The Amazing Colossal Man *** (1957, Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, James Seay, Larry Thor, Russ Bender) – Classic Movie Review 2757

Producer/co-writer/director Bert I Gordon’s 1957 sci-fi monster movie about an atomic explosion that starts an American army officer growing terrifyingly into a giant is endearing and quite lively.

Glenn Langan stars as Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Manning, who starts growing alarmingly after exposed to a plutonium bomb blast at Camp Desert Rock, until, at 70 feet, he goes insane and decides to take it out on Las Vegas, where he wreaks havoc. It also stars Cathy Downs as heroine Carol Forrest, William Hudson as Dr Paul Linstrom, James Seay as Colonel Hallock, Larry Thor as Major Eric Coulter MD, Russ Bender as Richard Kingman.

Gordon’s low-budget Fifties horror outing is sometimes daft but it is most very amusing and appealing. Its wobbly effects and equally wobbly performances simply add to its attraction. Langan rises to the occasion of his biggest role. It is an uncredited adaptation of Homer Eon Flint’s 1928 short novel The Nth Man about a man who was 10 miles high.

Charles B Griffith was hired to adapt the novel, and he turned it into a comedy, but then quit and his regular writing partner Mark Hanna stepped in to write the screenplay. Jim Nicholson of American International Pictures had the rights to the novel and thought it could be adapted to cash in on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man, released six months earlier in 1957, and originally announced Roger Corman as director.

Also in the cast are Lyn Osborn, Diana Darrin, Hank Patterson, Jimmy Cross, June Jocelyn, Stanley Lachman, Harry Raybould, Jean Moorhead, Scott Peters, Myron Cook, Michael Harris, Dick Nelson, Edmund Cobb, Paul Hahn, William Hughes, Jack Kosslyn and Keith Heatherington.

American International Pictures released it in a double feature with Cat Girl (1957). Sequel: War of the Colossal Beast (1958) with Duncan Dean Parkin replacing Glenn Langan.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2757

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Glenn Langan (July 8, 1917 – January 26, 1991)