Le colosse de New York

Despite some clunky moments I still think the best and most eerie part of Colussus of new york is when the "dead" scientist awakes, and gradually with mounting terror, realises his brain is in the body of a robot! This scene I'm sure influenced Director Paul Verhoeven when he made "Robocop" many years later. look at the creepy visuals in this scene as we see everything from the robots P.O.V and note that its visualisation is similar to what you see on an old Television monitor. those lines spoken by his creator "you can see, you can hear, you can speak and you can move" still sends a chill down my spine. I rate this as one of the best eerie mad lab scenes in the movies.

The impressive title work is the viewer's first clue that producer William Alland and director Eugene Lourie squeezed considerable artistry and style from a shoestring budget. Look past the economic limitations; the suspenseful and imaginative story involves the death of a humanitarian genius whose father (a famous surgeon) and brother (a robotics expert) team up to keep the genius' brain alive in a robot body (well designed by ace effects artist John P. Fulton). The film's message concerns the nature of the soul and the role which physical sensations play in making humans act humane. Other affects by Fulton include one of sci-fi cinema's best death rays. All in all, a moving and intelligent movie

Along with a few others, I too, must chime in with my 'thumbs up' opinion of this lost classic. I was fortunate to see nearly ALL of the horror/sci-fi 'Classics' in theaters during the 50's binge..when there was a new double feature nearly every other week.

This one, stands quite a bit above all the others. The creep factor is high and it has some truly haunting moments. The piano score just adds to the muted terror. Cheap? Yep. But I think that adds to the atmosphere.

Sure, I was a 'kid' when I saw all of these back then, but only a handful of these films were 'great'. 'Colossus' is hands-down one of the best of that era. If you watch it in the proper context, I'm sure you will agree.

BRIEF BLU-RAY REVIEW:

Seriously, I was totally blown away with the picture quality of this Blu-ray, especially for it's age. Whomever was in charge of the Restoration should be Canonized... Some scenes were so vivid and detailed, that you genuinely felt that you could just step right onto the set!

Anyway, concerning the movie itself; do you notice how many reviews of this film (and as of now, there are only a total of about 25) MANY people use the terms 'Atmospheric', 'Eerie', 'Creepy', etc... Well, I have to add my complete agreement with that. Most of the Sci Fi films of that decade could be quite hokey in their low-budgetedness (?) But, there was just something to this one which carried a much heavier weight and mood than most. I don't know exactly what it was, but there was an unusual 'earnestness' or 'gravitas' that somehow created a much stronger atmosphere and very serious mood for the film. I mean, even with it's very low budget and fairly common theme, there was just some magical element in the direction, acting, and especially the bloody MOOD of the dang thing that conveyed a LOT more impact than the sum of it's familiar parts can quite explain.

I REALLY like Ross Martin, who plays the son. Another early reviewer mentioned his love and appreciation of the 'Wild, Wild, West' series; I fully agree (not to mention his Oscar worthy turn in the excellent movie, 'EXPERIMENT IN TERROR')

I had never seen this film before; and to be honest, I was fully expecting a REAL corny 1950's Sci Fi film. But, there was just SOMETHING that kept me riveted to the screen and much more emotionally involved than I EVER would have expected with a film of this nature and from this time period.

So, there you have it... I mean, it's no 'FORBIDDEN PLANET' or 'THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL' (original ONLY, PLEASE!) But, I would say that IF by chance you can kind of 'Tune In' to the unusual 'resonance' of this film, you should definitely enjoy it more than the usual Sci Fi movie of the time.

"The Colossus of New York" has aged rather well. It still evokes the same strange fascination it had back in the late 1950s, when its story and title character startled me. It was evident back then that the film was a low-budget production, and that it was not a masterpiece of fantastic cinema, but its variation of the theme of the scientist that creates a monster was interesting, and the appearance of the colossus was impressive. I have read a couple of commentaries from producer William Alland, in which he expressed that he was very unsatisfied with the results, and put all the blame on Eugène Lourié. Allan definitely did not paid too much attention to the limitations of the budget he administered –forcing to reuse shots, and the inclusion of stock footage-, of Thelma Schnee's weak script, or the negligence of Floyd Knudtson's editing. But especially, Alland overlooked John F. Warren's images, some of which are remarkable. This is also due to Lourié's background: he was originally an art director and set designer, and it shows. The lightning, compositions and camera angles are effective most of the times, and compensate for the shortcomings. Where Lourié's lack of expertise shows is in the routine camera set-ups, putting the camera (and the spectator) in the same position, in scenes that take place in the same locations, but separate in time. This somehow makes the movie unfold too cautiously, an explanation to the speed up of some shots when the colossus moves. Otherwise it is a recommended, little cult film that will stick to your memory.