GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN

GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN (1958). Director: Richard Cunha.

Many monster movie fans will be disappointed to know that the “giant” in this movie is not of Bert I. Gordon proportions like The Cyclops or Amazing Colossal Man but is only a very tall, bear-like actor named Buddy Baer. Baer plays a nasty Spanish conquistador who has been in suspended animation for 500 years, but has come back to life to attack people and livestock in the vicinity of Devil's Crag. This conquistador, Vargas by name, was known as “the Diablo Giant” due to his size. Ed Kemmer [of Earth vs. The Spider infamy] plays Wayne Brooks, who hooks up with an archaeologist named Cleveland (Morris Ankrum of Earth vs the Flying Saucers) and his not-terribly-scientific daughter Janet (Sally Fraser, who appeared in War of the Colossal Beast and other genre films). Fraser is better in this picture than in others, and she and Kemmer play a nice, charming love scene together. 

While it's become obligatory to snicker at Giant from the Unknown, the fact is that it's not such a bad movie at all. It is fast-paced, professional, continually suspenseful, and not badly directed by Cunha, who handles several sequences quite adroitly. The film is also very well edited. Albert

Sally Fraser and Buddy Baer

Glasser's score, as usual, adds a lot to the picture as well. There has been some confusion over a scene when it appears that Vargas revives during a lightning storm even though people and animals have already been attacked earlier in the picture. It's possible that in this scene Vargas is merely awakening after sleeping for awhile, and that he covered himself in leaves and the like so that he wouldn't be attacked while asleep. Unfortunately the dialogue refers to the lightning as a source of resuscitation, further muddying the waters. (Maybe it was the continuity person who was asleep.)

Verdict: Some giants are bigger than others. ***. 

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN

Glen Manning struts through Las Vegas

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

"What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime to bring this upon himself?" -- Glenn Manning 

Korean War vet Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan of Jungle Heat) is caught in a Plutonium blast while heroically trying to save the pilot of a downed aircraft. The radiation miraculously heals his injuries in record time, but his cells keep multiplying, and he begins to grow taller at an alarming rate, 8 to 10 feet a day  -- except for his heart muscle. The race is on to stop, and perhaps, reverse his growth before his heart gives out. But there is also the danger that his mind will go first ... 

Cathy Downs with William Hudson

This imitation of The Incredible Shrinking Man is nowhere in that league but it is an absorbing science fiction drama nevertheless. While the special effects are variable, the film's main strengths are a credible enough screenplay and the performances of Glenn Langan as the tragic hero and Cathy Downs [Missile to the Moon] as his loving fiancee Carol Forrest, who is treated quite badly by the military establishment. The opening with the bomb is quite tense and well-done (and may have influenced the origin of the Marvel Comics character, the Hulk), but eventually the movie becomes a bit schlocky. A scene in which Dr. Linstrom (William Hudson) reveals a miniature elephant and camel is ludicrous, although a bit with a giant needle that skewers one unfortunate soul is effective. 

Glenn Langan with Cathy Downs

Actor William Hudson would be forever linked with giant people because he also appeared in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, playing the heroine's husband. (Mark Hanna wrote the screenplays for both pictures.) There's a newscaster named "H. Wells" --- Gordon would later film Wells' novel The Food of the Gods, twice. Albert Glasser contributes his typically effective brassy score. Gordon also did a sequel to this picture, War of the Colossal Beast.

Verdict: Despite deficiencies, this is an entertaining picture with Langan making the most of his unusual role. ***.