bkoganbing Is there anyone in this world so indispensable that their continued existence is absolutely essential? That's the question that is posed to the viewers in The Colossus Of New York.Ross Martin plays the super achieving son of Otto Kruger in a family of geniuses. In said family Martin is the crown jewel, a world famous scientist who on the day he's awarded the Nobel Prize is killed in a traffic accident. The world mourns but not Otto Kruger who takes the body and does some Frankenstein like experiments.In short he puts Martin's preserved brain in the body of one rather large and powerful robot who can kill with a ray gun blast. The values he developed as a human gradually fade away.Watching The Colossus Of New York I thought back to this truly horrid film They Saved Hitler's Brain where some Nazis have concluded the genius of the Fuehrer must be preserved for eternity. This is a much better film, but the same principle applies. Applied in fact by a father who just will not accept his son's death at the height of his fame and ability to do good works.Not a big budget film, but it does give one a lot to think about. What are human beings without the packaging?

Wizard-8 Although the title of this movie - "The Colossus of New York" - suggests that the Big Apple is terrorized for most of the running time, the title figure only goes on a (brief) rampage in the final few minutes. For just about the rest of the movie, the Colossus stays on a country estate near the city. Though it might have been more fun to show the Colossus on more of a rampage, the movie is still enjoyable. Certainly, there are some unintended chuckles, like the primitive science used to construct the Colossus. But there are actually some genuinely good moments here and there. The scene where the Colossus is first activated is both creepy and intriguing. And there are some pointed questions as to if the scientists are doing the right thing or not. Though the movie is cheap, there is some real atmosphere in part with the piano musical score, which gives this movie a really different feeling than other sci-fi movies of this period. Don't get me wrong - this isn't some intelligent masterpiece. But it manages to catch your attention, and at 70 minutes does not overstay its welcome.

arisdisc Along with a few others, I too, must chime in with my 'thumbs up' opinion of this lost classic. I was fortunate to see nearly ALL of the horror/sci-fi 'Classics' in theaters during the 50's binge..when there was a new double feature nearly every other week.This one, stands quite a bit above all the others. The creep factor is high and it has some truly haunting moments. The piano score just adds to the muted terror. Cheap? Yep. But I think that adds to the atmosphere.Sure, I was a 'kid' when I saw all of these back then, but only a handful of these films were 'great'. 'Colossus' is hands-down one of the best of that era. If you watch it in the proper context, I'm sure you will agree.

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!