# The Amazing Colossal Man
**The Amazing Colossal Man** is a 1957 American black-and-white [science fiction film](https://www.edgepedia.org/science-fiction-film) directed, produced, and co-written by Bert I. Gordon, in which a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel survives a plutonium bomb blast and grows uncontrollably into a giant who loses his mind. It stars Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, and Larry Thor, and was produced by Malibu Productions for release through [American International Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-international-pictures) (AIP).[1](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man?hl=en&id=0A4E4982599843A3MV)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | World premiere in Milwaukee, WI, 28 August 1957; New York opening 25 October 1957; released as a double feature with *Cat Girl*[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) • [1](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man?hl=en&id=0A4E4982599843A3MV) |
| Format | 80–81 minutes, black and white, 1.85:1 widescreen, mono sound; 7,188 feet on 8 reels[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) |
| Source | An uncredited adaptation of Homer Eon Flint's 1928 short science fiction novel *The Nth Man*[1](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man?hl=en&id=0A4E4982599843A3MV) |
| Premise | Lt. Col. Glenn Manning, burned over 90% of his body in a plutonium bomb test, grows as his old cells stop dying and new cells multiply at an accelerated rate[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) |
| Growth rate | Eight feet per day in the AFI synopsis; ten feet per day in the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man) |
| Sequel | *War of the Colossal Beast* (1958), with Dean Parkin replacing Glenn Langan in the role of Glenn Manning[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) |
| Reception | IMDb 4.7/10 from about 3,100 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 38% from 8 reviews, Popcornmeter 23%[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050118/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
At a military site in Desert Rock, Nevada, soldiers led by Lt. Col. Glenn Manning take part in an early morning test explosion of a plutonium atomic bomb. When the bomb fails to detonate as expected, Manning is ordered to keep his men in the trench because a chain reaction has made an explosion imminent. When a small, unidentified airplane crashes near the bomb site, Manning dashes from the trench to pull the pilot to safety and is caught in the blast.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN)
Burned over 90% of his body, Manning survives under the care of Dr. Paul Lindstrom (William Hudson) and military scientist Dr. Eric Coulter (Larry Thor). The next morning his burns have completely healed. His fiancée, Carol Forrest (Cathy Downs), is barred by military security from visiting him, and she tracks him to a desert rehabilitation and research lab, where she finds that he has mutated into a giant. Lindstrom explains that the plutonium blast caused Manning's old cells to stop dying while his new cells multiply at an accelerated rate, making him grow eight feet a day, and admits that he and Coulter do not know whether they can stop the growth.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN)
As Manning grows, his heart and circulatory system fail to keep pace with his body, and reduced blood supply to his brain gradually drives him insane; he is also tormented by nightmares from his combat duty in the [Korean War](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-war).[5](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) He escapes the facility and rampages through Las Vegas, smashing hotel windows on high floors and hurling trees and cars at onlookers, while a scientist prepares an antidote in what *The New Yorker* describes as the world's biggest injection.[5](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) The climax is a showdown at Boulder (Hoover) Dam, where Manning is shot and falls into the dam.[5](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) • [6](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/amazing_colossal_man_the)
The sources disagree on two plot figures. The AFI synopsis and several database synopses give his final height as 50 feet, while *The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction* gives 60 ft (18 m);[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) • [6](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/amazing_colossal_man_the) likewise the growth rate is eight feet a day in the AFI synopsis and ten feet a day in the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man)
### Sequel and afterlife
Gordon filmed a sequel, *War of the Colossal Beast* (1958), an American International production starring Dean Parkin as Lt. Col. Glenn Manning. Russ Bender, June Jocelyn, and Jack Kosslyn appear in both productions but play different roles in each. AFI's catalog records continuity contradictions: in the first film Glenn's fiancée states that he has no family, while the sequel gives him a sister, Joyce, and never mentions the fiancée. Several scenes from the first film appear in the sequel despite the role being played by a different actor.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN)
During the 1960s, American International Television syndicated the film to television, and both it and its sequel were later mocked on *Mystery Science Theater 3000*, where actor Mike Nelson played the title character in the host segments of two third-season episodes.[1](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man?hl=en&id=0A4E4982599843A3MV) • [9](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957) The film has also been noted as an antecedent of [Marvel Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-comics)' *The Incredible Hulk*, which debuted in 1962: in both stories a hero is blasted with radiation during the testing of an experimental bomb, plutonium in the film and gamma rays in the comic, and transformed into an oversized monster.[13](https://eofftvreview.wordpress.com/2022/02/26/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957/)
## Production
The working title was *The Colossal Man*. Production began in late June 1957, and Malibu Productions registered the copyright on 24 August 1957 (LP9436).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) The screenplay is credited to Mark Hanna and Bert I. Gordon, with George Worthing Yates uncredited; Joe Biroc was the cinematographer, Ronald Sinclair the editor, and Albert Glasser composed the score.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN) • [7](https://eofftv.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957/) Gordon himself handled the special technical effects, assisted by Flora M. Gordon.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN)
The film originated with AIP co-founder James Nicholson's wish to follow the success of Universal's *The Incredible Shrinking Man* (1957), released half a year earlier; Nicholson held the rights to Homer Eon Flint's *The Nth Man*, about a man ten miles tall.[8](https://scifist.net/2024/02/13/the-amazing-colossal-man/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man) According to trivia compiled for the film, Charles B. Griffith was first hired to adapt the novel and turned it into a comedy; after [Roger Corman](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-corman) dropped out and Gordon was hired, Griffith quit after a day's work and his writing partner Mark Hanna stepped in.[9](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957) AIP's effects technician Paul Blaisdell built the miniature props used for the giant-scale shots.[9](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957)
Gordon's visual method relied on forced perspective and oversized props: *The New Yorker* notes that he surrounded Langan with tiny furniture and used stark optical effects to place Glenn beside Carol, conveying their disproportion.[5](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) *Time Out* describes above-average effects mixed with quasi-documentary footage of armies on the move and test houses under nuclear attack, and notes a scene in which a Bible shrinks to unreadable size in the giant's hand.[10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) Reviewers have pointed to technical flaws: *The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction* observes that the poorly matted effects allow people standing behind the colossal man to be seen through his body.[6](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/amazing_colossal_man_the)
## Themes and reception
The film belongs to the wave of 1950s American atomic-mutation pictures, alongside *Them!* (1954), *The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms* (1953), and *The Incredible Shrinking Man* (1957).[11](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-25/popular-sci-fi-film-reflects-americas-ambivalence-about-nuclear-weapons) *The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction* calls it an attempt to duplicate the commercially successful pathos of *The Incredible Shrinking Man* by reversing its procedure, and says it is often regarded as Gordon's best film.[6](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/amazing_colossal_man_the) *Time Out* reads it as a Cold War fable that spins Korea, the army's obsessive secrecy, and America's post-war growth into one whole, with a climax attacking Las Vegas, "dream-city of the New America."[10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) The HISTORY.com account places the film in the context of American ambivalence about atomic and hydrogen bombs, their humanity, and the repercussions of radioactivity.[11](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-25/popular-sci-fi-film-reflects-americas-ambivalence-about-nuclear-weapons)
Contemporary and later ratings are modest. On IMDb the film holds 4.7/10 from about 3,100 votes;[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050118/) on Rotten Tomatoes it has a 38% Tomatometer from 8 reviews and a 23% audience score.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man) Richard Brody, film critic at *The New Yorker*, wrote in 2015 that "the pulp sublime reaches mad heights in this hectic, outrageous science-fiction drama," and later suggested that the spare, low-budget audacity of films like it shows how limitations can be flipped into inspirations.[5](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man) • [12](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-clippings-file-the-amazing-colossal-man) A retrospective at Scifist notes that the film has drawn primarily positive reviews in major outlets in retrospect, and that its low IMDb audience rating relative to critics reflects its *Mystery Science Theater 3000* exposure.[8](https://scifist.net/2024/02/13/the-amazing-colossal-man/)
## References
1. [The Amazing Colossal Man, Google Play Movies description](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man?hl=en&id=0A4E4982599843A3MV)
2. [The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52086-THE-AMAZING-COLOSSAL-MAN)
3. [The Amazing Colossal Man, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amazing_colossal_man)
4. [The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050118/)
5. [Richard Brody, "The Amazing Colossal Man," The New Yorker, August 16, 2015](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man)
6. ["Amazing Colossal Man, The," The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, updated 21 June 2022](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/amazing_colossal_man_the)
7. [The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), EOFFTV](https://eofftv.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957/)
8. [The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Scifist, February 13, 2024](https://scifist.net/2024/02/13/the-amazing-colossal-man/)
9. [The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), NetflixMovies.com facts and trivia](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957)
10. [The Amazing Colossal Man, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-amazing-colossal-man)
11. ["Atomic Age sci-fi thriller 'The Amazing Colossal Man' premieres in New York, October 25, 1957," HISTORY.com](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-25/popular-sci-fi-film-reflects-americas-ambivalence-about-nuclear-weapons)
12. [Richard Brody, "The Clippings File: 'The Amazing Colossal Man'," The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-clippings-file-the-amazing-colossal-man)
13. [Kevin Lyons, "The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)," The EOFFTV Review, February 26, 2022](https://eofftvreview.wordpress.com/2022/02/26/the-amazing-colossal-man-1957/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license