poe-48833 THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK boasts one of the most impressive mind-reading monstrosities ever committed to film: it looks like something that the late, great jack Kirby might have dreamed up. Watching It lumber around the landscape, I almost expected It to take flight and announce that It had decided to take over the World- and the scenes of the Colossus walking underwater were nothing short of spectacular, you ask me. I also liked the idea that the Colossus developed a form of Telepathy/ESP; the Death Ray was just icing on the proverbial cake. If (like myself) you have a fondness for '50s Science Fiction and Horror movies, you'll love THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK.

Hitchcoc This movie has some very intriguing implications. Of course, we have to take the medical advances and the technology as possible. Ross Martin is one of the world's greatest hopes for finding a way to feed the exploding population. On his way to accept what is probably the Nobel Prize (they change the name) he chases a little toy airplane, blown out of his son's hands by the wind, and is run over by a truck. His father, one of the foremost brain experts, working in tandem with his brother, manages to remove his brain and hook it up to machinery and ultimately to a robot that gives it mobility. He is a zealot and harsh, self-centered character, who feels that he gets to make the rules. He has never respected the other son and treats him like a small child. This man is himself an engineering genius who has contributed greatly to his late brother's success with little credit. What the "mad scientist" (which isn't really an accurate term) forgets is that the brain now lies in the head of an unfeeling machine. This leads to depression and thoughts of revenge. There is still a connection to the wife and the little boy, and when the brother begins to try to make his way into the family (with little success), jealousy gets the best of him and he commits fratricide. Instead of seeing himself as the salvation of the world, he begins to see humans as inferiors who need to be eliminated. He develops two abilities. One is the ability to connect with people (to locate them through ESP) and the second is a death ray which allows him to kill innocent people. He becomes overwhelmed with anger at the drop of a hat. His connection to the little boy is a serious factor.

BaronBl00d While not nearly as smitten with it as some folks, The Colossus of New York does maximize a rather small budget and presents an interesting story. The story involves whether men with great minds also have souls as a father and brother of just such a mind resurrect the brain of a lost son/brother through their knowledge of brain surgery and robotics. They place the brain in a hideous monstrous creation with a huge gigantic body and eyes like lasers(in fact shoot something like lasers to kill). Yes, this is heavily reliant on the Frankenstein mythos about playing God and tampering with what makes up human beings - body and soul. The film's story does have glaring weaknesses which the inferior budget magnifies unfortunately. The acting as well is not all that good despite a pretty good cast with Ross Martin in his brief role as the great mind prior to his new home in a basement creation basically. Martin was the best actor in the whole film and is in it barely 10 minutes! His father is played by Otto Kruger who just looks like he is in a daze the whole time and gives a very wooden performance. Playing the brother is John Baragrey who is adequate. Mala Powers as the grief-stricken wife seems to be taking the news of terrible things rather well, and rounding out the important characters is Charles Herbert as the son. He is okay and a bit too cutesy. The music by Van Cleave is more than intrusive(as another reviewer noted). It is downright annoying and makes the film very static in scenes which should have had more umph if you will. There are few action scenes, a lot of talking, and a rather nicely shot climatic scene at the United Nations, but when all is said and done the movie abruptly ends with major characters walking away looking very disinterested and emotionless. I really did like much of the story and there are several scenes which are rather well-conceived(the outdoor meeting with Herbert and giant Dad and the end of the film for the most part standing out). The film has not had a DVD release and is awfully hard to find on video but can be with some perseverance. While the special effects are incredibly limited and the film has a real cheap feeling to it, The Colossus of New York is better than average if for no other reason than its imaginative script.

MARIO GAUCI A still from this film, depicting the titular robot and a little boy, had adorned the cover of that Sci-Fi issue of “The Movie” periodical which I mentioned in my review of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958) – and I’d always been interested in it for this reason (considering that it’s a title which is rarely discussed). Despite being produced by a major Hollywood studio, Paramount, the film is definitely a ‘B’ genre effort – made to cash-in on the sci-fi craze of the Cold War era. The makers clearly relied on such classic prototypes as THE GOLEM (1920), METROPOLIS (1927) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931) for inspiration – but, being somewhat underwritten, the plot doesn’t quite supply the necessary impetus to elicit favorable comparison with them! Mind you, it’s fairly intriguing during the first half (surprisingly written by FATHER BROWN [1954]’s screenwriter Thelma Schnee!) and bolstered throughout by reliable Otto Kruger’s mad scientist characterization. Besides, the design of the robot itself (fitted with the re-activated brain of Kruger’s son, a humanitarian-cum-genius prematurely killed in a road accident) is interesting and actually quite eerie…though bestowed with curiously short arms! However, the latter doesn’t have that much to do since it’s confined for the most part to Kruger’s lab! Eventually breaking free of its creator/father’s control, the robot emerges into the open and befriends his own son (who’s unaware of the machine’s true ‘identity’). Inevitably, the human feelings once inherent in its brain gradually get lost within the metallic ‘armor’ – and the scientist even kills his own elder brother (for attempting to steal his wife’s affection…though she’s also pursued by his former best friend, who’s allowed to get away with it!). Finally, having gone berserk, the robot breaks into the United Nations building (the ‘monster’ during the sci-fi heyday always seemed to vent its fury at some point on such big-city landmarks), where it’s destroyed – or, more precisely, shut off – via a convenient lever lodged in its structure by the boy himself! The film, as I said, doesn’t quite make it into the genre’s top-rank – but, running a terse 70 minutes, emerges nonetheless to be a generally entertaining entry (and not an unintelligent one, either). That said, it’s somewhat cheapened by Van Cleave’s funereal score (which is more akin to the slapdash accompaniment one is prone to find in Public Domain editions of Silent films!). Besides, there are a number of illogicalities in the narrative which tend to stick out like a sore thumb: for instance, the robot is often seen traveling via water – but wouldn’t contact with this element cause a short circuit to begin with?; despite Kruger’s audacious claim that his son’s genius is on the same level of such world-renowned luminaries as Napoleon, Macchiavelli and Michelangelo, the young doctor’s major claim to fame seems to be merely that he had invented a way in which to fabricate food products more quickly!!; the climax is marred by a blatant continuity goof – a girl is seen on the ground in one shot, up on her feet the next and, then, once again on the ground to be pulverized by the robot’s laser beam!; as soon as the creature is gotten rid of, it’s business as usual for the folk at the United Nations – with no thought given to the many who had just lost their lives!; a similar nonchalant reaction is allotted to Kruger, who admits his responsibility for the tragic events – and, yet, isn’t held to account for his irresponsibility!