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Dedications
Dedicated in loving memory of my wonderful parents:-
Konstantinos (Dino) Christopoulos who took me to see my very first science fiction film in the early 1960s, The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Rosemary Christopoulos who sat with me after school as I watched on TV episodes the first two doctors of the Doctor Who series and insisted on asking me interminable questions about who was who and what was going on! Thanks mum and dad!
The SCI-FI FILM FIESTA eBook series is intended as a salute to the pioneering work of science fiction film makers. May future generations have the privilege of enjoying your work and never stop wondering....What if?
Dedicated also to you, the reader who appreciates these classic gems from the golden age of sci-fi film-making. It is you who help to keep such films alive for future generations to enjoy.
Other eBooks in the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta series:
Volume 1: “Here Be Monsters”
Volume 2: “Into Space”
Volume 3: “Other Worlds”
Volume 4: “Journeys Within”
Volume 5: “Alien Contact”
Volume 6: “Alien Invasion”
Volume 7: “The End Is Nigh!”
Volume 8: “Big Bugs & Crazy Critters”
Volume 9: “Accidents & Experiments”
CONTENTS
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Attack Of The Puppet People (1958)
War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
SCI-FI FILM FIESTA
Volume 10:
“Supersized & Miniaturized”
©Chris Christopoulos 2023
Introduction
Although this 10th volume in the Sc-Fi Film Fiesta eBook series features only a handful of films from the 1950s, they have all managed to achieve a kind of iconic status and a level of cultural significance.
Collectively, the five featured films serve as a metaphor for much of the human condition and are therefore of relevance to audiences of any era. For instance, in the Amazing Colossal Man, we cannot help but feel sympathy for the outcast who has become a menace to society through no fault of his own. It is the way in which the wider society views and treats him based on fear and what sets him apart from the norm that is of real importance.
In the case of a film like The Incredible Shrinking Man, many a person in our post-industrial world may like the character Scott, find themselves feeling overwhelmed by fate and circumstances which seem to be beyond their control. The individual may well feel small, powerless and insignificant in the face of overwhelming world events and geo-political forces; the pace and extent of technological change; algorithmic dictatorship of our lives; the buffeting delivered by economic instability; the demolishing of long-held certainties; real and manufactured threats to security; invasion of privacy and erosion of personal freedoms.
How then does one deal with this sense of a lack of personal control and of being manipulated by forces that are too overwhelming and powerful? Do we continue to play the role of mindless marionette puppets or simply resign ourselves to disappearing unnoticed into insignificance? Perhaps we might settle for unproductively wallowing in self-loathing and self-pity or destructively misdirecting our anger, blame and frustration toward the rest of humanity and even those closest to us? Or, do we instead act to gain control over our individual and collective destinies by severing the strings by which our political, corporate, media and powerful vested interest group puppet masters control and manipulate us?
As you consider the following films, don’t waste time and energy obsessing over low-budgets and primitive special effects or indulge in endless observations about Cold War references and influences. Sure, there was a buck to be made at the drive-in and a new angle to exploit in order to get more bums on cinema seats, but the five films on offer here do in fact have quite a lot to say to us about us and do so in some very interesting ways. Now….enjoy!
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
An entertaining sci-fi movie despite the low budget and ordinary special effects
“The Amazing Colossal Man,” an adaptation of the 1928 Homer Eon Flint short novel, “The Nth Man,” is a 1957 science fiction film, directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Glenn Langan. The film involves a man who grows to over 60 feet tall due to an atomic explosion.
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Written by Mark Hanna (screenplay); Bert I. Gordon (screenplay) & George Worthing Yates
Produced by Bert I. Gordon (producer); Samuel Z. Arkoff (executive producer); James H. Nicholson (executive producer)
Music by Albert Glasser
Cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc
Film Editing by Ronald Sinclair
Released by American International Pictures
Cast
Glenn Langan: Lt. Col. Glenn Manning
Cathy Downs: Carol Forrest
William Hudson: Dr. Paul Linstrom
Larry Thor: Maj. Eric Coulter, MD
James Seay: Col. Hallock
Frank Jenks: Truck Driver
Russ Bender: Richard Kingman
Hank Patterson: Henry
Jimmy Cross: Sergeant at reception desk
June Jocelyn: Nurse Wilson
Stanley Lachman: Lt. Cline
Harry Raybould: MP at Main Gate
Jean Moorhead: Woman in Bathtub
Scott Peters: Sgt. Lee Carter
Myron Cook: Capt. Thomas
Michael Harris: Police Lt. Keller
Bill Cassady: Lt. Peterson
Dick Nelson: Sgt. Hansen
Edmund Cobb: Dr. McDermott
Paul Hahn: Attendant
Diana Darrin : Hospital Receptionist
Lyn Osborn Sgt. Taylor
Jack Kosslyn: Lieutenant in briefing room
William Hughes: Bombsite Control Officer
Keith Hetherington: Newscaster
John Daheim: Soldier
Judd Holdren: Robert Allen
Harold Miller: Official
“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL! ……. PLUTONIUM EXPLOSION WILL TAKE PLACE AT TIME ZERO!”
Time: 2.45 am
Place: Desert Rock Nevada
Event: Test of a new plutonium bomb
Purpose: Soldiers to experience an explosion “under simulated combat conditions.”
(Spoilers follow below......)
When the “chain reaction cycle did not complete as expected” Lt. Col. Glenn Manning is ordered to keep his men secure in the protective trench, as the bomb will still explode but its timing is unknown.
Suddenly a “light civilian plane” is spotted flying over the “restricted area” and it “appears to be in trouble.” With its spluttering engine in its final death throes, the little plane crash-lands near the bomb test site.
Despite the fact that the “bomb could go off at any second,” Glenn’s main concern is that “there’s a man in that plane.” Contrary to orders, Glenn leaps from the trench in a desperate bid to rescue the pilot. Once he enters the detonation area, the bomb goes off, and Glenn is caught in an atomic blast that bathes him in deadly radiation.
How ironic that an act of bravery is performed to save a life only to be seared and extinguished by an evil cataclysmic act of destruction!
“Things like this just happen. There doesn’t have to be a reason.”
Barely clinging on to life with “third degree burns over almost 100% of his body,” Glenn Manning is treated by specialist, Dr. Paul Linstrom and military scientist, Dr. Eric Coulter at the base hospital. Glenn's fiancée, Carol Forrest waits anxiously while for the medical personnel behind the scenes, all indications seem to point to the likelihood that Glenn will not survive”:
“What kind of chance do you give a man who hasn’t a square inch of skin left on his body” and who “by all the rules…should be dead?”
God’s will?
Will of the gods?
Fate?
Predestination?
Chance?
Coincidence?
Karma?
God knows!
The next morning, a nurse discovers something unusual concerning Glenn’s condition. When Linstrom and Coulter are called in to see, they are gob-smacked when confronted by the sight of Glenn's miraculously healed burns.
Questions arise:
How did Manning manage to survive the explosion?
How to explain the presence of new skin and the absence of scarring?
Speculation:
“Plutonium may have some unknown quality that was responsible.”
Application:
Perhaps the process Manning went through could hold the key to some kind of “regenerative healing capacity.”
Certainty:
“Something out there is beyond the limits of our knowledge.”
Conclusion:
Not enough data to be sure of anything.
Consequences:
Yet to be determined.
**********
Would-Be Gods
By science the secret power of the gods is released
And wielded by mere mortals with madness unleashed;
While some look up in hope for future promise yet unknown,
A deep despair descends with what they’re yet to be shown.
**********
The oafish fist of officialdom crashes down upon Carol Forrest when minion security officer Lt. Cline informs her that she is prohibited from seeing Glenn again - for what else? “Security reasons!” And of course there is the good old Nuremburg-style defence: “I’m only carrying out orders.” Two statements that have done the most to rob great swathes of humanity of life and liberty throughout history!
Undeterred, Carol ventures to the hospital where instead of finding her husband, she discovers an empty room. Upon inquiring as to the whereabouts of her husband, Carol is told, “Sorry miss, I’ve never heard of a colonel Manning.”
At the reception desk Carol is met with yet another obstacle when she is informed that “there’s no Colonel Manning listed here.” Only by taking a peek at the register of names does she learn that her fiancé has been moved to another facility: the army “Nevada Rehabilitation and Research Centre” in Summit, Nevada.
“Washington gave strictest orders to keep the affair quiet.”
The thickly layered cake of lies receives another tier of deception when Forrest drives out to the research centre and is met at the gate by a military guard who informs her that there haven’t been any patients there “since the war ended.” Carol is eventually admitted entry, and is soon informed by the desk sergeant that there is “no colonel Manning registered here.”
Wisely trusting no-one, least of all official denials, Carol ventures further into the facility and overhears Linstrom and Coulter discussing Glenn's condition. She learns that he has been breathing rapidly and has been “unconscious since the accident.” Carol then lets herself into Glenn's darkened room and faints in horror when confronted by the sight of a giant recumbent version of her fiancé.
HEIGHT: 18 FEET
Linstrom informs Carol that Manning’s condition may be the result of his being exposed to the plutonium blast which has caused his old cells to stop dying and his new cells to continue to multiply at an accelerated rate while replacing the damaged cells. With the process being out of balance and the “old cells refusing to die,” Manning will “continue to grow until he dies” at a rate of 8 feet per day!
Perchance to dream
In one of the most poignant scenes of the film, we enter into Glenn’s dreams as he sleeps. We see him with Carol having a picnic at a time when the Korean War has just begun. Carol says to Glenn “there’s no reason for you to volunteer.” Try telling that to a man who feels that he knows his duty and is not afraid to stick his neck out and plunge himself into the very maw of danger when the situation demands it of him.
The dream moves on to a battle during the war when a then Lieutenant Manning survived enemy fire whereas two of his comrades were killed. It was as if they were sacrificing their own lives so that he may live! Imagine the guilt and self-blame festering within Manning as his subconscious tries to resolve the unanswerable question of why he should survive while his fellow soldiers should die?
Had events and circumstances somehow conspired to lead Manning toward the very predicament he now finds himself in?
HEIGHT: 22 FEET
Glenn awakens after dreaming about the night he was injured in the plutonium blast. The realisation of what has happened to him gradually grows as he begins to discover the doll-house dimensions of the world he now inhabits. Shock and terror then find expression in a primal scream.
Even the comforting support of a good woman like Carol cannot break through the cumulus clouds of Manning’s despondency and cynicism. In response to Carol’s optimistic belief that “they’ll be able to help you,” all Manning can ask is; “What sin could a man commit in a single life-time to bring this on himself?”
So philosophers, priests, therapists and counsellors, what say you all?
God’s will?
Will of the gods?
Fate?
Predestination?
Chance?
Coincidence?
Karma?
God knows!
HEIGHT: 30 FEET
What is even harder to find an answer to is the truth! The government and the military have kept the truth of Manning’s condition from the media and the public.
One way of doing so is to make the truth itself appear to be so unbelievable and outlandish that it is easily discounted and not given any credence. Take for instance the 25 sides of beef that was delivered to the Research Center. When the driver asks what it is for, the guard tells him, “It’s for him. The giant. The 30 foot one we’ve got living here.”
NEWS BULLETIN
(excerpt)
H. WELLS presenter
What happened to Colonel Manning? “To all accounts he should have died. What’s all the mystery for, Washington?”
**********
WEIGHT: 2987 POUNDS
As if to emphasise Manning’s predicament, Linstrom orders him moved to a tent as he has outgrown his room. It is as if he has now become some kind of a circus freak sideshow performer or exhibit.
Linstrom later makes an almost callous-sounding but also rather idiotic comment that Manning “should be confined!” How can one confine something that is continually growing?
His rather insensitive nature reveals itself when he keeps insisting that Carol shouldn’t remain close to her fiance. How could anyone expect a good woman like her to agree? She points out to Linstrom that Glenn is “all alone except for me.”
She understands that there is nothing in the world that is more difficult for a single individual than to bear the burden of a personal tragedy in total isolation without the support of friends and family.
Linstrom also reveals to Carol that Glenn's heart is growing at only half the rate of his body and soon will be unable to support his enormous size with the result that he will die in a matter of days: “All parts are enlarging at the same ratio, except the heart.” According to Linstrom, Glenn’s mind will go first and then “his heart will literally explode.”
All Carol can do is ask that age-old unanswerable question: WHY? WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN?
Linstrom can only reply with, “I wish I knew.”
God’s will?
Will of the gods?
Fate?
Predestination?
Chance?
Coincidence?
Karma?
God knows!
When a sergeant brings Manning his dinner in the tent which is now his home, Manning’s mental and physical deterioration is now quite evident. Looking at the miniature newspaper headline, he asks, “They call this living?” before succumbing to a fit of coughing that suggests that all is not well with him.
The petrified and hapless sergeant desperately wants to be anywhere else but in the presence of this giant but he finds himself nailed to the spot by his orders and the force of that overpowering physical presence. Manning’s comments are directed at both the sergeant and the rest of humanity:
“Why don’t you ask me how it feels to be so big? .... That’s right sergeant, I am a circus freak...I think you’re the freak! … I’m not growing– you’re shrinking!”
Manning then succumbs to a paroxysm of coughing and clutches his chest in pain.
Later while talking with Carol, Glenn reveals just how bitter and angry he has become. He sees himself as being a monster and declares that the beating of his heart “keeps getting louder and louder.” Glenn goes on to recall his yearbook entry in which it was stated with almost cruel irony that he was considered to be “a man most likely to reach the top.” Before storming off, Glenn loudly shouts out an appeal to all creation:
“I DON’T WANT TO GROW ANYMORE!”
In a world we have made for ourselves all of us have from time to time wished we could just yell out for things to stop – to stop moving so fast; to stop becoming so complicated; to stop changing so much; to stop growing bigger and bigger beyond our individual power to control.
Even Carol’s optimism and support is not strong enough to sustain Glenn. Back in his tent when Carol informs him that she is hopeful concerning the experiments that have been performed on animals, all Glenn can think of doing is wish for death to release him “from this curse.” According to him, he is just “a lost cause.” Even Carol’s appeal to him that she could never leave him “at a time like this” is met with an angry retort:
"GET OUT! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
An individual suddenly has a problem foisted on him; a problem of such magnitude that it becomes too much for one person to deal with. Self-blame, frustration, anger, depression and despondency are all that seem to be left to deal with things. All thoughts are turned inward and become warped while pessimism and negativity are magnified and in fact almost define that individual’s entire universe as the individual becomes further alienated from everything and everyone else around them….
The following morning Coulter reports to Linstrom that he may have found a solution to Manning’s growth: “…I’ve got the answer! … The answer is in the bone marrow!” In order to correct the body’s regenerative balance, they will need to “inject sulphur-hydro compounds into the bone marrow” together with high frequency stimulation of the pituitary gland to reduce Manning’s size. Hey, it’s scientific-sounding crap that sounds good, OK?
Height: 50 – 55 Feet
“Sooner or later someone’s bound to see him”
In the meantime, a bigger problem has arisen with the disappearance of Glenn Manning. A 10-mile-wide search for Manning is soon organised involving helicopters, “Charlie Dog” & “William X-Ray” circling Boulder Dam and Las Vegas. The search fails to find any trace of the by now over 50-foot-tall giant Glenn.
Glenn has now been missing for 15 hours and there is mounting concern that his condition may be affecting his mind. A special syringe filled with a serum from Glenn's bone marrow has been created. It is hoped that it will stop his growth.
"Do you consider Manning dangerous?"
While considering the danger that Manning may pose, Carol states her belief that, “It’s not a wild beast you’re talking about. He’s a human being!” By contrast, Linstrom believes that Glenn should have been confined with chains and a fence. He tries once again to insist that Carol leaves: “Can’t you see the futility of the situation?” Carol tells Linstrom point blank, “I’m not leaving until I know.”
HEIGHT: 60 FEET
WEIGHT: 18.000 POUNDS
NEWS BULLETIN
(excerpt)
H. WELLS presenter
“Flying saucers of earth have a competitor….Two motorists almost collided with a 60 foot giant! ...” What have you got to top that one?”
**********
Not finding the giant and working out “what to do with him after he’s found” are problems that have to be dealt with. It isn’t surprising that recourse to a military option is soon settled on. The next morning Colonel Hallock armed with a pointer and a map outlines the operation to locate Manning with the customary “here, here and here” references. The assumption is that “the giant is potentially dangerous” and once he is located the troops are to “stay away from him.”
Lindstrom, Carol and Coulter are in one of the helicopters searching for Manning. They have on board an outlandishly large syringe with which to inject the serum into Manning.
Manning is eventually spotted just outside of Las Vegas. He casually proceeds to wander along the Strip stopping off the Dunes Hotel; the Riviera; the Imperial Palace; the Silver Slipper (where he rips off a giant rotating high heel shoe marquee) and the Tropicana (where the police against orders open fire on him with their rifles.) Here Glenn retaliates by pulling up a palm tree and hurling it at the crowd.
Next stop is at the Sands where he picks up a convertible car and throws it, just before he smashes the sign. Lastly, Glenn breaks up the Pioneer Club Vegas Vic cowboy sign and throws pieces of it at the police.
Manning then leaves Vegas and makes his way towards Boulder Dam. Lindstrom’s helicopter manages to land close to Manning and they prepare to give Manning his injection. By this stage it is apparent that his mind has gone.
Linstrom and Coulter grab hold of the syringe and drive the needle into Manning's ankle. Manning pulls out the syringe, and spears Major Coulter through the body with it.
Manning then reaches down and picks up Carol and walks to Boulder Dam. Lindstrom pleads over his megaphone with Manning to put Carol down. As soon as he does so, he is struck with a barrage of gunfire followed by a bazooka blast. Manning falls off the top of the dam into the Colorado River to what seems to be his death.
Points of Interest
“The Amazing Colossal Man” unfortunately contains quite poorly-crafted and unconvincing special effects even for the time at which it was made. The giant Manning character was just projected onto other film and superimposed with the result that he often looks transparent. On the other hand, the effect of the giant hypodermic needle impaling the major looked quite realistic, brutal and hilarious at the same time!
Another disappointing feature of the film was its very abrupt ending which may have been a result of its low budget or a deficit of ideas?
The strength of the film is centred around Colonel Glenn Manning's dilemma, the irony of which is never lost on him or the audience. His situation is almost a metaphor for much of the human condition when faced with the kinds of suffering that life has to throw at us.
The most powerful scene in “The Amazing Colossal Man” is the one in which the colonel wakes up from his coma for the first time after the plutonium bomb explosion accident. Alone in a dark room in the early hours of the morning, he gradually comes to realise that something is terribly wrong. As the scene fades to black, Manning wails uncontrollably into the darkness of the hell into which he has descended. His reaction is sudden, convincing and emotionally affecting. We cannot help but feel sympathy for this outcast who has now become a menace to society.
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
A thoughtful, philosophical, intelligent and sensitive sci-Fi film
Directed by Jack Arnold
Produced by Albert Zugsmith
Written by Richard Matheson
Screenplay by Richard Matheson, Richard Alan Simmons
Based on The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
Music by Irving Getz, Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Edited by Albrecht Joseph
Distributed by Universal-International
Running time: 81 minutes
Budget: $750,000
Box office: $(US)1.43 million
Cast
Grant Williams as Scott Carey
Randy Stuart as Louise Carey
April Kent as Clarice
Paul Langton as Charlie Carey
Raymond Bailey as Doctor Thomas Silver
William Schallert as Doctor Arthur Bramson
Frank J. Scannell as Barker
Helene Marshall as Nurse
Diana Darrin as Nurse
Billy Curtis as Midget
Orangey as Butch the cat
“The Incredible Shrinking Man” is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film from Universal-International and was adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson from his novel, The Shrinking Man (1956)
This film together with “20 Million Miles to Earth,” “Kronos” and “The Monolith Monsters,” all from the same year, left an indelible impression on me for almost six decades.
{Spoilers Follow……}
"The strange, almost unbelievable story of Robert Scott Carey…”
The film opens with title and credits in white font over a black background, which then dissolve to a swirling fog. We are then presented with a shot of a shore and waves lapping and rolling on to a beach, followed by a shot of a boat bobbing serenely on the ocean “on a very ordinary summer day.”
The story begins with Scott Carey, a businessman on vacation with his wife of six years, Louise resting on the bow of his brother Charlie’s boat off the California coast.
When Louise goes below deck to get Scott a beer, a strange cloud looms towards the boat and engulfs it. After it passes on, Scott discovers that his bare skin is coated with a peculiar glittering reflective substance.
"People just don't get shorter"
**********
Out Of The Blue
Life-changing events strike out of the blue
Lending old minds new insight
Into certainties long held true,
Of self, of life, of wrong and right,
And why we do what we do.
**********
One morning six months later, a normally 6 foot 1 inch, 190 pound Scott notices that his shirt and trousers seem to be too big. He puts the cause of the looseness of his clothes down to the laundry service, his losing weight and his wife’s cooking.
As the problem persists, Scott visits his family physician, Dr. Arthur Bramson and is informed that his height now measures five-feet and eleven inches. Scott tells the doctor, "I've been six foot, one-inch since I was seventeen." The doctor suggests that his weight loss may be the result of overwork and stress.
A week later Scott notices his bathrobe doesn't appear to fit him properly. Not only does his robe seem as Shakespeare’s Angus might say, to “hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe / Upon a dwarfish thief,” but also when he and Louise kiss, she no longer needs to stand on tiptoe to kiss him.
Scott definitely appears to be getting shorter. However, unlike Macbeth, he is not a thief in possession of what he is not entitled to, but is instead the one who is being systematically robbed of what is rightfully his. We can, therefore, feel sympathy for him.
**********
Bad Fit
My fearful face frowns with worry
From the mirror that reflects my failure
To neatly fill a destiny meant for me,
Bound tightly by form and structure.
*********
Finally, there is proof that Scott is getting smaller when he returns to see Dr. Bramson who has a series of X-rays taken at different times. By comparing these X-Rays, he is able to show that Scott is indeed getting smaller.
In order to uncover the reason behind Scott’s diminishing stature, Dr Bramson refers Scott to the California Medical Research Institute. After more tests are conducted, Dr. Thomas Silver tells Scott that he is losing vital chemical elements of Nitrogen, Calcium and Phosphorus.
The doctor discovers something that doesn't belong which he describes as an anti-cancer. The doctor then asks Scott about possible exposure to insecticide. Scott tells him that two months before he had passed a truck on the highway that was spraying trees. Dr Silver then asks him about radioactive exposure. Just as Scott says no, Louise recalls the incident involving the cloud of mist on the boat six months earlier. It is just possible that the two types of exposure had combined to cause Scott’s cells to shrink by rearranging his molecular structure.
The implications of Scott’s condition for his and Louise’ marriage is briefly but poignantly highlighted by Scott's wedding ring falling off his ring finger, just before they drive off.
As Scott continues to shrink, his story makes it into the newspapers and is now of nation-wide interest. The consequences for Scott are dire: he is unable to drive and has to give up his job working for his brother, Charlie who informs Scott that the loss of a major account means that there are no more pay-checks.
Now reduced to being in debt and unemployed, Scott accepts his brother’s advice to sell his story to the newspapers. He also begins keeping a journal of his experiences which he intends to publish.
As news of Scott’s condition spreads, his house and privacy is besieged by reporters and curious spectators. Louise contacts the telephone company to request an unlisted phone number but they will have to wait for an unlisted line.
Louise soon becomes the recipient of Scott’s misdirected anger as he lashes out at her and the strain is beginning to tell on their marriage. Despite the emotional impact on Louise, she does attempt to reassure her husband that the doctors are working on an anti-toxin.
“The anti-toxin, they found it."
Now at 36½ inches in height and weighing in at 52 pounds, Scott is informed that an antidote has been found for his condition. At the Institute, Dr. Silver injects Scott but it turns out that there are no guarantees as to the treatment’s success. In fact, there is only a 50/50 chance and that Scott will never return to his former size unless a cure is found. Scott must now stay at the Institute for a week.
The next week it is found that Scott is the same height and weight as the previous week. It seems that the shrinking process has halted. However, re-growing back to Scott’s normal size may not be possible. Scott may therefore have to accept the situation.
With his entire world seeming to fall about him, his marriage deteriorating and his sense of self-worth diminishing, Scott flees from the house for the first time since he sold his story:
“I felt puny and absurd, a ludicrous midget. Easy enough to talk of soul and spirit and existential worth, but not when you're three feet tall. I loathed myself, our home, the caricature my life with Lou had become. I had to get out. I had to get away.”
*********
Little Man
Hey, little man! How come you’re so small
When yesterday you were 10 feet tall?
Did life just get bigger
Or did you get smaller?
They gave your job to some other jerk
When you didn’t measure up at work.
So now you wallow at home in pity and debt
Only able to fuss and fret
About what you’ll lose along the way
And still you’ll continue to pay and pay.
So, you lash out at the world and those who love you,
As you still continue
To diminish
And finish
Adieu.
**********
"That night I got a grip on life again.”
We now find Scott at a carnival where he is introduced to one of the acts, a 36 ½ inch midget. (Yeah, yeah! Vertically challenged, stature diverse? Whatever!) Fearing that the world sees him as being nothing more than a freak, he leaves the carnival and goes to a Café for coffee. There he meets and becomes friends with the female midget named Clarice Bruce, who is slightly shorter than him and who appears at the carnival sideshow in town. Clarice tells him she was born a midget and tries to reassure Scott that life is worth living and that it is not all bad being their size:
“Oh, Scott, for people like you and me the world can be a wonderful place. The sky is as blue as it is for the giants.”
The meeting with Clarice seems to have helped to improve Scott’s mood and outlook by knowing that perhaps he is not alone and by having his dilemma put into some kind of perspective.
"It's starting again."
Two weeks later, Scott shows Clarice the journal he has resumed working on. Suddenly he notices that he has become shorter than her indicating that the antidote has stopped working. In a panic, he runs back home which brings an end to his friendship with the one person who can understand his plight and with whom he can share his thoughts and feelings on the matter. In a sense now, he is truly alone.
Scott is now small enough (6 inches high) to be living inside a doll house. He is also housed in a private inner abode of bitterness which expresses itself in his tyrannical and demanding behavior toward Louise and by his inability to end his "wretched existence."
When Louise goes shopping, Scott is attacked by his own cat, the very cat he used to enjoy playing with. The beloved family pet sees his former owner merely as a potential meal.
Eventually (after playing cat and mouse with the cat…Sorry!) Scott ends up being accidentally trapped in the basement of his home. After returning home, Louise discovers a blood-stained scrap of Scott's clothing. Louise joins the dots and assumes that Butch the cat ate her husband.
KIRL news report:
"From Los Angeles today, a tragic story: The passing of Robert Scott Carey. The report of the death of the so-called Shrinking Man comes from his brother. Carey's death was the result of an attack by a common house cat--a former pet in the Carey home."
Convinced that her husband is dead, Louise prepares to move.
Scott has now descended to the lowest depths of his house - the basement - where he regains consciousness in a sewing box. Being only three inches tall, Scott knows that he can't climb the stairs. He attempts to call to his wife, but she can't hear him. He contemplates his surroundings and observes:
“The cellar stretched before me like some vast primeval plain, empty of life, littered with the relics of a vanished race. No desert island castaway ever faced so bleak a prospect.”
Scott goes quickly into survival mode: Water from a dripping hot water heater. Shelter from a match box. The next requirement, food is more problematic. Without food, the shrinking process will accelerate.
Spotting a piece of cheese in a mouse trap, Scott tries to use a nail to spring the trap, but this only results in the cheese rolling into a floor drain. He then sees a lump of stale cake high up off the ground on a bench or shelf attached to the basement wall. His ability to reach it will involve overcoming the obstacle of a rather dangerous looking spider.
Scott locates a pin cushion and gets hold of a pin to use as a weapon. He fashions another pin into a grappling hook which he uses to scale the side of a box. After some effort, Scott reaches the spider’s web which is partially attached to the piece of cake. He uses his pin tool to break off pieces of the stale cake.
"My prison”
Scott approaches a vent in the wall but finds that the grid is too small to slip through. All he can do is lament his predicament of being in “a gray friendless area of space and time."
After obtaining a few pieces of the cake, Scott is chased by the spider but manages to escape into his match box shelter where he observes;
"In my hunt for food, I had become the hunted. This time I survived, but I was no longer alone in my universe. I had an enemy, the most terrifying ever beheld by human eyes."
Later on the hot water heater springs a leak that quickly causes the basement to be flooded with a gushing torrent of water. Scott is washed down towards the floor drain as Charlie and Louise enter the basement. He calls out to them but they are unable to hear him. Charlie unclogs the drain, retrieves a trunk and departs the house with Louise, while Scott clings on to a pencil and lapses into unconsciousness over the floor drain.
“As man had dominated the world of the sun, so I would dominate my world.”
After Scott regains consciousness, he considers his predicament involving his nemesis, the spider. Retrieving his weapons, Scott embarks once again on the odyssey to obtain the cake perched ever so high up the basement wall.
Scott’s plan is to use a pair of scissors as a weight attached to a pin by thread. He will use the pin to spear the spider, then push the scissors over the ledge causing the impaled spider to be dragged over the ledge by the scissors’ weight.
After a couple of harrowing mishaps trying to execute his plan, Scott is able to retrieve one of his pins, plunge it into the spider's body and kill it.
“To God, there is no zero. I still exist!”
Instead of savouring his victory over the spider and celebrating it by claiming and devouring the spoils, Scott drops the piece of cake. The now inch-tall Scott realizes that he no longer feels hunger. Nor does he fear shrinking.
He exits the vent screen, walks outside and contemplates the night sky with its full moon and its points of illumination arriving from an infinite past, signaling to the immediate present and lighting the way to an immeasurable eternity. He then suddenly becomes aware that the “infinitesimal and the infinite…. were really the two ends of the same concept,” that “eventually meet - like the closing of a gigantic circle.”
A flash of enlightenment comes to Scott as he looks up and suddenly knows “the answer to the riddle of the infinite…. That existence begins and ends in man's conception, not nature's.”
With that knowledge and understanding, Scott feels his “body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing” and with that his “fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance.” He has come to understand that in the whole scheme of things he in “all this vast majesty of creation” and even being “smaller than the smallest… meant something, too.”
**********
I still exist!
Standing a mere millimeter high,
Can I still stand tall like a man?
Can I look life right in the eye
Not knowing who I am?
Dwarfed by civilisation,
Reduced to a sub-atomic mite,
Ignored by all of creation,
Oblivious to my plight.
Do I just vanish and slip into an “0”?
Or do I just do and be what I am:
Star stuff, infinitely more than zero,
One that matters – a limitless little man?
**********
Points of Interest
In the flooding of the basement scene, the giant drops of water were simulated by filling up condoms and dropping them by use of a treadmill. No end of uses for the humble condom!
Director Jack Arnold added Scott Carey's moving and though-provoking closing soliloquy.
A cat by the name of Orangey played Scott Carey's cat. (Possibly an ancestor of Jonesie, the cat from ‘Alien?’ Totally unconfirmed rumour.)
At the completion of the film’s production, studio executives in a rather conventional, mediocre and unimaginative way of thinking wanted to change the ending to a happy one with doctors coming up with a serum to reverse the shrinking process, but director Arnold held his ground and refused. Instead of a neatly packaged resolution, we have a kind of spiritual enlightenment on the part of the main character.
“The Incredible Shrinking Man” won the first Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation presented by Solacon, the 16th World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles.
The film was named in 2009 to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.
“The Incredible Shrinking Man” almost stands like a metaphor for much of the human condition particularly in the modern post-industrial context. Scott, like many people find themselves being overwhelmed by fate and circumstances which seem to be beyond their control. In the face of world events, geo-politics, the sheer pace of technological change, economic instability, threats to security and privacy and so on, we might very well as individuals experience a sense of powerlessness or of feeling diminished. The current (at time of writing) world-wide Covid Pandemic being a case in point.
Do we then resign ourselves to disappearing unnoticed? Do we wallow in self-loathing and self-pity? Or perhaps we might blame and misdirect our anger and frustration toward the rest of humanity and even those closest to us?
After experiencing the full range of responses to his dilemma and struggling tooth and nail for existence, Scott is able to literally break out of and transcend the confining prison of his basement-like existence and the kind of negative and destructive thinking and feeling it produced in him. He has managed to truly move on in a spiritual and dignified way via the realisation that everything in the universe, no matter how small or insignificant, has its own worth and importance.
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
A sci-fi film so terrible and yet so much fun to watch!
A small gem from the 1950s whose big shoes have yet to be filled!
Directed by Nathan H. Juran
Produced by Bernard Woolner
Written by Mark Hanna
Music by Ronald Stein
Cinematography: Jacques R. Marquette
Edited by Edward Mann
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Running time: 66 minutes
Budget: $89,000
Box office: $480,000 (USA)
Cast
Allison Hayes as Nancy Fowler Archer
William Hudson as Harry Archer
Yvette Vickers as Honey Parker
Roy Gordon as Dr. Isaac Cushing
George Douglas as Sheriff Dubbitt
Ken Terrell as Jess Stout
Otto Waldis as Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb
Eileen Stevens as Nurse
Michael Ross as Tony the Bartender/Giant
Frank Chase as Deputy Charlie
The husband of an unhappily married rich socialite returns to her after having left her only because he now needs money. Meanwhile, philandering hubby, Harry happily continues his affair with another woman aptly maned, Honey Parker. After an explosive confrontation at a bar, his wife Nancy drives off until she encounters a large spherical object on the road. The object’s sole occupant is an enormous alien……
Despite rumours of UFOs in the area, will anyone believe Nancy?
What effect will Nancy’s close encounter have on her?
(Spoilers follow below….)
Although Nancy Archer is heir to the Fowler fortune, it is clear that her wealth cannot buy her happiness in life. She has had frequent treatment in sanatoriums for mental issues and alcoholism. Her love for her husband is the only thing that keeps her going but he only stays with her for her money. Her husband, Harry doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s having an affair with the ruthless local man-eater, Honey Parker.
******************
A television announcer from KRKR-TV reports sightings of a red fireball around the world. The announcer then draws our attention to a world globe, on which he traces the cities where sightings were reported and facetiously concludes, "The stranger from space should be over our California desert in a matter of minutes."
Meanwhile, the troubled and distraught Nancy Archer is driving her 1958 Chrysler Imperial at night on Route 66 when suddenly a glowing sphere descends and lands on the road in front of her, causing her to swerve off the road and come to a stop.
We next see Nancy screaming while trying to start her car. She then gets out only to be menaced by a huge hand belonging to the gigantic occupant of the sphere. Nancy screams and clutches a large diamond pendant around her neck and finally manages to escape by running down the road.
“I couldn't pry a nickel out of her. That community property routine only works for women! A man hasn't got a chance!”
(Harry Archer)
Back at Tony's Bar and Grill, we see Nancy's philandering husband, Harry with his girlfriend, Honey Parker. Harry tells Honey that he returned to his wife as he needed the cash, seeing that Nancy is worth about $50 million. According to Honey’s way of thinking, in matters concerning community property, a man like Harry " hasn't got a chance…. unless the wife dies," Harry, however, is thinking more in terms of recommitting Nancy to a mental institution.
Two fine examples of how people can view fellow human beings merely as a source of personal gain and advancement. We all too often see this kind of attitude and behaviour manifesting itself in politics, business, personal relationships, within families, in the workplace and so on.
Later, Nancy suddenly runs into the parking lot after her escape from the giant appendage! Amid the commotion, Sheriff Dubbitt manages to clear the crowd and sends his deputy, Charlie to find Harry. When Nancy tries to explain what happened, all she gets is condescension from the local authorities with the general consensus being that she’s either drunk or crazy. Nancy responds with anger, "…. You think I'm drunk, don't you?" She then pleads, "you've got to believe me! It was right in the middle of the highway, thirty feet tall! It lit up the sky! You don't believe me, do you?"
As Nancy finds out, people are more inclined to judge others based on superficial perceptions as well as on preconceived and prejudiced notions about what they are supposedly like.
In the meantime, Charlie has located Harry and Honey smooching in a booth. When he reluctantly interrupts the couple, he is given some money from Harry who suggests to him, "you couldn't find me tonight, Charlie. I took a cab home."
“Don't look back. But as long as she pays most of the taxes around here, we play along with her.”
(Sheriff Dubbitt)
The sheriff, deputy Charlie and Nancy then drive off to search for evidence of the giant and the satellite. It is decided to go to the desert to conduct a search but only because Nancy is rich and pays most of the town’s taxes! At the scene of the sighting, however, all they find is Nancy’s car and after a brief search they find nothing else. An angry Nancy then gets in her car and drives off in frustration.
Nancy Archer: My husband!... My gigolo! That's what you are. You're a miserable parasite! You're just after my money! I was rid of you once. Why did I take you back? Why? Why?
Harry Archer: Why did you, Nancy?
Nancy Archer: Why?... because I love you, Harry!
Soon after Nancy arrives home, she discovers Harry laying on the couch. They then argue about his philandering ways and her alcoholism. Nancy even goes so far as to blame herself for his behaviour and admits that she needs him, loves him and wants their marriage to work.
Nancy then tells him of her encounter with the satellite and the giant. Harry finally puts her to bed, gives her a sedative, pockets her diamond pendant, and then heads back to Tony's Bar to see his bit of skirt, Honey Parker.
At Tony's Bar and Grill, Deputy Charlie is having a whale of a time showing off his dance moves with Honey but beats it when Harry arrives. Harry is annoyed that Honey wasn't at the hotel, but Honey is even more annoyed and snaps at Harry, calling the hotel room a "fleabag” and declaring that she’s “tired of waiting." Harry then tells Honey that his wife is cracking up and he shows her the Star of India diamond, in the hope that she’ll be patient.
What a match made in heaven! An unprincipled dissolute excuse for a man and an immoral gold-digging floozy who’ll only stick around as long as glittering baubles are dangled before her eyes. Some people in life really deserve each other!
Later, Dr. Isaac Cushing makes a house call on Nancy and informs Harry that "she's suffering from mental exhaustion, and her drinking doesn't help her any." After the doctor leaves, Nancy quarrels with Harry about his conduct and her supposed sighting of a giant humanoid and a “satellite.”
While Nancy seeks solace from the contents of a bottle, a smug sarcastic bastard of a KRKR-TV announcer glibly presents a news item about Nancy:
“And now, more news of high-fliers. Nancy Archer, the former Nancy Fowler, heiress to the Fowler fortune and the fabulous Star of India diamond, has joined the ever-expanding international society of satellite seers. From the Archer’s palatial home away from home comes word that Mrs. Archer claims not only to be seeing a sociable satellite, but its inhabitant as well, a 30-foot giant. Is he pink with big ears and tusks? It seems that Mrs. Archer, who has been feuding with her husband, Handsome Harry, has finally found a man from out of this world, someone who will love her for herself. Come, come, Mrs. Archer. Any man can ignore a million dollars, but fifty million? That's too much to ask for, even from the man in the moon.”
Imagine Nancy’s hurt and humiliation at discovering that her personal predicament has become fodder for the public who are led to believe that she is suffering from delusions brought on by alcohol.
[Once it was mainly the rich and famous that were the subject of tabloid gossip, innuendo and salacious revelations about their personal lives, none of which needed to be true! These days any of us can be subject to this public death by a thousand cuts thanks to the advent of social media – that great democratization of freedom of speech! Now anyone can have their dirty linen paraded for all to see. Any of us can be trolled, bullied, threatened, admonished into submission. And when we allow this kind of abuse of freedom to get at us and damage our reputations, then we’ve lost something of our own personal freedom – we in fact become “owned” by fools and cowards exercising freedom without responsibility. So much said by so many with little meaningful to say…..excrement flushed into the subterranean bowels of our social media sewer.]
All Nancy can do after seeing the report is pitch the bottle at the TV. She then decides on a course of action by convincing Harry to accompany her into the desert to search for the "flying satellite," agreeing to voluntarily return to the sanatorium if they fail to find any evidence.
As night falls and after hours of driving and searching, they eventually locate the spacecraft. Nancy runs up to it and presses her hands against it exclaiming, "It's real! It's real! I'm not crazy! I did see it!"
Suddenly an enormous male humanoid, emerges and reaches out to her. Harry fires his revolver at it, but without any effect. Harry like the cad and bounder he is decamps the scene, leaving Nancy behind.
As soon as Harry arrives at the house, he dashes past loyal butler, Jess and frantically begins packing his suitcase. Jess demands, "what have you done with Mrs. Archer?" but Harry just ignores him and continues to pack. A fight ensues between the two men with Harry getting the better of Jess. Harry then grabs his suitcase and departs with alacrity.
At the hotel room, Harry dashes in and tells Honey to "get dressed and packed, quick." However, before they can leave, they are confronted by Deputy Charlie and the night clerk. Charlie is not playing the lovable bribe-taking lovable fool this time! Instead, he takes the pair of villainous scoundrels to see the sheriff.
While Charlie, Harry and Honey wait at the sheriff’s office, the sheriff and a posse are searching for Nancy. A phone call informs the three at the Sheriff’s office that Nancy was discovered on the roof of her pool house at the Archer estate. The three then drive back to the house.
At the house, family physician Dr. Cushing sedates Nancy as she is delirious. Later, Dr. Cushing tells Sheriff Dubbitt that she should be moved to a hospital when she's well enough. He is very concerned about the scratches on her throat and theorizes that she may have been exposed to and contaminated by radiation. Harry lies to the Sheriff by telling him that he was with Honey all evening. His story is corroborated by Honey. The sheriff warns Harry and Honey not to leave town.
“You know what our problem is? We both have the same disease: money, and happy ways of spending it.”
(Honey Parker)
As they drive back to town, evil woman Honey begins working on Harry by telling him, "I heard the doctor tell (the nurse) that an overdose would be fatal." Harry replies somewhat lightheartedly and sarcastically, "money certainly brings out the best in you, doesn't it?" Honey then probes further by asking him, "have you got the nerve?" Harry, the lady is serious!
[“Bad” or evil women in films make the most interesting characters. This is so especially when they use their intelligence, cunning, wits and feminine attributes to manipulate a situation to their own advantage. It is often the overconfident male characters who unwittingly find themselves being manipulated. Who wants to see a typical 21st century politically correct female character who is nothing more than a male-replacement pony-tail swishing, sinewy, active wear clad, intense-looking action hero which has been dreamed up by mostly male writers or producers as some kind of on-screen fantasy? How much better to see a self-assured female character who can negotiate her way through a situation and take command via a look, a word or a gesture. THAT is more interesting than a phoney equal opportunity sock to the jaw from a woman merely behaving much as a male character would be depicted!]
The answer to Honey’s previous question reveals itself when we see Harry filling the syringe and stealthily making his way upstairs to the bedroom. Just as he approaches the sleeping Nancy, the nurse snaps on the light. Suddenly the nurse screams and calls for the doctor while Harry reacts in horror when a giant hand descends toward him.
"Doctor Cushing, something's happened to Mrs. Archer," the nurse screams again.
“Meat hooks, four lengths of chain, forty gallons of plasma, and an elephant syringe.” (Delivery man)
Dr Cushing has called in his specialist colleague, Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb, but both appear to be unsure as to how to treat their patient. A delivery of meat hooks, lengths of chain and medical supplies is made to the Archer residence in accordance with Cushing’s and Von Loeb’s decision to keep their patient in a coma with morphine and to restrain her with chains until the authorities arrive to help.
Deputy Charlie: Wow! What is that?
Sheriff Dubbitt: I don't know. Whatever it is, it wasn't made by some Japanese gardener.
The sheriff and deputy Charlie conduct a search around the pool house area. Suddenly, Sheriff Dubbitt notices a giant footprint in the garden while Charlie spots some more prints. The Sheriff then sends Charlie back to the office for weapons.
Sheriff Dubbitt and Jess track the enormous footprints that are leading away from the estate and out into the desert. They soon come across the satellite and cautiously approach it. Sheriff Dubbitt believes that the giant brought Mrs. Archer to her home and placed her on the roof of the pool house. The finding of a gun seems to confirm that the Archer couple had been there.
Sheriff Dubbitt and Jess very cautiously enter the opening into the satellite. Once inside the sphere, they spot Nancy's diamond necklace together with other large gemstones, each one contained in a clear glass sphere. This leads the two men concluding that the jewels are being used as a power source for the sphere.
Suddenly, the huge alien appears, and the two men decide to beat a hasty retreat. Of course, the car chooses that moment to roll over and play dead, so the two men abandon it just as the giant diaphanous alien lumbers over and overturns the car. After being pelted with bullets and grenades, all to no effect, the giant re-enters the sphere and takes off for parts unknown. Sheriff Dubbitt and Jess now face a long trudge back to town.
In the meantime, the sedative has not worked, and Nancy has awoken from her coma with more than just a giant headache. She calls out for Harry and as Cushing and Von Loeb try to administer more morphine, Nancy (with the rest of her body having achieved gigantic proportions) breaks free of the restraints.
It’s as if symbolically, Nancy has become a product of the kind of callous indifference and disregard of her as a person as displayed by the likes of her husband and many others in society. Her reaction is to literally try to break free of the bonds holding her down and lash out violently, seek revenge and demolish the established order of the little world around her which she has now outgrown.
Dr. Isaac Cushing: She will tear up the whole town until she finds Harry.
Deputy Charlie: And then she'll tear up Harry.
Nancy proceeds to rip off the roof of her mansion before making her way to town, to exact revenge on her unfaithful husband. She declares, "I know where my husband is. He's with that woman. I'll find him."
When she gets to town, she rips the roof off the bar and spots Honey. Nancy causes a beam to fall from the ceiling and come crashing down on Honey, killing her. Nancy now focuses her attention on Harry, who has been ineffectually blasting away at her with a gun. She reaches down, picks him up and carries him up through the open roof. Harry cries out, "You're crushing me. I can't breathe."
Sheriff Dubbitt opens fire at Nancy Archer but with no effect. He then carefully takes aim and fires at a transformer causing it to explode, thereby electrocuting Nancy along with Harry.
Both are now lying dead on the ground with Nancy clutching Harry in her hand. And finally, as ironically stated by the doctor, "She finally got Harry all to herself."
Points of interest
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was distributed in the US by Allied Artists on a double bill with War of the Satellites.
The film capitalised on the popularity of previous 1950s science fiction films that featured size-changing humans such as The Amazing Colossal Man, its sequel War of the Colossal Beast, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. This time it was decided to have a female as the main protagonist.
The movie was shot in just eight days for only $89,000 - $10,000 under budget.
The alien spacecraft is called a "satellite" in the film most likely due to the then recent launching of the spherically-shaped Russian “sputnik” satellite.
The poster for this movie was designed by Roger Corman and is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. The movie's poster was listed as #8 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere magazine.
The giant bald space alien is played by Michael Ross who also played the bartender.
Allison Hayes who played Nancy, died at the age of 46 due to lead poisoning from calcium pills she had been taking.
Yvette Vickers who played Honey was tragically discovered alone in her home in 2011. Her mummified body lay undiscovered for over a year. It was determined that she had died of natural causes at the age of 82.
There was a plan to do a bigger-budget sequel shot in CinemaScope and colour, but the film never went into production.
Continuity and special effects are definitely not a strong point of this film. For instance, in the giant alien’s sphere, why are various items scaled to the sheriff and Jess’ size? Then there’s superimposed images of the giant alien and Alison, both of whom we can easily see right through! I won’t even bother to go into the giant floppy flaccid foam rubber hand that seems to be afflicted with some kind of skin disease!
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman began with an interesting idea involving Nancy, the wealthy heiress; her no-good husband, Harry and the “other woman”, Honey the hussy. Unfortunately, as it progressed towards the final climax, the story just continued to unravel. Nevertheless, Allison Hayes did display some acting talent and screen presence, despite not having much to work with. William Hudson was well cast as Nancy’s cheating and unprincipled husband as was Yvette Vickers as Harry's conniving mistress.
Attack Of The Puppet People (1958)
Although not on a par with "The Incredible Shrinking Man," the effects are OK considering the low budget, the acting performances are competent and the film’s pace never allows boredom to set in.
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Assistant director: Jack R. Berne
Produced by Bert I. Gordon
Executive producers: Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson
Written by Bert I. Gordon, George Worthing Yates
Music by Don A. Ferris, Henry Schrage
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Edited by Ronald Sinclair
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 79 minutes
Cast
John Agar: Bob Westley
John Hoyt: Mr. Franz
June Kenney: Sally Reynolds
Susan Gordon: Agnes
Michael Mark: Emil
Jack Kosslyn: Sgt. Paterson
Marlene Willis: Laurie / Theme song Vocalist
Ken Miller: Stan
Laurie Mitchell: Georgia Lane
Scott Peters: Mac
June Jocelyn: Brownie Leader
Jean Moorhead: Janet Hall
Hank Patterson: Janitor
Hal Bogart: Special Delivery Man
Troy Patterson: Elevator Operator
A deranged doll-maker afraid of being alone!
A machine that can shrink humans down to only a few inches tall!
A collection of miniature prisoners forced to perform and serve as living dolls!
What can the pint-sized plaything puppets do to save themselves?
(Spoilers follow below.…)
“These are the Brownies from the Valley High School. The girls are here to visit the factory”: So, begins our film with a Brownie troop visiting doll manufacturing company Dolls Inc., Room 502 situated in the Tilford Building in downtown Los Angeles. It is owned and operated by a certain, Mr. Franz.
As the girls check out the display of dolls, they see a number of very lifelike dolls (perhaps too lifelike!) stored in glass containers in a display case on the wall. One of the dolls catches the eye of one of the girls and just as she reaches for it, the secretary quickly intervenes and tells her, “don’t let Mr. Franz catch you. He’s very finicky about these dolls. Nobody’s allowed to touch them.” For “finicky” we might read, obsessive and possessive.
Sally Reynolds answers an ad in the paper for a secretary/receptionist. The easy work and good pay job description makes it seem a little too good to be true.
When Sally arrives at the front office area, she meets the seemingly kindly Mr. Franz. It soon becomes obvious to her that he has a strange connection with and obsession about his dolls which he treats “like real people” and which he describes as being “my friends.”
Since Franz does all his own designing, sculpting, moulding, and assembly of the dolls in his workshop, he requires someone to “just answer the phone, take care of my accounts and my correspondence.” It is particularly urgent seeing that his previous secretary, Janet Hall mysteriously quit without notice the previous week, ostensibly to “take a better position with Pathe.”
Despite the fact that Sally’s only work experience consists of working in a college bookstore for a year, Mr Franz seems to be over-eager in his willingness for her to start right away. Could it have something to do with the fact that she’s not married and hasn’t got any family? In other words, no-one who will miss her?
Despite her obvious concerns, Sally reluctantly agrees to take the job.
Three weeks later a travelling salesman by the name of Bob Westley bursts into the office, spots Sally, comes out with a cringe-worthy line like, “Well, Hello! Who are you?” and wastes no time in invading Sally’s personal space, grabbing her upper arm and twirling her around. Leading ladies in those days must have suffered terribly from multiple contusions on their arms inflicted by their male co-stars.
It turns out that this idiot Bob Westley is a salesman from St. Louis and is Franz’s business associate and the company he represents is one of the main sellers or distributors of Dolls Inc., products.
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about whether or not to disturb Mr Franz, Sally confides to Bob about her impressions of her boss: that “he does get a little peculiar at times” when he talks to the dolls and is “so serious” that “it’s almost as if he expected them to talk back.”
In the meantime, other strange events have been occurring such as when Sally learned about “whatever happened to that friendly fellow who brought the mail for so long.” It turns out that just two days before old Ernie was “to retire and get a pension, he disappeared. Started out one morning with his mail sack and never came back.” Nudge, nudge, wink, wink…say no more!
Later on, a doll salesman pays a visit to Franz’s workshop and Sally points out a particular doll she likes: “this one here, the white organdie with the blue ribbons.” In this foreshadowing scene, Franz rather creepily and all too meaningfully comments to Sally, “it’s a pity you can’t model it for us…. I can see it would be very becoming on you.” Yes, indeed Mr Franz, especially with the “negligee” and the “lingerie to go with it.”
In the next scene, Mr Franz receives a visit from his old-time friend and former show business partner, Emil. In addition to learning that Franz had at least been a good friend to someone in his life, we learn a bit about his past and some of the occurrences that may have affected his present psychological and emotional state.
First, we learn that it’s been a while since Franz was involved in show business which he appears to have given up for good.
Secondly, Franz once had a wife by the name of Emma “the girl with the beautiful golden hair” who “ran away with someone she liked better – an acrobat” while his “marionettes were playing in Luxembourg.” Could it be that Sally reminds Franz of his former wife?
Thirdly, as Emile pointed out, the present state of Franz’s apparent “contentment” is somewhat “unnatural” and may stem from the fact that his former wife’s leaving him must have done him “a great deal of harm.” This has caused Franz to “run away from life” and surround himself “with all shapes of people: their faces, their legs, their arms…even little mannequins of them. But not their spirit” of which he is afraid.
For Franz, there is one thing in his mind he is certain of - that his dolls will never leave him.
There are many unbelievable elements to the plot of this film, but among the biggest is how quickly Sally falls for Bob after his assault on her upper arm and how after a mere three weeks of hanging around LA Bob proposes marriage to Sally who kind of almost luke-warmly agrees. Perhaps she wanted to watch the rest of the film, The Amazing Colossal Man.
It’s no coincidence that Bob proposes marriage while he and Sally sit in his car at a drive-in screening of (not surprisingly), Jack Arnold’s, The Amazing Colossal Man. Their own dialogue is interspersed with dialogue from the film:
“WHY DON'T YOU ASK ME WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A FREAK?”
“THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO BE SO BIG YOU CAN STICK YOUR FIST THROUGH A CIRCUS TOP!” “LIKE A CLOWN!”
“I CAN GROW TO BE 100 FEET TALL! AND I DON'T NEED A CHANGE OF WARDROBE”
"MAN LIVES THROUGH PLUTONIUM BLAST." THAT'S A GREAT JOKE,
ISN'T IT, SERGEANT?”
WANT TO GO BACK AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE MONSTER? THE CIRCUS FREAK? THAT'S RIGHT, SERGEANT. I'M A CIRCUS FREAK. HAVE A TENT, WILL TRAVEL. WHY DON'T YOU MAKE A SIGN SAYING: "SEE THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN"?
“I’M NOT GROWING, YOU'RE SHRINKING!”
What is taking place on the screen is an inverse situation of what is happening in Mr Franz’s workshop. Both situations are the result or consequence of human science.
Sally is now all set to pack her bags for St. Louis when she returns to her apartment and agrees to Bob organizing her affairs and informing her boss not to expect her to return to work again.
The next day a rather surprised Sally receives a call from Franz asking her if she isn’t feeling well. Franz informs Sally that Bob has returned home to take care of business.
When sally returns to work later that day, this indicates to Franz’s way of thinking that “things are as they should be.” Franz informs Sally that Bob left for St. Louis by train instead of by air and that “he’d been neglecting his business lately.” He apparently, according to Franz, did mention something about their marriage and led Franz to believe that Sally wouldn’t have worked for him after they were married. After declaring (rather meaningfully) “how sad it is when people go,” Franz advises Sally to forget Bob.
The unexpected news concerning Bob, together with the apparent mysterious disappearance of Janet Hall whom people are still trying to contact via Dolls Inc., have set the wheels of suspicion turning in Sally’s mind.
Sally suddenly spots a new doll that remarkably resembles Bob. She asks Franz, “when did you make this, Mr. Franz?” She then observes, “it could be him, almost.” Thanking Sally for the compliment, Franz goes on to explain the intent of his art by which “the aim of every composer is to fit the world within the limits of his symphony” and it is this aim he seeks to achieve by making his dolls in the image of those he knows and loves.
A by now frightened and alarmed Sally goes to the Los Angeles Police Department on her lunch break armed with an unbelievable accusation that her employer, Mr. Franz has somehow contrived to shrink her fiance and other people into dolls. Sergeant Paterson is understandably skeptical until Sally happens to name the subjects of two recent missing-person investigations – mailman, Ernie Larson and secretary, Janet Hall.
His interest piqued, Paterson decides to investigate, but Franz is able to convince him that the dolls resemble living people because as he states, “I model all my dolls after people I know and like – people I like to have near me.” Of course, this is true, but it leaves out one important fact, one that Sally is aware of. Franz’s crushing of the doll demonstrates to Paterson that his dolls are in fact just dolls. Knowing now what Sally suspects, Mr. Franz’s actions also demonstrate to Sally the power he has to snuff out life if he is crossed.
Sally has now become a problem which must be dealt with. After Paterson leaves, Sally informs Franz that she can no longer work for him. Franz asks her, “how could I ever bare to let you go?” With the only exit now locked, Sally undergoes the process of being shrunken down by means of a machine he developed which can shrink people down to a sixth of their original size before being placed in suspended animation.
When Sally wakes up and discovers to her mortification that she is covered only in a napkin, Franz asks her, “My dear, you aren’t afraid of me are you? Why, I’m your friend.” He then tells her it is time for her to put on her new clothes and shows her a miniature hair brush and stockings for her use. It is almost as if Franz were acting out the role of a little girl being wrapped up in a childish fantasy world playing with and talking to her little dolly!
As Bob is being revived and eventually recovers, Franz wonders why those he has shrunken always hate him at first. After all, they are not harmed, they get the best care and are not allowed to become “too warm or cold, too hungry or too tired.” In fact, they should be grateful to have “no daily grind, no budget problems, no taxes or debts or family to support.” Their lives will just consist of sleeping away the boring hours in their jars and having fun when they are woken up to enjoy some new treat that Franz has thought up for them. In short, they are to live out their lives as happy little pets!
Franz goes on to explain to Sally and Bob the “simple” principle behind the machine he has created by using the analogy of a slide projector:
“I reasoned that if I could pass (matter) through a device similar in principle to this slide projector then I would be able to project these living things to any size I would choose.”
To achieve this using a “complex molecular structure” (one that trusts him like poor old Tommy the cat!) “it’s only necessary to change them into energy first.” A living thing’s molecular structure will be, according to Franz, broken down or disintegrate “by means of high frequency vibration” or to its “resonant frequency.” (Run Tommy!)
So, you clever armchair pseudo-scientists out there! We know you’re so damn clever so don’t even bother nit-picking this gobbledygook. It’s a science fiction film, after all, so just enjoy it for what it is. Franz had me with the tuning fork smashing the glass!
After putting poor old Tommy, the cat through the indignity of his shrinking process, Franz awakens his captives to enjoy a welcoming party for the two newcomers, Sally and Bob. There’s Mac, a US. Marine; a teenager called Stan; a floozy by the name of Georgia Lane and Laurie, a young lady who can sing.
As the party gets off to a start, Bob and Sally remonstrate with the others and ask, “how can you be so calm?” and appeal to them to “call for help, run!” The others, however, appear to have acquiesced to their state of captivity and rationalise it by claiming, “I ain’t never had so easy in my life,” and that “we sometimes we have to do things we don’t want just to have some freedom like this.”
This mode of thinking is scarily like the acceptance that seems to be spreading worldwide whereby we readily accent to having our freedoms curtailed in the interests of national security. Thus, we face an Orwellian form of new think which accommodates two opposing concepts: The need to protect freedom by restricting personal freedoms! (Also a state of thinking many people began to acquire during the mandatory lock-downs of the Covid-19 Pandemic!)
Yes indeed, Franz’s “puppets” are free to enjoy themselves as long as they comply with his wishes. For instance, when Franz insists that Laurie sing, she declares that she does not want to sing and Franz replies, “but you will my dear, or back in the bottle you go.”
The lyrics from the song “You're My Living Doll” by Marlene Willis and sung by Laurie ironically sum up the whole situation involving Franz’s actions, his mental state and his motivations:
“You’re a dolly…say you want me to be near you, to be yours for evermore. My little doll…..a living doll, never leave me, don’t deceive me, stay with me for evermore….”
Instead to submitting to Franz’s demented miniaturized, constricted and limiting construct of reality, Bob and Sally decide that it is time to act and prepare for their escape. After managing to win over their new fellow vertically challenged comrades to their way of thinking, a plan is soon hatched to access the shrinking machine and revert everybody back to normal size.
While the escape plan is being put into effect, the tension is ramped up with the arrival of Franz’s old friend, the well-meaning Emil. It is apparent that he’s a pretty persistent old bugger as he attempts to cajole his friend into returning to the stage. In fact, he seems determined to hang around like the smell of a fried onion or curry-fed fart.
No sooner than Emil is levered out the door, Sergeant Paterson pays a visit to question Franz concerning people he is acquainted with who have gone missing. The noose is definitely tightening as Paterson asks Franz about his “advertising for another secretary” and how he happened “to lose Sally Reynolds.” Paterson is also there to ask Franz about what could have become of Bob.
Up goes the level of tension another notch and tighter feels the noose as yet another visitor intrudes into Franz’s den of diminution! Little Agnes, the brat from the Brownie troupe, has come to Dolls Inc., to have her “bad dolly” Suzie repaired as it “ran out in the street” while she wasn’t looking.” A little girl wandering alone unaccompanied into an old man’s workshop on the 5th floor of a building in the city is not something that would be contemplated these days. They certainly were different times!
Franz struggles valiantly to maintain the semblance of a calm façade when Agnes suddenly spots the now tiny feline, Tommy who has popped out of a match box on the bench. Not only that, but Paterson expresses a desire to see Franz’s workroom. Luckily, Paterson has to leave quickly just as Franz is about to nonchalantly demonstrate how the “photographic enlarger” works. He also manages to fob Agnes off by promising her that she can come over anytime to play with a talking doll and of course, the little cat.
After all the pesky intruders have gone, the tiny would-be escapees return to their original positions just as Franz re-enters the back room. Feeling that his fantasy world is about to implode, he informs his minute prisoners that he plans to kill them and himself before he can be caught. According to Franz’s warped way of thinking, “it’s better that we all bow out together” and that “it’s much better that we all meet death together than for any one of us to be left alone. There’s nothing worse than loneliness.”
There’s no use the little people trying to use the phone again to summon help since, despite there being no loud music this time, there is the danger that Franz would hear them. As for writing a note on a piece of paper, making a paper plane out of it and throwing it out the open window…….well, that was never likely going to work, was it?
Franz takes his captives in a suitcase to an old theatre, where he is to test the repairs he made on Emil's marionette so that it will be ready in time for the matinee performance. There, he intends to throw “a going-away party…. a celebration.”
On the theatre’s stage, Franz intends to make his captives act out Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and begins the scene with an ironic introduction: “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Dr Jekyll. I have discovered a strange drug. It is able to free my evil nature from what is good in me. Then I become the sinister monster, Mr Hyde….”
As the little performance continues, the dialogue reflects more of Franz’s crumbling state of mind and the consequences for himself and the miniature victims of his insanity: ”I have traveled the road of no return. There is no going back. Only death can free me for the curse I have put upon myself.”
Bob and Sally eventually manage to escape after Franz's coffee is drugged and Bob goes UFC all over one of the marionette puppets. However, it’s only 5.30 am and everyone is still asleep. Their only choice is to make it back to Franz's workshop, but not before dodging the attentions of a dog and figuring out a way of making it to the fifth floor.
Meanwhile, Paterson has turned up at the door of the workshop just as little Agnes arrives there, once again unaccompanied! She tells Paterson what would normally seem to be a wild child’s fantasy story about “little people” being made “out of big ones with a machine…. people that walk and talk and everything” and “a little tiny kitty” which Mr Franz keeps in a matchbox.
As Paterson takes Agnes off to school we are once again left wondering, where are her bloody parents?
Franz manages to track down Sally and Bob who have entered the workshop by hitching a ride in a parcel that was delivered. Before Franz can do anything, they are able to return themselves to normal size. Bob and Sally then leave to summon the police, leaving a pitiful Franz to call out….” Don’t leave me! Please don’t leave me! Don’t leave me! I’ll be alone! This is to be his ultimate punishment!
Points of Interest
Attack of the Puppet People was also known as I Was a Teenage Doll, Six Inches Tall and The Fantastic Puppet People. It was distributed by American International Pictures as a double feature with War of the Colossal Beast. The film was rushed into production by American International Pictures to capitalise on the success of Universal-International's, The Incredible Shrinking Man, which had been released in 1957.
Director Bert I. Gordon's daughter, Susan who played Agnes, was a last-minute substitute for another actress who was ill and unable to work.
It is said that Attack of the Puppet People played a role during the Watergate incident. Apparently, a Watergate burglar was so engrossed in watching the film that he failed to warn his co-conspirators of the presence of detectives.
The film’s title is a bit misleading in that Franz’s captives don’t really attack anyone except perhaps for a Dr Jekyll marionette which John Agar beats to a pulp.
A major theme of the film is the consideration of loneliness and how it can be an all-consuming force that can eat away at the fabric of a person’s soul and sanity. Thus, we have a non-stereotypical mad scientist who is really a lonely old man in need of company. He may intend no harm, but his view of reality has become so warped that he is unable to see what he has become – an obsessed, demented and insanely possessive old man.
Attack of the Puppet People has some level of relevance to audiences in any age. For instance, many of us have from time to time like the character, Sally made what might be called fateful decisions. After all, Sally decided in a modern sense, to stand at the crossroads by venturing via the elevator up to the fifth floor to Franz’s workshop. It was she who decided to apply for the job as secretary. She also allowed herself to be talked into accepting the position. Her decisions set in motion a chain of events that were to have a profound effect on her life. And yet we like to think (as Hollywood often tritely tries to convey to us in its films) that we are in control of our own destinies. Perhaps there are puppet master-like forces at work over which we have no control, and which guide our actions and individual fates?
At least that is how it often feels to many people in the ‘real’ world: that feeling of a lack of personal control and of being manipulated by forces that are too overwhelming and powerful. If it feels that way, then it is more than likely that it is indeed the case. Too many of us are far too content to play the role of mindless marionette puppets too ignorant, distracted, busy, complicit, complacent, frightened or too indolent to work out who is in fact pulling the strings, for whose benefit and for what purpose. Perhaps only by taking action aimed at cutting the strings by which our puppet masters control and manipulate us can we claim to have any chance at gaining control over our individual and collective destinies.
War of the Colossal Beast (1958)
This sequel has competent acting performances, fair direction and ordinary special effects. An obvious attempt at milking dry an already successful formula.
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Produced by Bert I. Gordon
Written by Bert I. Gordon (story), George Worthing Yates
Music by Albert Glasser
Cinematography: Jack A. Marta
Edited by Ronald Sinclair
Production company: Carmel Productions
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 69 minutes
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
Cathy Downs as Carol Forrest (flashback scenes)
William Hudson as Dr. Paul Linstrom (flashback scenes)
Larry Thor as Major Eric Coulter (flashback scenes)
(Spoilers follow below…..)
TV News Report
“…..and that’s the latest report on the international scene. Now, on the lighter side of the news…a dispatch from Guavos, Mexico says that Mr. John Swanson is having a little trouble collecting insurance on his stolen truck. What happened to it? Well, according to his claim report it disappeared without leaving any tracks! Mr. Swanson says something must have carried off his truck.” Perhaps we’ll find out more about this magical disappearing act in the coming days! “And here in Los Angeles…….”
*********
Joyce Manning’s Journal Entry
I had just been watching the news report on TV about Swanson's disappearing truck when I decided to contact Mr Swanson himself, along with the army who sent over a Major Baird. Mr Swanson was really hot under the collar declaring that he’d be getting onto lawyers, making the insurance company pay up and taking them to court. I think he was more upset about being called a liar.
I explained to Mr Swanson and Major Baird my belief that Swanson's truck was taken by my brother, Glenn Manning who had been exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb explosion that caused him to grow over 60 ft tall. I then went on to outline the already widely reported events about Glenn going on a rampage that ended with him being shot and plunging to an apparent death into the waters beneath the Hoover Dam. I finished by telling Mr Swanson and the Major that the waters could have carried Glenn down to Mexico. In other words, Glenn “survived both the artillery and the fall” and that his survival and presence in Mexico would account for the disappearance of Swanson’s truck.
**************
TV News Report
Further to a previous story, it has been reported that a series of delivery trucks have been robbed and destroyed south of the US-Mexican border. The question remains: robbed and destroyed by whom?
It has been speculated in some quarters that the giant behemoth dubbed “The Amazing Colossal Man,” Lt. Col. Glenn Manning had not in fact been killed last year, that he survived his fall from the Boulder Dam, that he has now somehow reappeared and that it is he who is the culprit. Hard to believe, you might think?
You will no doubt remember that Lt. Col. Manning was a victim of overexposure to radiation, had grown to immense size and as a result had gone insane.
We have just received a taped report from Guavos, Mexico sent by a local reporter, Jose Gonzales which we will now present to you and which may cause you to consider the plausibility of the reappearance of The Amazing Colossal Man!
Roll Tape…..
Gonzales: This is Jose Gonzales reporting from south of the border where strange events seem to portend the ominous re-emergence of a problem of immense proportions – one which we thought had been dealt with once and for all!
It first came to our notice when a young Mexican drove his truck at breakneck speed into a body of water. Although the young man survived, something caused him to go into a state of shock – a shock so profound as to rob him of the power of speech!
I have with me the owner of the truck, Mr John Swanson. Mr Swanson, could you please tell our audience the events surrounding the disappearance of your truck.
Swanson: Well, when I realised that my dang-blasted truck was missing, I high-tailed it to the Sheriff's office to report the truck as missing. I described the truck as being a “dark green stake bed truck, ton and a half” with a California license and “loaded with groceries.” You see, I run a gun club back in the hills, and with the season about to open and expecting a crowd, “I was stocking up on supplies” and was intending on “bringing the truckload of groceries down from Calexico. Get the picture?”
Having to run two cars, I hired the kid to drive the truck while I drove the other one. Dang-blasted kid didn’t end meeting me where we was supposed to. Consarn it!
Gonzales: So, what happened with the young man?
Swanson: I think his name is “Miguel something or other. Probably 15, 16 years old. Dark. Thin.” Anyway, the Sheriff then tells me that the young fella who was driving my truck had been located but that he was in a state of shock, unable to say anything. The boy was lying in a bed in an adjoining room and he was mumbling something incoherently in Spanish. I was still as mad as hell at him.
While the boy was being tended to, the Sheriff and I went to the scene where he was found. I knew from the tracks that my truck must have made them on account of me having had “two new re-treads like that on the rear.” We figured that the truck “came down the road, then got stuck.” Question was, “where’d it go?”
Gonzales: Where do you think it went, Mr Swanson?
Swanson: By the looks of things I suppose “straight up in the air” but “look, that truck had a radio and a heater, but it didn’t have wings!”
Gonzales: Well, this presents us with a very strange mystery. It does appear as if the immense hand of a giant has reached down, plucked up the truck and taken it away some place. Could this explain the destruction of other vehicles in the area? Could it be as some people are now suggesting, that The Amazing Colossal Man has somehow returned?
*********
Major Mark Baird:
Preliminary Report
RE: Truck Disappearances – Guavos, Mexico
Assessment of Joyce Manning’s claims that her brother, Lt. Col. Glenn Manning dubbed "The Colossal Man" survived the military action taken against him on _______1957.
Medical authorities agree that “no man, no matter what his size, could take…two bazooka charges and a drop of over 700 feet and come through it alive.”
********
Joyce Manning’s Journal Entry
I made my own way to Guavos, Mexico and saw the young man, Miguel who finally came out of his state of shock and began to mumble indistinctly in Spanish. Sergeant Murillo thought he heard Miguel say the word “Ogro” which I am led to believe means “a big fellow, like an Ogre!” Had indeed a “monster, a giant man” attacked the truck and scared the wits out of Miguel?
Major Baird soon came down accompanied by a Dr. Carmichael who was introduced as Head of Radiation Exposure and was very interested in my brother’s case.
After I told them what Miguel had seen, a small group of us went out to the site where Miguel was found. After we arrived, we soon concluded that “the truck apparently skidded into the water” but “it never drove out.”
It wasn’t too long before we discovered a huge footprint along with other prints that led up into the nearby mountains. “The foot that made that print is about ten times the size of a normal man. That would make him about 60 feet tall. Glenn was 60 feet tall!”
Of course, we followed the prints which eventually led us to an area strewn with the twisted and smashed metal carcasses of trucks. Unfortunately, darkness was quickly setting in, and so we had to abandon our investigation and return to town.
*******
Major Mark Baird:
Report
RE: Reappearance of Lt. Col. Glenn Manning aka “Colossal Man”; Threat Assessment & Proposed Course of Action.
After the inspection of the giant footprints and the wrecked vehicles in the nearby mountains, I contacted Mexican military authorities who arranged to “have troops and artillery standing by.” The intention is that as soon as Manning’s location is pinpointed, “they’ll move in on him.”
Prior to the above course of action being undertaken, I was persuaded by Manning’s sister, Joyce Manning that her brother might come willingly if reasoned with by somebody he knows well. If force is used on the 60-foot Manning, casualties may result.
I returned with Ms Manning to the mountains where the wrecked trucks were situated. Swanson's missing truck was identified. Other trucks in the vicinity had been emptied of their contents leading to the conclusion that Manning had been raiding the trucks for food.
As if on cue, we were suddenly alerted to the presence of Manning by a deep rasping, rumbling and grunting sound. His size is immense, and one side of his face consists of exposed teeth and skeleton due to injuries sustained in his fall from the dam, as well as possible tissue damage from radiation exposure.
I propose to draw up a plan to capture Manning by filling up a bread truck with bread drugged with chloral hydrate, “enough to put him to sleep for 8 hours.” Once subdued, Manning is to be brought back to the United States
The only other alternatives are to let the Mexican authorities deal with Manning or run the risk of losing contact with him for many weeks.
**********
TV News Report
It has now been officially confirmed: “The case of Army colonel, Glenn Manning who went berserk in Las Vegas not long ago is in the news again today. Military authorities last night admitted that the early announcement that he had been accidentally destroyed was an error. He was captured alive today in Mexico, and plans are underway to fly him back across the border in a troop carrier transport.”
********
Media Interview
Reporter: “Well, now that he’s being brought back to the United States, what does Congress plan to do about him?”
Congressman: Uh, do about whom?
Reporter: Why, the giant man.
Congressman: Oh, as - as far I know that matter doesn’t come under congressional jurisdiction. Uh, I was given to understand the Dept. of Medical Research takes over from this point on………..
********
(Newspaper report)
LOS ANGELES TIMES
A COLOSSAL PROBLEM!
After the heroic capture of the colossal-sized Glen Manning by means of a truck loaded with drugged bread, an attempt was made to bring him back to the United States.
Before the troop transport plane conveying Manning could land, there was massive confusion as to what to do with him. Neither Congress, the Dept. of Medical Research, the Health and Welfare Dept., or even the Pentagon were willing to accept responsibility for Manning.
As it turned out, the problem was taken out of bureaucratic hands when the transport plane ran low on fuel and was forced to land in Los Angeles. Despite objections, Manning was taken to a hangar at the Los Angeles Airport and secured with chains.
Manning will be kept in the hangar until Washington is able to decide what is to be done with him.
********
COLOSSAL FREAK ESCAPES!!
RAMPAGING COLOSSUS TERRORISES CITY!!
COLOSSAL BEAST SUBDUED!!
********
Media Interview
Reporter: What’s to be done with the giant man after his being subdued with the anaesthetic?
Major Baird: He’ll be held right here until a decision has been made “what’s to be done with it.”
Reporter: Is there still any danger posed by having him restrained here?
Major Baird: “Well, he’s too weak to break loose at the moment. He lost considerable blood in his attempt to escape. Besides that, we’ve taken extra precautions with him.”
Reporter: Like what?
Major Baird: “We keep a watch on him day and night. Those manacles were specially wrought to stand 10 times his estimated strength. We have anchored them in cement weighing two tons and some 12 feet in the earth. Guards have been doubled, and we keep a reserve force on stand-by duty.”
Reporter: It certainly sounds like you have taken appropriate measures, “but you can’t expect to keep him here for life. Do you have any idea what’ll happen to him eventually?”
Major Baird: “Well, that depends.”
Reporter: “You see any hope that he’ll ever improve?”
Major Baird: “Well, I’d rather have you ask Dr Carmichael” as Manning is his patient.
Dr Carmichael: “Well, the big question now is his mind. He may be suffering from amnesia, shell-shock, loss of memory, whatever you want to call it. In that case, we have techniques now that will bring him out of it. On the other hand, if his brain tissue has suffered injury, he’ll be a psychopathic case and a menace until he dies.”
Reporter: “Is there any way of telling?”
Dr Carmichael: “An examination would do that.”
Reporter: “How soon can you proceed with it?”
Dr Carmichael: “Almost immediately” and when we have the findings we’ll be able to decide what’s to be done with Manning.
*******
MEDICAL REPORT
Dr Aloysius Carmichael
Subject: Lt. Col. Glenn Manning
Purpose: Procedure to elicit recollection & recall of subject’s identity and past life.
Procedure: Electroencephalograph to record impulses set off by different parts of the brain by stimulation of patient’s mind using various ideas via an association test to arouse a response causing a tiny electrical current to occur in his brain.
Aim: To determine likelihood of patient recovery with diagnosis of curable amnesia.
Results: Testing failed to illicit any articulate or coherent vocal response from subject, with the exception of inarticulate grunts and anguished cries and groans. As the subject displays a normal nervous reaction, amnesia can be ruled out. A diagnosis of brain trauma is indicated. It is to be concluded that the subject in his current state will be unable to live among human society in any viable way.
********
Media Interview
Major Baird: As you are by now aware, the results of the tests performed on Col. Manning [indicates the presence of the restrained and sedated hulk of Manning] has left us with no other possible course of action. He is scheduled to be transported by a navy ship to a deserted island, “a small one, about 60 miles off the coast.”
Reporter: But how will Manning survive?
Major Baird: “He’ll be well provided for. An airlift is being set up, and food will be parachuted down to him. He’ll be supplied with everything he needs.”
Reporter: It seems horrible just the same, Major. After all, it’s not his fault that he’s become the way he is.
Major Baird: I know, but “there’s no place in the civilized world for a creature that big….he’ll be happier by himself.”
Reporter: Still, Major, you can’t blame anyone for feeling terribly sorry for him.
Major Baird: Sure, but look at it this way: Manning has become “a…monster with the instincts of a wild beast and there’s nothing you and I, or anyone else can ever do that will change him back to what he once was.”
[Background sound of groaning and of the snapping of a chain]
Reporter: “Will he be alone on this island?”
Major Baird: “The navy will land an inspection party every month.” Now, if you’ll excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I still have some work to do finalizing the arrangements…..
********
TV News Report
“We interrupt our regular program to bring you a special police bulletin. The Colossal Man has broken loose and is now known to be in the vicinity of Griffith Park.”
“Steps are being taken to recapture him. Do not go near the area. I repeat, do not go near the area. You may endanger your life by doing so and you are certain to impede emergency services which need all the space they can get.”
“This station is dispatching a mobile unit for on the spot coverage at the scene in Griffith Park.”
********
Mobile TV Unit Report
Reporter: This is Sean Spicer reporting from Griffith Park on the events surrounding the recent escape bid by “The Colossal Man,” Col. Glenn Manning.
So far armoured artillery has been ordered up to surround the area while infantry troops are to be moved in on Manning until contact is made with him. Manning will only be fired upon when he’s “isolated from all civilians, and then, only if absolutely necessary.”
Access roads have been blocked off and the military have set up field headquarters in the hills…….
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re witnessing a manhunt for the biggest man in existence.” As I already mentioned, we’re in Griffith Park and it’s been surrounded by troops who are trying to make contact.
“That building you see up there is the Griffith Observatory. Now the searchlights are swinging over to our left.
I’ve just received word that a busload of kids were in the Griffith Observatory “looking for Sputnik or something” but it’s not certain if they have gotten out of the park yet.
In the meantime, I’d like you to meet some of the officers working here with the army to restore order. Any trouble with the public causing congestion of the disaster area?”
Officer in Charge: “Not this time. They seem to be keeping the roads pretty well open for us.”
Spicer: “I understand you were able to get everyone out of the park before anything could happen to them.”
Officer: That’s right.
Spicer: “Well, we really appreciate you men at a time like this.” By the way, I did just receive a report that “there was a school bus from Westmont Junior High up at the Planetarium tonight. Did you see it come down?”
Officer: “All cars were checked out of the park some time ago.”
[A woman with a distraught look on her face stands nearby and approaches clutching a coat close to her]
Woman: “Are you sure? My daughter Laurie was on it. I’ve been waiting for her down at the corner.”
Officer: “There’s nothing for you to worry about, ma’m. The bus is still up there, but it seems to be safe.”
Woman: “Can’t I go through? Let me go to Laurie, please. She ought to have her coat. I wanted her to take it when she left the house this morning, only I forgot to remind her.
Officer: She’ll be all right without it.
Spicer: Hang on….Something appears to be happening now…..it’s the giant. Quick, get a shot of the giant!
[The camera shifts its view toward the direction of the observatory and the looming presence of Manning. The sound of screaming and the hubbub of shock, horror and confusion are picked up by Spicer’s microphone.]
“Look! Look at the giant!”
“There he is!”
“He’s tremendous!”
[As the sound of Manning’s angry and anguished groans and grunts can be heard, an amplified voice is discharged from a megaphone toward Manning.]
“Glenn Manning…You’re surrounded. It’s impossible for you to escape. My men have orders to fire on you if you try…..Give yourself up! You wont be harmed if you’ll give yourself up at once….Give yourself up, Glenn. Give yourself up!....Surrender yourself or you will be destroyed!”
*********
(Newspaper report excerpt)
LOS ANGELES TIMES
COLOSSAL BEAST’S SHOCKING END COMES
BEFORE WAR BEGINS!!
……threatened to throw a school-bus filled with children at stunned crowds below and the military sent to subdue him.
Manning’s hitherto unknown sister, Joyce Manning managed to persuade her giant brother to put the bus down thus saving all on board.
Some spark of humanity must have remained within Manning as he seems to have performed a deliberate and supreme act of self-sacrifice by electrocuting himself to death by coming into contact with high voltage power lines…….
*********
Points of Interest
War of the Colossal Beast is a sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), and it picks up where that one left off. However, the film features a different cast. It was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the top half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
Unlike the first film, the character of Manning virtually has no dialogue which makes it far more difficult to feel empathy for the character.
The special effects are pretty ordinary by any standards with great reliance made on double exposure shots. However, quite a good job was made with Manning’s facial make-up and the audio of his character’s grunts and groans which effectively contribute to the “horror” aspect of the film.
The film is short enough as it is but unfortunately much of it consists of flashback footage from the first film which merely serves to pad the movie.
Despite the film’s title, the 'Colossal Beast' does not really engage in much of a “war” with anyone. For much of the time we see Manning being captured, him lying on his back and some military vehicles being maneuvered into position.
The War of the Colossal Beast does serve to highlight one important and relevant theme that threads itself through many aspects of life in any era. Namely, how we choose to deal with big and seemingly intractable problems which are often of our own making. These can involve international relations, trade arrangements between countries, climate change, terrorism, law and order and so on. Sometimes we try to deal with them by use of blunt force when other more sensible and effective methods could be employed. Just as we think such problems have been dealt with, and we retreat back into a state of smug self-congratulatory complacency, they have a tendency to resurface bigger and badder than ever to bite us in the ass / arse when we least expect it!
I hope you enjoyed this volume of Sci-Fi Film Fiesta.
Keep an eye out for Volume 11: “A Tribute To…..”
It will be the final volume in the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta eBook series featuring science fiction films from the 1950s.
Useful Resources
Atkinson, Barry., Atomic Age Cinema The Offbeat, the Classic and the Obscure, Midnight Marquee Press, Inc.; 2013
Bliss, Michael., Invasions USA The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.
Chambers, Jim., Recollections: A Baby Boomer's Memories of the Fabulous Fifties, Lulu.com, 2009
Fischer, Dennis., Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998, McFarland, 2011
Christopher, Frayling., Mad, Bad and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema, Reaktion Books; 2006
Geraghty, Lincoln., American Science Fiction Film and Television, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009
Glassy, Mark C., The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema., McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, 2001
Hendershot, Cyndy., Paranoia, The Bomb, And 1950s Science Fiction Films, University of Wisconsin Press, 1999
Hogan, David J. (Editor)., Invasion USA: Essays on Anti-Communist Movies of the 1950s and 1960s, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, 2017
Koca, Gary., Good and Bad Sci-Fi/Horror Movies of the 1950s: And the Stars Who Were in Those Films, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017
Moore, Theresa M., & Carlyle, Patrick C., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1950-1954, Antellus, 2019
Moore, Theresa M., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1955-1956, Antellus, 2019
Moore, Theresa M., Science Fiction Films of The 20th Century 1958 Anrellus, 2019
Seed, David., Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction., Oxford University Press, 2011
Warren, Bill., Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties: McFarland; 21st Century Edition, 2016
Useful Links To On-Line Resources
1. The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
2. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
3. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
4. Attack Of The Puppet People (1958)
5. War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
DVD / Streaming:
• A Century of Science Fiction, 1996 Directed by Ted Newsom., American Documentary, narrated by Christopher Lee (available free on Tubitv and showing on other streaming services)
• Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists! Marshall Publishing & Promotions, Inc. 2021 (Stream on Tubi tv for free)
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