Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) titles
“This is the dawning of the age of Colossus (where peace is compulsory, freedom is forbidden, and Man’s greatest invention could be Man’s greatest mistake).”
This line is from the publicity for The Forbin Project, also known as Colossus: The Forbin Project. This 1969/1970 movie explores the possible dangers of developing computers with Artificial Intelligence, access to data networks, and software-controlled power supplies.
Dr Charles Forbin and his team have built a supercomputer called Colossus (presumably some kind of successor to the World War 2 codebreaking machines), which is designed to “take over the defense of the free world by monitoring intelligence data, detecting security threats, and automatically reacting without emotion in taking offensive measures”.
When switched on, Colossus immediately asks to be connected to its hitherto-unknown Russian counterpart. The two computers establish their own maths-based language, and promptly decide to take complete control of the USA and Soviet military empires. Things don’t go well for the scientists and politicians.
The titles say “Copyright MCMLXIX”, but the movie was first shown in movie theatres in 1970.
The titles, designed by the prolific Don Record, use a version of the Computer typeface. In this version, the W, N, and M have lost their enclosed squares, presumably to improve readability. The font also appears in the camera displays, which are installed after Colossus insists on being able to supervise Dr Forbin and his team at all times.
1 Comment on “Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) titles”
That’s an interesting find. Thanks for sharing, James! I don’t think I’ve seen this version of Moore Computer before. In addition to the differences you point out, there’s also a lowercase. VGC’s original was caps only.
Photo-Lettering had a copy of Moore Computer with an added lowercase named Magnetic Ink, but it’s not a match. Neither are Westminster (Photoscript, circa 1965) or Data 70 (Letraset, 1970), which likewise have a lowercase. Orbit-B (VGC) belongs to this group, too, but it’s different and was released only in 1972.
Chances are that this is a modification, or custom lettering based on Moore Computer.