Olive Films started distributing Paramount owned titles in 2010. In August of 2011, they released The Colossus of New York (1958). When I hear of a movie with a colossus in it, I want to see that colossus get ample screen time, I want to see it look cool, and I want to see it go berserk or at least break stuff. What do we get in this one? Well, we do see plenty of the titular character, it looks pretty cool in a retro-robotic kind of way, and there is a deliberate build to a great scene in which the thing does cause a great deal of chaos. So on that basis, I consider The Colossus of New York a success. Ross Martin is Jeremy Spensser, a brilliant scientist who has devoted his life to doing good works. He has just received a peace prize, in fact, when he is killed getting his son's toy out of the way of an oncoming truck. After the funeral, Jeremy's father, himself a brilliant surgeon, argues with Jeremy's friend John about the role of the human brain. The father claims that such a brilliant mind should be able to live on, while the friend maintains that separated from its body, any brain would lose the person's soul and become increasingly less human. This is what we call foreshadowing, folks. Turns out Dr. William Spensser (Otto Kruger) has preserved his son's brain and, telling only his other son Henry (John Baragrey), plans to encase it in an 8-foot-tall robot body. Together they build...the Colossus of New York! Now, 8 feet isn't really all that tall unless you're trying to prevent someone from posting up near the basket, and I'm not sure it really qualifies anything as a 'colossus.' But it looks cool, and that's really what counts. Dr. Spensser is certainly pleased with himself, and he encourages his son to continue his efforts to eradicate world hunger. Jeremy is shocked at his new appearance (can you blame him?), but he decides as long as no one else knows, he will keep working in this robotic shell. Along with his new physical frame, he has gained some kind of ESP power, and he secludes himself in the lab working on various projects. However, as Jeremy becomes increasingly detached from the physical body he has lost, and presumably his humanity, he becomes increasingly menacing. His personality changes, first in subtle ways. It doesn't help that he visits his grave and encounters his son Billy (Charles Herbert). Dr. William had claimed Billy and Jeremy's wife Anne (Mala Powers) had also perished, so this discovery angers the Colossus. Jeremy's internal conflict is evident in the encounters he has with his son. Jeremy doesn't acknowledge his identity, but desires to have some contact with his boy, and he tries to hang onto this connection to his previous incarnation. It only makes matters worse when Jeremy sees Henry trying to make time with Anne. As detached from humanity as Jeremy seems to become, he is still all too susceptible to the emotion of jealousy. The gradual change in his personality culminates in him stating outright his intentions to take over things himself. Wanting control of the lab and the family science operation is one thing, but he doesn't stop there. Eventually he claims the weak should not be helped but should be exterminated, and he thinks he's the robot to start doing it. As I said, the build to the big 'Colossus goes out of control' scene is fairly methodical, but the movie is never dull. It lets the spiritual (or lack thereof) transformation unfold until we get a scene at a big gala event in which things get pretty haywire. I don't want to oversell the scene itself. It's in a confined setting, which limits the scope of the action. Furthermore, the special effects aren't spectacular. Colossus Jeremy shoots some laser beams out of his eyes. It does look dangerous, though, and the movie does a good job of establishing there is real danger. And while those special effects may look a little primitive, at least there are some, and to me they look pretty cool. It's not a terribly long sequence, but it's a good one, and it's what we anticipate while watching the movie. Heck, it's what most of us expect as soon as we see the title. If you like 1950s robots and monster movies, this is worth a shot. The Colossus isn't all that colossal, but he (it?) is still an impressive sight. If you're willing to accept that he is indeed a terrible menace, and if you're willing to wait a little bit to see his full monstrous potential unleashed, then by all means check out The Colossus of New York. Rick Brooks is the proprietor of Cultureshark, a blog in which he uses an often irreverent approach to express his reverence for the classics and the un-classics.