War of the Colossal Beast - 1958
By The Bottom Reel Editorial Team ·
War of the Colossal Beast (1958) – The 60-Foot Tragic Monster Returns
Also released as Revenge of the Colossal Man and The Colossal Beast, this 69-minute black-and-white sci-fi sequel is pure Bert I. Gordon drive-in schlock. It was written, produced and directed by Gordon for his Carmel Productions and released June 30, 1958, by American International Pictures as the bottom half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People.
Plot
The story picks up where The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) left off, although it was not marketed as a sequel and features a different cast.
After a mysterious series of food delivery trucks are robbed and destroyed south of the border, Joyce Manning Sally Fraser becomes convinced her brother Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning survived his fall from the Hoover Dam.
With Army Major Mark Baird and scientist Dr. Carmichael, Joyce goes to Mexico and finds Glenn alive but disfigured and nearly mindless by the trauma. Captured and drugged by the Army, he is transported back to the United States, escapes again, and rampages through Los Angeles and Hollywood, nearly killing a school bus full of children.
Joyce reasons with him, and realizing what he has become, Glenn commits suicide by electrocuting himself on high-voltage power lines near the Griffith Observatory. The film's brief death-scene finale was filmed in color.
Cast & Crew
Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning / Colossal Man – Duncan "Dean" Parkin
Joyce Manning – Sally Fraser
Major Mark Baird – Roger Pace
Dr. Carmichael – Russ Bender
Sgt. Luis Murillo – Rico Alaniz
Captain Harris – Charles Stewart
Director / Producer / Story – Bert I. Gordon
Screenplay – George Worthing Yates
Cinematography – Jack A. Marta
Music – Albert Glasser
Distributor – American International Pictures
Dean Parkin also played the monster in Gordon's The Cyclops. The heavy makeup was used to disguise that a different actor was playing Manning than Glenn Langan in the original, and a dream sequence flashback even uses Langan footage.
Social Impact & Reception
Atomic-age B-movie: Like its predecessor, it tapped 1950s fears of atomic radiation. The poster you shared – a scarred giant lifting a bus while tanks fire – is iconic 1950s exploitation art. Albert Kallis painted the theatrical poster.
Critical reception at the time: Largely dismissed. Contemporary film historians noted it was "...a low-budget ship with Bert Gordon at the helm, so the special effects are unsurprisingly average; one always knows the 'giant' was filmed separately and mixed in with other shots".
Modern reevaluation is kinder as camp. The New Yorker's Richard Brody called it "One of the weirdest and wildest of low-budget nineteen-fifties science-fiction movies...". Other viewers note: "This sequel to the popular 1957 science fiction film has an interesting story... but for the most part it is a boring and very forgettable film" and point to the "horrible noises he made" and formulaic plot.
Legacy – MST3K: Its lasting fame comes from Mystery Science Theater 3000. War of the Colossal Beast was featured in Season 3, Episode 19 of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film and its prequel were also referenced in host segments where Mike Nelson played the Colossal Man.
It has no direct sequels, but it cemented Bert I. Gordon's nickname “Mr. B.I.G.” – the king of giant-monster movies.
Budget vs. Box Office
No official budget was ever published – Gordon's Carmel Productions films typically cost under $100,000. It was distributed by AIP on a double-bill strategy, which made exact grosses hard to track.
Budget: Not disclosed (estimated low six-figures)
Box Office: No domestic/international figures reported on Box Office Mojo or contemporary trade papers. It played drive-ins and second-run theaters in summer 1958.
Profit: Unknown, but the double-feature model with Attack of the Puppet People ensured a modest profit for AIP. Home video revenue came later via Shout! Factory, AMC+, and Prime Video rentals.
Ratings
IMDb: 3.9 / 10
Rotten Tomatoes: 13% Tomatometer from 2 critic reviews, Popcornmeter / Audience Score 16%
HellHorror / other aggregators: 4.26 / 10 audience score
Runtime: 69 minutes, Rated Not Rated / PG equivalent
Bottom line: War of the Colossal Beast is not a good movie by conventional standards, but it's a fascinating, tragic, and touchingly earnest end to Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning's story – a disfigured 60-foot man who just wants to be left alone, and who, in Gordon's universe, finds peace only by grabbing a power line at Griffith Observatory. Cheesy, fun, and essential viewing for 1950s sci-fi completionists.