The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

"Man Lives Through Plutonium Blast", 25 March 2007

During a plutonium bomb test, Lt. Col. Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) finds himself in the open and absorbs much of the force of the blast. Even though 95% of the skin on his body is burnt away, the bomb doesn't kill him. Doctors work tirelessly to keep him alive. Miraculously and in no time at all, not only is Manning out of danger, his body seems completely healed – no burns and no scars. Surely the plutonium had something to do with Manning's recovery. But what other side effects does Manning face form his plutonium exposure? As Manning begins a slow but steady growth to gargantuan proportions, the side effects become quite obvious.

Bert I. Gordon made a lot of movies that can best be described as trash. I might have a good time with them, but I realize there not very good. That's not the case with The Amazing Colossal Man. I honestly think it's a decent enough movie. I realize that my judgment may be clouded by the fact that this is one of the very first movies I remember seeing. There's no accounting for nostalgia. And, I realize that today some of my enjoyment comes from scenes that fit the "so bad it's good" definition (Manning's trip to Las Vegas and the giant hypodermic needle obviously come to mind), but there are other moments that work for me as intended. For example, I think Manning's descent in to madness is well done. Whatever the reason, I find more good, enjoyable moments in The Amazing Colossal Man than I do bad, dull moments and have no trouble rating the movie a 6/10.

But please, don't take my rating as some sort of recommendation. There are too many problems that even I can see for me to tout The Amazing Colossal Man as a "must see". If you decide to give it chance, don't blame me if you don't immediately move it into your top ten. To begin with, the special effects are weak – not only by today's standards, but by the standards of 1957. The rear projection scenes are quite badly done. In addition, some of the acting is just as bad as the special effects. Other than Langan, no one in the cast comes out looking very good. Finally, the movie is full of padding. The Amazing Colossal Man may only be 80 minutes in length, but a good part of the runtime is taken by Dr. Linstrom (William Hudson) spouting scientific theories at any given opportunity. My favorite is the "single cell" heart theory. And to make the padding even more obvious, he repeats the same scientific mumbo-jumbo on more than one occasion.

6/10