8mm Forum: Colossal and Behemoth – Good and Bad 200’ ers

This is topic Colossal and Behemoth – Good and Bad 200’ ers in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Terry Lagler (Member # 1110) on April 09, 2009, 01:00 PM:

We all know how great a 200’ digest film can be, especially when done well. There are many from the Castle cannon that prove this point.
Today I want to take a quick look at two KEN Films. Let’s start with one of my favorites.

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (KEN#240, std 8mm/BW/silent, reviewed)
One of my all time favorite cheese fests, but wait, this version gives of a double dose of colossal fun. Ken actually combined scenes from both “THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN” and its sequel.
The digest skips the “caught in a nuclear blast” scene to a quick explanation from an army colonel that the colossal man is on the loose. After out hero, Glen Manning tells his wife he just doesn’t want to grow anymore, an attempt is made to stop his growth with a giant syringe!! Probably one of the most famous scenes in bad movie history (Ouch!). Of course it doesn’t work and Glen rampages through Las Vegas. The army is called out, and a well placed bazooka shot puts an end to the rampage.
Here the editors get creative as clearly he is shot in the stomach, but the subtitle tells us he is hit in the face! Obviously, to explain the now different actor with the deformed face from “WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST” We now get another rampage at an airport and a quick breathtaking climax as he threatens to destroy a bus ultimately committing suicide by grabbing high tension wires and fading into oblivion.
WOW, this for me is why the 200 foot digests were so great.
My std 8mm print is probably the most grainy prints I own. I wonder if the super 8 version fares any better? Anybody been able to compare?
Along with the killer box art we have some 8mm gold.

We now move on to a wasted opportunity. A film that lends itself to a slam bang cut down but sadly fails to deliver.

THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (KEN#249, Super 8mm, BW/silent, reviewed)
One of the last stop motion animation jobs for the great Willis O’Brian yields a fun B-Monster film. The Ken editors cut to the chase with the monster attacking a ferryboat ultimately sinking it. For these scenes a motionless “head” prop is used. Not a very satisfying effect, but hey, there is a cool monster rampage coming. Os so I thought.
The story now concerns itself with the underwater tracking of the beast by sub and it’s destruction with a well placed missile. I remember viewing this for the first time glancing at the reel and thinking “We’re running out of footage!” The entire rampage is ignored! I would have been okay with seeing the multiple shots of the Behemoth crushing the same car. Oh well. We do see some animation of the beast swimming in the final moments but it’s a matter of too little too late.
A nice looking, sharp print here with super box art promising something the digest fails to deliver.

Cheers
Terry

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 09, 2009, 01:26 PM:

Very nice review/comparison, Terry.

I was never one to get much out of the 200ft digest format. It was always too short for me, but from the 200ft digests that I've seen, you really have to tip your hat to these editors, most of the time!

Good job, Terry.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on April 09, 2009, 07:23 PM:

Terry-

Thanks for that retrospective view of these two classic silents.

Before I got into sound film (around '76), I collected quite a few of the silent horror 200 footers. I never saw these two though, so it was great to finaly know whats on them.

I laughed when you mentioned "looking at the reel thinking we're running out of footage". I think I did that with every single digest I had on first viewing. That was always the scariest part of the film, not knowing if your favorite scenes had made it into the digest or not! [Wink]

.

James.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on April 09, 2009, 11:53 PM:

Terry,

Thanks for reminding me of this one. As you said, I love the part in "Colossal" where the title reads "A Direct Hit...In The Face"" as the gigantic Lt. Col. Glenn Manning grabs his stomach in pain. Ken used the flashback sequence from the film to try to tie it all together. Still a fun digest. Derann put out a 400' sound cutdown of "Behemoth" a while back. I believe Joe Taffis has a print and said it was quite good..

Doug

Posted by Terry Lagler (Member # 1110) on April 10, 2009, 07:06 AM:

Doug
Thanks for reminding me about that long flashback from "WAR" That makes sense now as it would have been odd for them to actually use the two films. I haven't seen it in ages. It's also interesting to note that the final moments were originally in color, you can see the brightness change in the B/W print.
Cheers
Terry

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on April 10, 2009, 09:52 AM:

yes Doug, a really nice editing job on the 400' BEHEMOTH, THE SEA MONSTER. A print just sold on eBay.UK for close to $50.00 USD.

[ December 14, 2012, 05:26 AM: Message edited by: Joe Taffis ]

Posted by Terry Lagler (Member # 1110) on April 10, 2009, 05:12 PM:

Ok, that 400' version sounds like the one to have!
Cheers
Terry

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on April 14, 2009, 09:18 AM:

When super 8 got started ...way back....one of the first prints I bought happened to be The Giant Behemoth...I didn't like the editing, BUT the sharpness, the detail and the contrast was the finest thing I had seen up to that time on 8mm. It was spectacular.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on April 19, 2009, 03:08 PM:

Terry, I just ran the 400 footer again. Approximately 17 minutes of fun viewing, with a full 4 minutes of the "rampage", although there's a lot missing.

[ April 19, 2009, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: Joe Taffis ]

Posted by Terry Lagler (Member # 1110) on April 23, 2009, 03:00 PM:

Thanks for that info Joe.
At least there is a worthwhile version out there.
Cheers
Terry

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