I love this movie so much

Memorable, crazy movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK boasts one of the most impressive mind-reading monstrosities ever committed to film: it looks like something that the late, great jack Kirby might have dreamed up. Watching It lumber around the landscape, I almost expected It to take flight and announce that It had decided to take over the World- and the scenes of the Colossus walking underwater were nothing short of spectacular, you ask me. I also liked the idea that the Colossus developed a form of Telepathy/ESP; the Death Ray was just icing on the proverbial cake. If (like myself) you have a fondness for '50s Science Fiction and Horror movies, you'll love THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK.

Dr. Jeremy Spensser (Ross Martin) is a super-genius and all-around humanitarian. He's so brilliant that he's just received the Nobel Prize! While you'd THINK this would be wonderful, soon after he is squashed by a truck--depriving the world of his great intellect. However, his father (Otto Kruger) isn't about to let this happen and he manages to keep the brain alive in a weird aquarium-like contraption. Later, he creates a HUGE and scary looking robot body to house this great brain...though you wonder why he didn't make the robot smaller and a lot less malevolent looking! And why did he give the robot lasers that it can shoot out of its eyes?!?!For a while Jeremy is able to secretly continue his work in his robot body but over time, he starts to have an emotional breakdown. Considering everything, this is DEFINITELY understandable! This leads to him eventually doing VERY bad things--especially because Jeremy has some weird psychic powers and a very twisted mind! The plot is clearly a variation on "Frankenstein" with a sci-fi edge. It fortunately has a nice budget and very nice special effects. This robot is clearly more human and realistic than Robby the Robot! It also is quite menacing and must have scared audiences back in the day. The acting is nice and the only complaints I have are about the logic of some of the film---but considering the plot and your need to suspend disbelief, this is a minor quibble.

Reviewers appear to be about evenly divided on this film. Half are enraptured by "The Colossus of New York", and half think it's laughably bad. I tend to be in the middle somewhere. I think the movie is a slightly above average 1950s sci-fi/horror flick with a very good cast and some interesting twists. However, I've never thought the film represented some sort of special viewing experience.Ross Martin plays a scholar/humanitarian/all around good guy who is killed off in an unfortunate accident early in the film. His father (Otto Kruger, in an extremely pompous performance) implants Martin's brain in a huge Frankenstein-ish robot (played by Ed Wolff).Naturally, the robot doesn't just sit around smoking cigarettes and watching TV--he predictably goes berserk, wreaking havoc on Martin's enemies and, in a somewhat mawkish plot twist, befriending an innocent little boy. After smashing all kinds of things, the robot commits suicide with the help of his little schoolboy friend, dying at the UN building in New York.The pluses are a good cast, fine piano score, and very good photography on a limited budget. The minuses are the predictable storyline and the awkward relationship between the homicidal robot and a little boy. Worth a look, but not a classic in my opinion.

A still from this film, depicting the titular robot and a little boy, had adorned the cover of that Sci-Fi issue of “The Movie” periodical which I mentioned in my review of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958) – and I’d always been interested in it for this reason (considering that it’s a title which is rarely discussed). Despite being produced by a major Hollywood studio, Paramount, the film is definitely a ‘B’ genre effort – made to cash-in on the sci-fi craze of the Cold War era. The makers clearly relied on such classic prototypes as THE GOLEM (1920), METROPOLIS (1927) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931) for inspiration – but, being somewhat underwritten, the plot doesn’t quite supply the necessary impetus to elicit favorable comparison with them! Mind you, it’s fairly intriguing during the first half (surprisingly written by FATHER BROWN [1954]’s screenwriter Thelma Schnee!) and bolstered throughout by reliable Otto Kruger’s mad scientist characterization. Besides, the design of the robot itself (fitted with the re-activated brain of Kruger’s son, a humanitarian-cum-genius prematurely killed in a road accident) is interesting and actually quite eerie…though bestowed with curiously short arms! However, the latter doesn’t have that much to do since it’s confined for the most part to Kruger’s lab! Eventually breaking free of its creator/father’s control, the robot emerges into the open and befriends his own son (who’s unaware of the machine’s true ‘identity’). Inevitably, the human feelings once inherent in its brain gradually get lost within the metallic ‘armor’ – and the scientist even kills his own elder brother (for attempting to steal his wife’s affection…though she’s also pursued by his former best friend, who’s allowed to get away with it!). Finally, having gone berserk, the robot breaks into the United Nations building (the ‘monster’ during the sci-fi heyday always seemed to vent its fury at some point on such big-city landmarks), where it’s destroyed – or, more precisely, shut off – via a convenient lever lodged in its structure by the boy himself! The film, as I said, doesn’t quite make it into the genre’s top-rank – but, running a terse 70 minutes, emerges nonetheless to be a generally entertaining entry (and not an unintelligent one, either). That said, it’s somewhat cheapened by Van Cleave’s funereal score (which is more akin to the slapdash accompaniment one is prone to find in Public Domain editions of Silent films!). Besides, there are a number of illogicalities in the narrative which tend to stick out like a sore thumb: for instance, the robot is often seen traveling via water – but wouldn’t contact with this element cause a short circuit to begin with?; despite Kruger’s audacious claim that his son’s genius is on the same level of such world-renowned luminaries as Napoleon, Macchiavelli and Michelangelo, the young doctor’s major claim to fame seems to be merely that he had invented a way in which to fabricate food products more quickly!!; the climax is marred by a blatant continuity goof – a girl is seen on the ground in one shot, up on her feet the next and, then, once again on the ground to be pulverized by the robot’s laser beam!; as soon as the creature is gotten rid of, it’s business as usual for the folk at the United Nations – with no thought given to the many who had just lost their lives!; a similar nonchalant reaction is allotted to Kruger, who admits his responsibility for the tragic events – and, yet, isn’t held to account for his irresponsibility!