War of the Colossal Beast

Plot synopsis:
The film starts with a young Mexican man driving a truck at a breakneck pace. After the truck ends up submerged in water, the young man gets out of the truck, looking at something and screaming his head off.Sometime afterwards in Guavos, Mexico, the owner of the truck named John Swanson goes into the Sheriff's office to report the truck to be missing. The Sheriff then explains to John that they have already located the young man who was driving the truck, but he is in a state of shock, unable to say anything. Going to the scene where the man was found, the Swanson and the Sheriff note that the trucks tracks indicate that something lifted it off the ground, to which the truck owner finds this hard to believe.The news of the Swanson's disappearing truck soon appears on news outlets. One person who watches the program is Joyce Manning. She soon contacts Swanson, as well as the Army, who send US Army Major Baird to her place. Joyce then tells the two of her theory, that Swanson's truck was taken by her brother, Glenn Manning. Previously, exposure to an atomic bomb had caused Glenn to grow over 60 ft tall. He then went on a rampage that ended with him being shot and plunging into the waters beneath the Hoover Dam. Joyce surmises that the waters may have carried him down to Mexico.Joyce soon makes her way down to Guavos, where the young man comes out of his shock, and explains that it was a "big person" that attacked his truck. Major Baird soon comes down when Joyce tells him what the young man saw. The Major is accompanied by Dr Carmichael. Joyce and several other people go out to the site where the young man was found, and find a large footprint. There are more prints leading up into the nearby mountains. Following them, the group finds an area littered with trucks. However, as darkness is setting in, the group returns back to town.Even so, Joyce is upset when at dinner, Major Baird explains that he has contacted the Mexican Government to supply them with artillery and tanks to capture Glen. Joyce feels that if they can find him, maybe they can reason with him to give himself up peacefully. At Joyce's insistence, Major Baird returns with her to the mountains where some of the trucks were. Here, they find Swanson's missing truck, as well as others that have been emptied, leading the two to surmise that Glen may be raiding the trucks for food. As if to answer their question, Glen appears, though grunting like an animal, and looking through another truck. Half his face is exposed skeleton now due to the fall and damage.In order to capture Glen, the group fills a bread truck with drugged bread. Glen catches the truck and then after eating the contents, collapses due to the drugs. Major Baird, Joyce and several others attempt to bring Glen back to the United States, but there is confusion as to what to do with him. The air transport runs low on fuel, and is forced to land in Los Angeles. Against the wishes of the city, Glen is taken to a hanger at the Los Angeles Airport, and tied down with chains. He eventually escapes, causing some bloodshed and general disarray, before he is tranquilized, and then tied down once again, this time with reinforced chains and a patrol on duty to make sure he doesn't escape again.Dr Carmichael and several others note that Glen's mental condition has deteriorated, and attempt to see if he may have any recollection of who he is. However, their tests illicit no vocal response from Glen but grunts and anguished cries. Due to Glen no longer seeming to be fit to live among human society, he is scheduled to be transported to a deserted island, even though Joyce protests this.While Joyce is with Major Baird, a call comes that Glen has escaped and has headed towards the Griffith Park Observatory. Glen is spotted and picks up a bus full of schoolchildren. Joyce appears and manages to get Glen to put the bus down. Pleading with her brother to think and remember, Glen looks at his sister and says her name, ("Joyce!"), before going to a nearby power line, electrocuting himself to death.

Tags: insanity, flashback

Review:
Col. Glenn Manning, having survived the fall from Boulder Dam is disfigured and hopelessly insane,(he somehow manages to hold on to his loin cloth),the U.S. military tries to contain him while his sister (Sally Fraser) tries to communicate with him.
(This was one of the factors that made NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD one of the classic horror movies of its time).For all of its faults, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, as well as its predecessor is fun to watch and I never get tired of playing the videos every now and then.Rating: **** out of *****.
The sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man continues with the further adventures of the unfortunate Colonel Glen Manning now having lost an eye and most of the flesh around the right side of his jaw.
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.
Manning is played this time by the same guy that played the giant with the bad face and eye in Gordon's The Cyclops.
Here we have a guy who survived a fall off of the Hoover Dam after getting a couple of missles in the eyeball in Amazing Colossal Man.So he is running loose in Mexico looking for 3 square meals a day by swiping food trucks off the road.Yes, that is a mighty big diaper he's wearing too.But we sure don't want to go there !!The effects are good for their time.The growls of the monster scared me as a kid (although now I wonder if it is intestinal distress due to his knocking back all of those spicy tacos.
A sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man  has the giant alive and well.
"War of the Colossal Beast," the sequel to the cult-classic "The Amazing Colossal Man," isn't as bad as some critics would have you believe.
The Colossal Beast's first appearance in the film can still shock the unsuspecting viewer, and the end sequence at Griffith Park -- along with the reinserted color pay-off -- make this film a must for any '50s B-movie enthusiast..
Now that digital and satellite cable has arrived, I can look at the Amazing Colossal Beast and laugh at the cheap special effects because I know the tv wont play the Star Spangles Banner and trun to snow.
Even though this movie picks a less subtle approach than its predecessor "The Amazing Collosal Man", this movie still works out as a rather good and enjoyable B-movie.Basically there is even less story than the last time and the movies starts off were the first movie stopped.
Of course the movie gets rather ridicules at times, also with its characters and dialogs but what else could be expected from a movie like this.The first movie still sort of picked a more emotional monster approach, in the same way as for instance was the case with classic monster movies such as "Frankenstein" and "The Wolf Man".
This movie still somewhat has a 'realistic' approach feeling over it but the emotional elements involving the main character are pretty much gone by now because of the reason that the condition of him has influenced his brain, as already was the case at the ending of the first movie, causing him to be more of a growling monster this time.The movie is directed by the same director (Bert I.
Of course it doesn't look like much special by todays standards but back in the '50's this must have really scared some people and must have been amazed by some of the movie its effects.
Even now the movie still remains sort of somewhat scary at times because of the make-up effects and growls of the amazing colossal man, or beast as this movie its title calls him.
And this is the biggest reason NOT to see this film--it simply isn't any fun.Although you would think that the enormous man died at the end of "The Amazing Colossal Man", somehow Colonel Manning somehow ends up in Mexico.
Gordon's sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man. It's cheaply made with excessive footage from the first movie used as flashbacks to pad the runtime.
Gordon was known to milk a successful formula dry, but his efforts perhaps never felt more mercenary than here – for he not only revived the unfortunate protagonist of THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN but, to show his degeneration to an essentially subhuman level, he was given the chief attribute (an annoyingly loud growl) of THE CYCLOPS (both these films emanated from the previous year)!
A sure sign of the quick cash-in status of this one is the fact that the film-makers did not even bother to re-read the original's script, where it is mentioned that Glenn Langan had no surviving relativesbut a sister somehow pops up here!; incidentally, one cannot blame the actor for presumably declining to reprise his by-now unenviable role, but neither were any of the other characters retained (which is odd, to say the least)!
While the lack of heartburn this time around can be explained by the scientists in the first film having succeeded in stalling his growth, he acquires a physical and almost skeletal makeover – which, along with the title (despite its obvious exaggeration, since his acts of aggression basically revolve around pillaging food-trucks for sustenance and, at the climax, threatening to throw a school-bus filled with children at the inquisitive crowds and assorted military figures below!) and a surprising switch to colour for the monster's literally electrifying come-uppance, virtually constitute its sole points of interest..
War Of The Colossal Beast takes up where The Amazing Colossal Man had ended.
So he's going around doing a whole lot of destructive things until he's captured by the military, then he escapes and does a few more destructive things and he's getting to be a real problem.Both the Colossal films were big in the drive-in circuit back in the Fifties.
War Of the Colossal Beast followed a year after The Amazing Colossal Man and was directed by Bert I Gorden or Mr BIG.In Mexico, truck loads of food are going missing and they turn out to be the responsibility of Glann Manning the giant.
He then electrocutes himself to death by touching some high voltage power lines.The end bit is where the movie explodes into full colour.The cast includes Dean Parkin as Manning and 50's sci-fi regulars Sally Fraser (Earth vs.
the Spider) as his sister and Russ Bender,who also appeared in The Amazing Colossel Man but is playing a different role in this one.Thoush not as good as the Colossel Man,I quite enjoyed watching this sequel.Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5..
I really love this kind of sci-fi movie,exploring such weird idea where a man was exposed from nuclear bomb's radiation and became gradually giant,the first movie was so successfully that got this sequel,now the beast arise in Mexico rural area...curiously the final scene when the giant monster died electrified the movie turns black and white in color until the end....here in Brazil came out in double feature with both movies...amazing trash movie from the fifties!!
War of the Colossal Beast (1958) ** (out of 4)AIP waiting no time in getting this sequel to THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN off the ground and into drive-ins.
Joyce Manning (Sally Fraser) believes that her brother didn't die at the end of the previous film and after hearing a strange news story from Mexico she heads down there.
Sure enough the giant Glenn Manning (Duncan 'Dean' Parkin) is living in the desert and soon the military tries to capture him to see if they can help.WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST is slightly better than the original, although it shares most of the same weaknesses as that film.
Still, there's no question that it's the look of the monster that makes WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST so much fun and slightly better than the original..
Meh. Glenn Manning, the Amazing Colossal Man, believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry.So we have a sequel to the "Amazing Colossal Man" with a title that makes it sounds like it is gonna be an action-packed slugfest, you know, like Godzilla films or something.
First, I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen "The Amazing Colossal Man", although I basically know what the plot is.
Of course, you gotta feel sorry for the big guy, seeing what he goes through.As can be expected, there's a major plot hole (how does a giant walk through LA without getting seen?), but we should just sit back and enjoy the complete silliness of the movie.
War of the Colossal Beast actually has a pretty emotional core, and the film's final moments are quite touching.
I have seen snippets of the original film, The Amazing Colossal Man, and I have known of this film.
The problem with the film is that this colossal beast does not really get to terrorize much at all in this one and there is not much of a war going on as about the only action the military does is drive vehicles into position.
Just scenes of speculation and then the colossal beast appears and gets captured and spends most of the film on his back.
Glenn Manning(the colossal man) amazingly still alive, having somehow survived his fall from the Hoover dam, though he is now disfigured and insane, and discovered in Mexico, where the army goes to capture him, then brings him back to America for study.
Add to the fact that this film really has not plot, just a bunch of scenes of The Colossal man roaming around.
While THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN is not a good film, at least it isn't dull dreary and uneventful as WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST is.
Good ole Bert I Gordon helms this huge slice of Velveeta, a straight- faced sequel to his "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" clone, The Amazing Colossal Man. Colonel Manning didn't die as thought, roaming the countryside of Guavos, Mexico, lifting food trucks off roads, his face and brain damaged.
Requiring some anger management, the Amazing Colossal Man has survived the encounter at the Hoover Dam, and much to the army's dismay, ends up very much alive, even angrier than ever.
At 60 feet tall (10 feet taller than the angry female giant played by Allison Hayes the very same year), he leaves behind some huge footprints, and this is very disconcerting for the locales.Knowing that the teenagers who frequent the drive-ins during the late 1950's weren't really looking to the plot of a movie, but for infrequent breaks to get some oxygen back in their lungs after their own private activities, American International tossed these films out like beads at Mardis Gras.
I'm surprised the army trying to find a way to trap him didn't shake their head when one person in authority told them, "We don't have facilities for a giant here!" And that is after they get the run-around from pretty every government agency, telling them to look for assistance elsewhere.I'll give AIP one credit here, however; The make-up for the Colossal beast reminded me of Vincent Price in the "Dr. Philbes" movies they made well over a decade later.
War of the Colossal Beat continues the story of Col. Glenn Manning that began in The Amazing Colossal Man. I'm not really sure why Mr. B.I.G. felt the need to do a sequel (Who am I kidding?
Add a few plot details concerning Manning terrorizing the Mexican countryside and you've got War of the Colossal Beast.
********************SPOILER ALERT*********************After falling to his supposed death from Boulder Dam at the end of AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, Glen Manning manages to survive, minus half of his face and whatever sanity he had left.
At one point, a spark of his memory returns, and once he realizes what he has become, he electrocutes himself on the high tension wires surrounding the Griffith Park Observatory.WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, like it's predecessor is a grade-B cheapie that still stands the test of time.
Those of you unfamiliar with the first movie just have to know the Col. Glenn Manning was turned into the Colossal Man via that 50's favorite, radioactivity, and was shot off Boulder Dam and presumed deceased at the conclusion of that picture.
War of the Colossal Beast starts in Los Angeles as Joyce Mannning (Sally Fraser) hears about a strange incident in Mexico in which a man's truck mysterious disappears without leaving any tracks.
The sister of 60 foot giant Col. Glenn Manning (Dean Parkin) who was apparently shot dead by the US military but whose body was never found Joyce suspects that her brother might be responsible for the vanishing truck & travels to Mexico to investigate, Major Mark Baird (Roger Pace) joins her & together they discover Glenn hiding in a mountain range & stealing trucks for food supplies.
Gordon this direct sequel to his earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) was made only a couple of years later & having seen the original as recently as a couple of days ago I have to say while neither are exactly masterpieces I actually thought The War of the Colossal Beast was the slightly better film although most claim the opposite.
The script is fairly basic, there's not a lot to the film & it's just a case of Manning being captured by the military, escaping, being captured again & escaping again although how he can just disappear is a mystery to me as a 60 foot tall giant isn't exactly inconspicuous is he?
The acting isn't great but it's not terrible, the original Colossal Man has been replaced with Dean Pickering who only gets to say one word throughout the entire film & has some fairly effective disfigured face make-up although his constant loud moaning type noises that makes irritated me.The War of the Colossal Beast is a pretty good late 50's sci-fi monster film, it's fairly basic & not that much happens but at only 70 odd minutes it's fun while it last's.
Gordon's "War of the Colossal Beast" is a sequel to his 1957 opus "The Amazing Colossal Man." The original depicted the tragic circumstances surrounding the exposure of U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Glen Manning to plutonium radiation from a bomb blast.
He stomps off for Las Vegas and winds up atop Hoover Dam where he falls apparently to his death."War of the Colossal Beast" picks up after Manning disappeared from his fall at Hoover Dam. Miraculously, although his body was never found, the eponymous monster survived the plunge and is alive and well in Mexico when the sequel starts!
What is interesting about "War of the Colossal Beast" is its finale when the monster seizes the high power lines.
**SPOILERS** After being hit by a number of bazooka shells and falling some 700 feet from the top of the Hoover Dam 60 foot Glenn Manning, Duncan Parkin, somehow survived and ended up, flowing downstream, in Mexico.
It's Manning's sister Joyce, Sally Fraser, who by watching a news report on the incident suspected that her "Big" brother had survived in his battle with the US Army as was now determined to find him.
With him destined to go through life wearing a giant makeshift diaper, since there's no clothes that can possible fit him, Manning put an end to it all by electrocuting himself, by grabbing a live 50 foot power line, and did it in living color!The most unusual thing about the movie "War of the Colossal Beast" is that its star Duncan Parkin as Glenn Manning was overshadowed by actor Glenn Langan who played Glenn Manning in the previous movie that the film was based on "The Amazing Colossal Man"!
This sequel to "The Amazing Colossal Man" has its flaws but is a more than acceptable follow-up to the earlier film and in some ways is even better.Other have pointed out the inconsistencies in story and logic from the first film to this one.
You don't really need to have seen "Amazing Colossal Man" to follow this flick.Like other 50's monster movies such as "Them!" and "The Black Scorpion", this begins with a lot of suspense, as a terrified young Mexican boy flees in terror from something we cannot see.
The sister of Colonel Glenn Manning, the Amazing Colossal Man, believes that the recent disappearance of grocery trucks in the Mexican countryside might mean her mutated "big brother" survived his previous fall from Hoover Dam. We get to see George Becwar playing the ultimate ugly American who owned the missing trucks and who constantly repeats "Get the Picture?" to everybody.Joyce Manning's hunch is right: Glenn Manning is still alive but in even worse shape than the first film.
Sally Fraser is cute as Joyce and Dean Parkin makes for an effective monster as the Colossal Man, complete with some beast-like growls and grumbles.
Stock footage from the first movie is obviously used to pad the running time, but brings those who missed the first movie up to speed on Manning's back story.I think the effects here are much better than in the first film.
We're told he's 60 feet tall, but when he first appears, he looks almost 600 FEET tall!The obvious humanity of Glenn Manning, even in beast-like mode, gives him a lot more pathos than the giant bugs and dinosaurs running amok around the same time.
"War of the Colossal Beast" is a sequel to "The Amazing Colossal Man".
Manning's sister Joyce alerts the military that he brother is indeed alive and loose in Mexico.
For some unknown reason, Glenn Langan did not appear in the second movie so American International hired a look alike actor(Parkin) to portray the giant man.