Village of the Giants

Bert I. Gordon, during the 50s, brought us giant grasshoppers, cycloptic giant men, and shrunken "puppet people" was still at it. Gordon loosely adapted H.G. Wells' Food of the Gods to make the screenplay for Village of the Giants (VG). Where Wells was serious, Gordon was not. VG is a little bit sci-fi (as were most of Gordon's "giant stuff" films), but mostly his film is a comic farce, pandering to sex-obsessed teen audiences. VG stars Beau Bridges as the bad teens' leader. Ron Howard stars as the Opie-like boy genius and Joy Harmon's chest co-stars. The movie has a LOT of dancing, lots of light-rock music, and teens-rule themes.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A group of partying teens have crashed their T-bird on the washed out road to Hainesville. Their leader, Fred, liked a local girl there, so they walk to town, intent on causing some trouble. In Hainesville, Nancy's little brother "Genius" accidently creates some orange foam which causes their pets (who eat some) to grow very large. The two large ducks show up at a go-go club where the Beau Brummels are playing. Everyone accepts the giant ducks dancing. Comic moments aplenty. Fred (Beau Bridges) figures the giantism is a ticket to quick fortune. Eventually, his gang steal the remaining hunk of goo, eat it and all become 30' giants. Dressed in theater curtains as makeshift togas and bandeau bikinis, the gang assert their control over Hainesville. They boast of their power and dance a lot, mostly for the heck of it. To ensure cooperation of the townsfolk, they've kidnapped the Sheriff's whiny 8 year old daughter, and Nancy. They keep them in a closed theater. The townsfolk have to fetch fried chicken and Coke for the giants. Fred delivers a treatise on adult oppression of teens. Mike has Genius brew up a batch of ether. Mike taunts the giants away from the theater with a David and Goliath reenactment. Thus lured away, Mike's friends sneak into the theater and apply the ether to giant Merrie. Everyone escapes. Meanwhile, the giants have Mike trapped on the steps of City Hall. To save the day, Genius rides up on his bicycle. A canister on the back spews orange smoke. In an attempt to make more giant-making goo, Genius accidently created an antidote. The orange smoke causes the giants to shrink back to normal size. Thus embarrassed at their lack of power, and clothing, the bad teens run away. Out at the edge of town, a group of midgets ask them if Hainesville was the town with the giant goo. ha ha yes. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a time-capsule of mid-60s culture, VG has many nuggets of interest. The decorum of the 50s was wearing thin. The wilder hedonism of the later 60s was dawning. Early Beatles-style rock and early 60s crooning was still in vogue, but note the dancing. The fairly sedate "Twist" was replaced by much more vigorous total-body thrashing.

Cold War Angle
There are no Cold War metaphors. VG attempts to focus on teen obsessions.

Notes
B.I.G. Product -- Gordon had a niche for himself with the small-things-made-big gimmick or its reverse, big-things-made-small. For a change, VG was a comedy, but used the same special effects techniques -- there is even a giant spider scene, perhaps a nod to the 50s.

Beau Brummels -- They are the band playing in the Go Go club. 1965 was the big year for the rock band, "The Beau Brummels." They never rose above second-teir status, with only a few songs in the top 40. Their best was No. 8. They got the name from an 19th century englishman, famed as a fashion plate. Brummel may be credited with getting men's fashion out of knickers and tights and wigs, and into trousers, suits and ties. Viewers will note that the band members are dressed in old fashioned suit coats and Col. Sanders-style ribbon ties. Old fashioned attire was their stage gimmick. The band did not last long. A couple members were drafted into the military, and one was too sick to perform.

Treasure Chest -- Gordon makes the most of actress Joy Harmon's 41" assets. Much footage is invested in watching her upstairs while she dances. Joy's other memorable movie moment was in Cool Hand Luke ('67) as Lucille, the girl who does the lathery car wash scene. Gordon had a giant model of her chest made up for the scenes in which Horsey is "riding" on her bandeau top while she dances. Perhaps this was figured to be a teen boy fantasy -- riding bucking-bronco style, on a rack the size of a sofa. That moment was chosen for the poster. Gordon was not shy about sexual innuendos in his script. For example, in the rescue scene, Mike's friend Horsey looks down from the catwalk to Joy's ample bosom. "This is gonna take two hands." -- meaning that he couldn't hold onto the ether-cotton AND climb down the rope. Riiigght.

Pandering to Rebels -- Most likely reflecting Gordon's stereotyped notion of what disaffected teens think, he has Fred deliver the rebel-teen's manifesto while talking to captive Nancy. "In this town, for the first time in my life, I'm a big man, not the adults. It's like 'don't' is the only word they know. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't drive too fast. Well, in this town, nobody is going to say 'don't' to ME." Yet, he and the other giant delinquents have no other agenda beyond eating a lot and dancing with abandon. Stereotyped as it was, Gordon's disaffected teens (most of them actually in their 20s) have an 'edge' to them which the later-60s youth (hippies, anti-war protesters, druggies, etc.) would have.

Pre-Woodstock -- Gordon must be credited with capturing a pop moment before it happened. At the opening of the film the gang of delinquent (but otherwise well dressed) "teens" get out of the stuck T-bird. They were drinking beers and listening to rock music, so continue to do so outside, in the rain. They gyrate with eros-laden abandon, finally wallowing together in the thick mud, their hair hanging in wet ropy strings, the music blaring. It's hard not to see a foretaste of Woodstock in that scene.

Bottom line? VG is a shallow and predictable comedy, the humor of which is fairly juvenile and "lite" sexual. Some of Gordon's visual effects work well (like the dancing ducks), while others are not his best work. For fans of the "giant" sub-genre, VG can be amusing. Anyone looking for the serious themes of Wells' novel, will be disappointed. VG is a benign comic farce.

Mysterious Island

Columbia released yet another adaptation of a Jules Verne story in late 1961. Mysterious Island (MI) tries to follow Verne's novel as much as Hollywood tended to. Variations aside, the big screen, bigger budget production has more special effects and even some Ray Harryhausen animation to provide an almost modern level of eye candy. Even though the science part of the fiction is pretty thin, there is more than enough action to make up for it.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Three Union soldiers, a war correspondent and an unwilling Southern soldier flee a Richmond prison in 1865. A huge storm blows them far out into the Pacific. The balloon tears and they land on an island. They are joined by Lady Mary and her niece Elena, shipwrecked. The seven set up a camp and begin work on a boat. They encounter a giant crab and a giant bird chick. Both provide ample food. Elena and Herbert develop a love interest and become trapped in a giant bee honeycomb. Some pirates arrive to replenish supplies. A gun fight ensues until the pirate ship blows up and sinks. Captain Nemo is revealed as the cause of the sinking and other mysterious events on the island. He reports that the volcano will soon blow up. Everyone's only hope is to repair the sunken ship, pump it full of air from the Nautilus and refloat it. Everyone sets to their chores to do so, but the volcano erupts sooner than expected. Nemo despairs, but Captain X suggests they repair their balloon and use it to quickly float the ship. While arranging all this, Pencroft is grabbed by a giant squid beast. Herbert uses Nemo's electric gun to make it retreat. Nemo turns on the pumps. The ship refloats. Everyone climbs aboard, but the eruption traps Nemo aboard the Nautilus as the volcano causes massive damage. The seven sail away, vowing to work for a peaceful world as Nemo would have wanted. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Despite deviations from Verne's novel, MI has a well crafted and action packed screenplay. The special effects are still effective, even in today's CGI world.

Cold War Angle
The message via Nemo is clearly anti-war, though nothing is particularly nuclear.

Notes
Nemo III -- MI marks the third appearance of Nemo references in 1961 films. It is also the most clearly Nemo. The first was Master of the World which featured Robur as a sort of airborne Nemo, opposing war as well. The second was Atlantis which featured a Nautilus-like submarine. Interestingly, MI included some submerged Greek ruins as an unnamed reference to Atlantis. MI was the most blatant of the three Nemo films in featuring Nemo himself.

Typical Nemo -- The writers paid homage to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by making their Nemo (Herbert Lom) very similarly to Disney's Nemo (James Mason). They even have their Nemo play Bach's Toccata and Fuge in D minor on the pipe organ.

Gotta Have Women -- As with most Hollywood adaptations, the writers inserted two female characters which Verne did not have. The young and voluptuous Elena (Beth Rogan) provides the usual love-interest for young Herbert, who are then the modern movie demographic interest. Elena gets to wear a very short goatskin dress with a cleavage enhancing neckline -- a ticket-selling scheme in the Hollywood tradition. Young Herbert, just to be fair, gets to run around in just shorts so the ladies can enjoy his shirtlessness.

Naive Peacenik -- MI's Nemo monologues about stopping war by solving world hunger via his huge animal technology. The assumption is that people fight wars over food. Yet, even the Civil War, which Verne used as a background, had nothing to do with anyone's lack of food. Even with Nemo's giant chickens, men would still find things to fight over.

Second Go-Round --Ten years earlier, in 1951, Columbia produced a theatrical serial of "Mysterious Island." This, too, followed the novel to various degrees, although it added some aliens from the planet Mercury, who had ray guns. It starred Richard Crane as Captain Harding. Crane would go on to star as Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Gene Roth, who often played the villain in early 50s serials, did so here too, as the pirate captain.

All Hail Harryhausen! -- Ray Harryhausen lends his talent to make the various giant creatures come to life. His unmistakable touch can be seen in the giant crab, the giant chick and of course, the sinister squid-beast near the end.

Bottom line? MI is entertaining and captivating, even today. It is well worth the effort to find a copy.

Konga

Producer-writer Herman Cohen blatantly tried to milk some of the cache of the classic King Kong. His story had little in common with the classic, beyond featuring a giant gorilla at the end. Konga combines the favorite old trope of a mysterious jungle drug with a frankenstein-esque zeal for tampering with nature and the usual mayhem of a giant (whatever) loose on city streets. Toss in a bit of love triangle and a woman scorned and you've got it.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Professor Decker is presumed lost in a jungle plane crash, but surfaces a year later. He reports discovering some amazing carnivorous plants and a way to merge plant and animal DNA. He grows some of the plants, and extracts the juice. This he injects in a young chimp named Konga, who becomes a full grown chimp. Decker resumes teaching, but college Dean wants to retire him for his outlandish claims. Decker injects Konga again, this time turning him into a gorilla. Decker hypnotizes Konga to go kill the Dean. He does. Margaret, Decker's assistant extracts a promise of marriage for her silence. The professor, however, has a wayward eye for a blonde student named Sandra who wears pointy bras. At a dinner party, Decker meets a rival scientist who claims to have discovered what Decker has. Decker hypnotizes Konga again and the rival dies. Sandra's boyfriend Bob is upset over the professor's lechery. Konga is again sent, and Bob dies. Decker invites Sandra over to "console her." His real intent is to profess his love for her and desire for her to be his assistant. Margaret overhears and sees the groping. Enraged, she injects Konga with even more plant serum. He grows larger than the house. He kills Margaret. Sandra is taken by a carnivorous plant. Konga grabs Decker and walks downtown. Konga ables about, frightening a large crowd. The police and army arrive. They all fire at Konga, now half a s tall as Big Ben. Upset at the firing, Konga flings Decker to the street, dead. The bullets finally kill Konga, who shrinks back into a baby chimp laying beside dead Decker. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
This mixing of some tried-and-true tropes gives Konga a familiar feel. Gough's acting animated to the point of over-the-top, but he's certainly not dull.

Cold War Angle
Much like the original Kong, Konga has no real Cold War messages. Instead, the moral is the older cautionary tale about the dangers of science.

Notes
Kong's Coat Tails -- Writer / Producer Herman Cohen was unashamed about trying to cash in on the popularity of the classic. The posters were blatant. "Not since King Kong..." This was not simply promotional hype. Cohen named the chimp Konga and has Decker tell Margaret that (with the treatments) Konga will the first in a long line of kings.

...Like a Cheap Suit -- The one huge problem that Konga has, is that the gorilla was not stop-motion animation, as was King Kong. The posters hint at animation by stating that "SectraMation" was used. Instead, Konga is portrayed by a man in a conventional gorilla suit. Many viewers cannot get past this. Perhaps the gorilla suit was a budget necessity, but it manages to overshadow just about anything else Cohen had right. Like the original Kong, viewers could almost feel sorry for little Konga, but it is hard to feel sorry for a guy in a gorilla suit.

Evil Scientist -- Michael Gough plays a professor Decker who is a fairly two dimensional villain. He has almost no redeeming qualities. Instead, we are given a very dark view of research scientists. He is arrogant, rude, a glory hog and lecherous and more than willing to kill to get his way. His key role is embodying the traditional scientist hubris of thinking he can tamper with and control nature. As per the customary end, he dies at the hands of his own creation.

Psuedo-Evolution -- Some viewers scoff at the growth serum turning Konga the chimp into a gorilla: a different species. If you listen to Decker's techno-blather, however, you hear him claim to be able to "speed up evolution." An earlier populist notion was that chimps evolved into gorillas and then gorillas evolved into men. (hence the popular "ape man" character as the missing link in that theory).

Bottom line? Konga is not that bad as a story. The pace keeps moving, even if in predictable ways. The man-in-gorilla-suit is a sticking point for many viewers. If you don't let that derail you, the movie is entertaining enough.

War of the Colossal Beast

This sequel to Bert I. Gordon's popular movie The Amazing Colossal Man is actually the third in a giant-bald-man series. In some ways, War of the Colossal Beast (WoCB) is partially a remake of that first movie, The Cyclops ('57). WoCB picks up the story after the inconclusive ending of The Amazing Colossal Man, repeats some plot elements from both prior movies and then finishes the tale.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Something is hijacking trucks of food in Mexico. This attracts the attention of Joyce Manning, sister of Col. Glen Manning (The Amazing Colossal Man) who was presumed lost when he fell off of Hoover Dam. A search reveals large footprints. Manning did survive and is raiding trucks for food. They spike a bunch of bread loaves with sedative. They drive the spiked bread truck in his territory to attract The Beast. It works. He eats and he's asleep. He's flown back to Los Angeles and kept sedated in an airplane hangar. The doctors run tests to see if The Beast is a man needing therapy or just a brain-damaged beast. Even though The Beast has flashback dreams of his former life. He breaks loose, but is gassed and recaptured. He doesn't respond to the doctors' tests. They plan to drop him on a remote island. That night, he breaks his chains and escapes into the hills. Surprisingly, he can't be found. He is eventually found at the Griffith Park observatory. A bus load of junior high school students are trapped there. The Beast picks up the bus to throw at the army search lights, but Joyce drives up and convinces him to put the bus down. He does. "Joyce..." he says in a raspy voice. He walks away despondent, turns and intentionally grabs a high-tension power line, electrocuting himself. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's fun to compare the similarities between The Cyclops and The Amazing Colossal Man.

Cold War Angle
The the late 50s, it was becoming almost cliche to assert that radiation can do terrible things. The Beast is yet another personification of radiation ruining lives and posing a destructive hazard to minding-their-own-business citizens.

Notes
Dual Sequel -- WoCB follows the usual route of most monster sequels. The monster is revived and put into a new, but similar, situation. Some original movie footage is replayed. Usually, the end is about the same too. WoCB is true to form. Yet, WoCB also reworks Gordon's The Cyclops plot too. A woman searching for her lost loved one in the wilds of Mexico. Dean Parkin plays the giant in both, both times sporting some mutant face make-up and grunting like a cave man.

Another Kong -- As with the first two bald giant movies, WoCB recycles the King Kong theme of the tragic monster. Gordon tries to ensure that the viewer will feel sympathy for The Beast. The dream sequence, particularly, leaves no doubt that the man, Glen Manning, lives within the mutant Beast. As with Kong, this makes his final destruction a relief, but a tragic one.

Colorful Ending -- A surprise at the end of the movie, when The Beast grabs the power lines, the film shifts from black and white to color. This might be an attempt at some artistic meaning (Manning expressed his "full" humanity by sacrificing himself?), or it could simply be a producers putting in a bit of wow for the sake of wow.

Poster Driven? -- The poster for WoCB has a powerful image, rather like the 50 Foot Woman did. The actual scene is less horrific -- no one falls out of the bus. Perhaps the poster art came first and some sort of bus hefting scene had to be worked in. As a concession to a growing segment of movie watchers, the bus was full of junior high school students.

Bottom line? War of the Colossal Beast is like many other sequels in being a retread. If you liked the original(s), WoCB is another serving.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

Released as the double-bill with Corman's War of the Satellites, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (A50W) is not a particularly good B movie even by 50s standards. Yet, it lives on in American popular culture -- perhaps more for its poster than the movie itself. It typifies 50s B sci-fi, even for people unfamiliar with the genre. There are oodles of amateur "Attack of the 50 foot (whatever)" posters or images. A50W had enough of a cult following to merit being remade in 1993. The original was typically weak on special effects and sketchy on plot, but it's a camp classic nonetheless.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A TV announcer tells of people around the globe spotting a floating red ball. Nancy Archer is a wealthy but highly troubled woman. She's speeding along the desert roads at night, fleeing her problems. A glowing ball settles on the highway in front of her. A giant man reaches for her, but she runs back to town. No one believes her because of her drinking problem and having been institutionalized before. Her shifty husband is more interested in his floozy. Nonetheless, he pretends to be the good husband in hopes that Nancy will 'snap' and return to the 'booby hatch.' She convinces him to search the desert with her, looking for the "satellite". Eventually, they find it. The giant emerges. Harry flees, leaving Nancy behind. Later, Nancy is found on the roof of her pool house. She's sedated by her doctor. Harry thinks to give her a lethal injection of sedative, but when he goes up to her room, he finds she's grown into a giant. The sheriff and Nancy's butler find and explore the alien's spherical ship. Seems the giant alien needs diamonds, perhaps for fuel. The giant alien interrupts, trashes their car so they walk back. Nancy awakens and breaks free. Determined to find her wayward husband, she breaks through the roof of her house, and stomps off to town. In town, she takes the roof off the bar. A beam falls on the floozy, killing her. Nancy picks up Harry and walks way. The sheriff shoots at her to no apparent effect, but accidentally hits a power line transformer. It blows up near Nancy and kills her. Harry lies crushed in her huge hand. She got her man. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Weak as it might be, this is one the iconic sci-fi movies of 50s. It is fun to see how much mileage they got out of the simple effects and a giant rubber hand.

Cold War Angle
This is more of cheesecake than commies -- more soap opera than soviets.

Notes
Allison Hayes -- A former beauty queen, Allison had little trouble finding acting roles, but had a hard time breaking out of the B market. She played the troubled beauty (again) in The Unearthly ('57). Giant Nancy's costume of a bandeau top and miniskirt showed off her statuesque pin-up physique very well. A50W was not her best movie, it has proven to be her most memorable.

Dual Deus Ex Machina -- In A50W we get both of the 50s favorite 'ghosts in the machine' to spark the story -- aliens and radiation. The alien is the classic deus ex machina in that he simply drops in, causes the situation and leaves, with no connection to anything. The radiation of his touch provides the necessary magic to make poor Nancy grow to 50 foot size.

Feminist Undertones? -- Some read into A50W feminist metaphors about women becoming empowered, etc. Indeed, this seems to have been the spin taken in the '93 remake. Listening to the scripted dialogue, however, and noting the action, undermine this slant. Nancy is a woman who desperately needs her husband -- no matter how big a louse he is. When she's a giant, her one thought is to reclaim her man, keeping her marriage intact. Not classic feminist ideals.

Giant Fad -- Things-made-big was a recurring feature in 50s sci-fi. Giant ants in Them!, Godzilla stomping a model Tokyo, and other assorted giant critters, were common. Giant people had a brief heyday in '57 and '58 with Bert I. Gordon's three Colossal men. Mark Hanna was a screenplay writer on Amazing Colossal Man. He wrote for A50W, creating a giant babe to balance the books.

Leftover Giant -- The giant alien's costume is quite the anachronism. Instead of silvery suits with big shoulder pads and a lightning bolt on his chest, this alien wears a studded leather vest. To complete the strangely medieval flavor, he has a coat of arms on his chest with three fleur de lis -- proof that the ancient French kings beat the Russians into space.

Fancy Fins -- Car buffs can appreciate Nancy's big '58 Imperial convertible. These were the glory days of chrome-bedecked land yachts. Even her utility car -- the '58 Plymouth station wagon -- has soaring tail fins.

Morph-mobile -- A fun bit of budget saving comes when the giant picks up Nancy's station wagon (which the sheriff was using). The big rubber hand (with hairy knuckles) "grabs" the '58 Plymouth. There's a brief glimpse of giant lifting what looks like a dealer's model of a '51 Nash Deliveryman over his head. Then cut to a rollover clip of a 1952 Chevy Styleline DeLuxe station wagon. Finally, cut back to the sheriff coming up to a damaged '58 Plymouth wagon. Do only car buffs notice such things?

Single-handed Success -- The producers got as much mileage as they could out of their one custom prop -- the eight-foot long rubber hand. They put hair on the fingers and back when it was the giant's hand (reaching for Nancy, wrecking the car). To represent the giant Nancy at home, we get the rubber hand in chains. At the bar, the hand reaches for Harry, finally getting him. No doubt that hand cost a lot for a B-movie, so they got as much use out of it as they could.

Bottom line? People easily upset by low budget productions, or people expecting a gripping story would likely be frustrated. A50W is no epic. For fans of 50s sci-fi, however, it's worth the time to experience the cultural landmark that A50W was.

The Amazing Colossal Man

Bert I. Gordon produced (wrote and directed) quite a few "big" monster movies in the 50s, but The Amazing Colossal Man (ACM) is probably his most famous. To make the central character into a giant, Gordon re-uses many of the low-budget techniques from his earlier giant-thing films. By mid-50s standards, his effects were mediocre. The story does not hinge on the effects, fortunately. Gordon's ACM is, in many ways, the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man in reverse. Like the shrinking man, the colossal man manages to evoke sympathy rather than horror. Gordon first toyed with a giant man story in The Cyclops earlier in 1957. This second giant-man story has much more depth. The third giant-man film, War of the Colossal Beast is supposedly a sequel. It will be reviewed later.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Troops are in trenches near a Nevada test site for the first test of a new plutonium bomb. The bomb fails to explode as expected. A small airplane with engine trouble crash lands in the area. Colonel Glenn Manning rushes out to try to save any survivors before the bomb does go off, but it detonates as he runs to the plane. He survives, but is burned over 95% of his body. Doctors don't expect him to live. Miraculously, the next day his skin is 100% healed. His body is also growing. Despite a veil of army and bureaucratic secrecy, Manning's fiance, finds him, as an 18' giant. Manning is tormented in his dreams and cannot accept his bizarre fate. They keep Carol on hand as a calming influence. While he grows 10 feet taller each day, doctors are at a loss for how to help. Manning's heart is not growing as quickly, so soon his mind will suffer. A few days later and he'll die. Doctors think they have a cure, but Manning runs away into the desert. They find him near Las Vegas. He's not lucid, but a lumbering simpleton. The police fire at him. He tears up some casino landmarks. The army doctor gives him the injection via a 6 foot long hypodermic. In anger, Manning kills the doctor, grabs up Carol and plods onto Boulder Dam. When he puts Carol down, the army blasts him. He falls into the frothy outwash below. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It is interesting to see the story of The Incredible Shrinking Man told in reverse. There are a few thoughtful moments which try to pull this low-budget B movie into a more meaningful plane.

Cold War Angle
The dangers of nuclear bombs and nuclear testing were intertwined with war angst. Like the giant ants in Them! and Godzilla, Manning becomes a sort of poster child for things in this new atomic age going horribly wrong.

Notes
Asking the BIG Question -- Like many people throughout time, Manning asks "What sin can a man commit, in a single lifetime, to bring this upon himself?" As the engaged, heroic young man, Manning typifies what the world would call a "good" man. Yet, he suffers a terrible fate. The movie does not attempt to answer his question.

Bald Kong -- Once he's a giant, Manning recreates scenes made famous in King Kong. He peeks through a window at a woman. He smashes some local landmarks. He ventures atop a famous landmark clutching the blonde beauty. He puts her down and is shot by the military. He falls to his death (or so we assume). Also like Kong, the viewer feels some sympathy for him -- a misunderstood giant, torn from his originally happy life, stranded among small-minded people, smitten with blondes.

Radiation Supreme -- In the 50s, popular imagination had not settled on just what radiation might do. It was still too much of an unknown. Radiation might mutate someone into shrinking. On the other hand, it might mutate someone into growing! Radiation might cause immortality, or premature aging. It might yield super strength or invisibility. No one knew. It is this anxious wonder that runs through many 50s sci-fi films.

Fun With Needles -- Once the doctors have what they think is a cure for the giantism Manning suffers, they had to create a giant hypodermic needle to deliver it. Notice that the prop department simply enlarged a regular hypo. It has huge finger loops and is marked with huge numbers. Like the normal-sized doctors needed those things? Once they inject Manning, he pulls out the painful needle, throws it like a dart, and impales Major Coulter. Not your typical movie moment.

Viva Las Vegas -- Looking rather like blatant product-placement, the giant tours and interacts with several famous Las Vegas casinos. He ponders the big plastic sultan of The Dunes' sign -- a giant like him. He peeks at a bathing woman at the Riviera. He puzzles over and plays with the giant crown atop the Royal Nevada. He smashes the sign of The Sands. He plucks off the big shoe from the Silver Slipper. He stands eye to eye with the famous big cowboy of the Pioneer Club. When a policeman fires at him, Manning smashes the cowboy and throws parts at the policeman. Manning walks out of town, past the conspicuous sign for the Riviera. Did some casino owners help Gordon with funding?

Bottom line? ACM was not the first 'giant' movie, or the best, nor would it be the last. It is the most remembered. What it lacked in budget, it made up in earnestness. It's one of the 50s sci-fi "B" classics.

The Cyclops

Bert I. Gordon wrote, produced, directed and handled some of the photographic effects in this mutant monster movie. In many ways, Cyclops is just another radiation-spawned monster. Like Lost World or King Dinosaur, people travel to a remote place in search of something, only to discover a valley of giant animals. This B.I.G. production follows the very familiar path and brings nothing new to the genre of photographically-created giants. It is, however, a prototype for his more famous Amazing Colossal Man later in 1957. AND, Cyclops is like a first version of the sequel to Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast in 1958.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Susan has hired three men to help her look for her fiance, lost in some remote Mexican mountains three years prior. Russ, a biologist, Marty, a uranium prospector and Lee, the pilot fly into the restricted mountains. Their small plane is forced down by downdrafts. Marty is happy because his sensor says there is uranium ore all around. While searching the area, Susan and Russ encounter some giant, but otherwise ordinary, animals. There is some friction in the group, but Susan is resolute to search for her lost Bruce. She finds a piece of Bruce's crashed plane, but is abducted by "it." The men search for her, following a trail of crashed plane parts to a cave. Inside the cave are more parts, and Susan acting all hysterical. The 25 foot tall, bald-headed mutant with one eye growls at them at the entrance. They retreat beyond arm's reach. Russ theorizes that the native radiation has allowed animals there to keep growing. Their pituitary glands don't stop them. Later, Susan talks to it, soothing it. Marty angers the giant by taking a shot at it. The giant kills Marty and takes Susan out of the cave. He sets her on a rock. While regarding her, a giant snake attacks. The three take the opportunity to escape. The giant must be radiation-mutated Bruce. They run to the plane. The engine doesn't start, so Russ tries to distract the giant away from the plane. Cornered on a cliff, Russ uses a crude spear to stab the giant in his only eye. They get in the plane and start to take off, but the blind giant stands in their way. They narrowly clear his flailing arms. Susan looks back, in pity. The giant lays down, as if to die. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The usual B.I.G. photo effects, especially of an iguana fighting with a gila monster, are so typical of this sub-genre, that it is amusing to see them yet again. The acting of Gloria Talbott is good. Lon Chaney is actually fairly entertaining in this movie. Paul Frees, famous for his deep narrator voice, provides the giant's grunts and roars. In Cyclops, we get a foretaste of giant men movies yet to come, such as The Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast, both also B.I.G. productions.

Cold War Angle
The only connection to the Cold War is the ubiquitous use of radiation as the Deus ex machina which turns nature into monsters.

Notes
BIG Style -- Bert I. Gordon was famous for his things-shot-big movies. To some, his signature photographic technique typifies low-budget 50s monster sci-fi. Cyclops is a lesser-known example of the sub-genre, but very clearly a member of it. Others in Gordon's things-shot-large franchise include: King Dinosaur ('55) with lizards masquerading as dinosaurs and Beginning of the End ('57) with grasshoppers cast as mutant giants.

Giant Trilogy -- Cyclops could be seen as the first of a trio of Gordon's giant man films. The first story is unrelated to the Col. Manning character of the second and third films: Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast, but the pattern is the same. Dean Parkin plays the bald giant in all three.

Plane Crazy: Aerial Jeep -- The light plane the characters use is the relatively rare Stinsen Voyager. 3000 of them were built during the war as a military light observation and courier plane. Production ended with the war. Many were decommissioned and converted to civilian use -- just as many jeeps were. Since production ended in 1945, the Voyager was quickly eclipsed by new civil aviation designs.

Bottom line? Cyclops is very formulaic and so not particularly entertaining. It has some interest to the 50s sci-fi fan as the prototype of the "Colossal" movies of '57 and '58. The acting of Talbott and Chaney keep the film from sinking to utter schlock.