War of the Colossal Beast

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War of the Colossal Beast (a.k.a. Revenge of the Colossal Man and The Colossal Beast) is a 1958 black-and-white science fiction film, written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon for his Carmel Productions, and starring Dean Parkin, Sally Fraser, and Roger Pace.[1] It is the sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the bottom half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People. The film's storyline picks up where The Amazing Colossal Man left off, although it was not marketed as a sequel and features a different cast.[2] The film's brief death-scene finale was filmed in color.

Plot

Upon hearing of several recent robberies of food delivery trucks in Mexico, Joyce Manning, Army Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning's sister, becomes convinced that her brother survived after being exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb (as seen in The Amazing Colossal Man). Along with Army Major Mark Baird and scientist Dr. Carmichael (Russ Bender), Joyce goes to Mexico to look for Glenn and finds that he has, in fact, survived, but was left disfigured and nearly mindless by the trauma of his fall. Glenn is eventually captured, drugged by the Army, and transported back to the United States. He is able to escape again and goes on a rampage through Los Angeles and Hollywood. He nearly kills a school bus full of children. Joyce reasons with him, and he slowly is brought back to his senses. Now realizing what he has become and what he has done, Glenn commits suicide by electrocuting himself on high-voltage power lines near the Griffith Observatory.[3]

Cast

  • Duncan "Dean" Parkin as Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning/Colossal Man
  • Sally Fraser as Joyce Manning
  • Roger Pace as Major Mark Baird
  • Russ Bender as Dr. Carmichael
  • Rico Alaniz as Sgt. Luis Murillo
  • Charles Stewart as Captain Harris
  • George Becwar as John Swanson
  • Roy Gordon as Mayor
  • Robert Hernandez as Miguel
  • George Milan as General Nelson

Production

File:Tri-City Drive-In Ad - 6 August 1958, Loma Linda, CA.jpg
Drive-in advertisement from 1958 for War of the Colossal Beast and co-feature, Attack of the Puppet People.

War of the Colossal Beast was produced, directed, and written by Bert I. Gordon and co-produced with Samuel Z. Arkoff.[4] Although most of it is shot in black-and-white, the ending was shot in color for the electrocution scene and doctored in black-and-white. The producers decided to use the very heavy make-up on Dean Parkin as a way to disguise the fact that a different actor was playing Colonel Glenn Manning then in the previous installment The Amazing Colossal Man, especially since a dream sequence flashing back to the original film featured Glenn Langan, the star of the earlier film. Dean Parkin also played the lead monster role in another Bert I. Gordon film, The Cyclops.[5]

Some of the tiny-sized props created for The Amazing Colossal Man by special effects technician Paul Blaisdell were featured again in this sequel via flashbacks.

Reception and legacy

Contemporary film fan-historians Kim R. Holston and Tom Winchester noted that the film was "... a low-budget ship with Bert Gordon at the helm, so the special effects are unsurprisingly average; one always knows the 'giant' was filmed separately and mixed in with other shots".[6]

Mystery Science Theater 3000

War of the Colossal Beast was featured in season 3, episode 19 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.[7]

See also

References

Notes

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Citations

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ "Notes: 'War of the Colossal Beast'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: March 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Holston and Winchester 1997, p. 31.
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Bibliography

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  • Holston, Kim R. and Tom Winchester. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Sequels, Series and Remakes: An Illustrated Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1997. Template:ISBN.
  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009 (First Edition published in 1982). Template:ISBN.

External links

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Template:Bert I. Gordon

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