were better I believe. The harsh roars he made always scared me as a little kid. The movie has no real great plot. It did have quite a few errors, but I over looked them, such as Glenn Manning having no relation, then all of a sudden he has a sister. Overall I would recommend watching both movies. I am happy to own both of them, due to the fact that they are rare & not so easy movies to find today.

Plot- an army officer is accidentally exposed to radiation causing him to grow to 6o-foot proportions with a deformed half-face. When the army transports him from Mexico to LA for treatment, he breaks loose causing panic. At same time his sister tries to rescue the giant from the tragedy that has befallen him. So what will happen.

The sci-fi cheapo's definitely a cut above the usual '50's monster flicks. It''s well-crafted (note how well scenes are staffed and directed); also, special effects with the giant are expertly matted onto conventional background giving fairly realistic effect; then there's good nuanced acting, especially Fraser; along with an ending that's not predictable since the giant is somewhat sympathetic. Most of all is the unusual plot where there's a '50's monster not predictably evil, despite the panicked crowds. In a general sense, the flick can be taken as having a deeper layer that puzzles the audience as to what they think their reaction should be to a monster that's not really one. After all, does the giant kill anyone or does the screenplay purposely maintain his basic innocence beneath the grotesque form. Anyway, see what you think.

All in all, I was somewhat surprised by the drive-in flick's unexpected dashes of quality. Meanwhile, Maltin's unreliable Classic Movie Guide only rates the cheapo a 1.5 out of 4. I'd definitely give it a 2.5 or maybe better. So, don't let the teen-age title fool you. It's much better than the usual drive-in fare, along with a number of surprising qualities.

This is the sad case of the Colossal man, Glen Manning, who through no fault of his own was doomed to suffer a horrible fate. In the first movie, he appeared to die as he fell off Hoover Dam. Now, he has resurfaced, with huge facial deformities and damage to his brain. The problem this time is that he doesn't seem to have the ability to communicate with others. His sister goes to bat for him when the military wants nothing more that to destroy him. It's interesting where he fits on the definition of humanness. That's why the sister is working so hard to get him some help, but he doesn't seem to be able to interpret his world. He does show his compassion one more time at the close of this film. The big guy never had a chance.

Colonel Manning, the amazing 60ft colossal man from the same film, falls into the Colorado River at the end of that film from not-so-friendly military firepower. It seems now though that he survives that only to be swept down river into Mexico where he resides in the mountains and yanks trucks off the road for food. OK, the story in this one in not anything grandiose to be sure, but Bert I. Gordon's follow-up is satisfying to a point. This time around Glenn's sister still believes her brother to be alive and flies down to Mexico - soon to be followed by a military officer who didn't believe her in the first place. Well, Manning is discovered in the mountains, tricked into eating bread loaded with something that knocks him out, and then transported to Los Angelos. From there on we basically get what we got in the first film. There are some differences though. Manning is played this time by the same guy that played the giant with the bad face and eye in Gordon's The Cyclops. He has virtually no dialog. This means that it is a lot more difficult to feel for the character as one might have in the first film. This film does show some attention to the bureaucratic way in which our government works. The acting is competent and Gordon's direction fair. His special effects are again nothing so special. We have the one brief moment of color in the climax. We also get a pretty lengthy flashback taken entirely from the first film. This is a decent sequel but not as "good" as its original source material.

War of the Colossal Beast is a sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), and it picks up where that one left off. However, the film features a different cast. It was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the top half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People.

This sequel has competent acting performances, fair direction and ordinary special effects. It is also an obvious attempt at milking dry an already successful formula.

Unlike the first film, the character of Manning virtually has no dialogue which makes it far more difficult to feel empathy for the character.

The special effects are pretty ordinary by any standards with great reliance made on double exposure shots. However, quite a good job was made with Manning's facial make-up and the audio of his character's grunts and groans which effectively contribute to the "horror" aspect of the film.

The film is short enough as it is but unfortunately much of it consists of flashback footage from the first film which merely serves to pad the movie.

Despite the film's title, the Colossal Beast does not really engage in much of a "war" with anyone. For much of the time we see Manning being captured, him lying on his back and some military vehicles being maneuvered into position.

The War of the Colossal Beast does serve to highlight one theme that threads itself through many aspects of life in any era. Namely, how we choose to deal with big and seemingly intractable problems which are often of our own making.