Page Template menu displays page code too?

In the ‘Write Page’ section of the admin when I try to select my new template from the Page Template pop up menu the name of the file displays as well as some code in the menu.
“Colophon Template */ ?>Read the rest of”

To make sure that the php file was correct I copied code from “page.php” into the new file to test it. All I’ve added at the top is:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Colophon Template
*/
?>

The strange thing is, when I tried this with a similar “form” template file I created, the actual form shows up in the ‘Write Page’ section of the wordpress admin covering buttons save, etc. (as well as the template name & code showing up in the menu). And this happened before I’ve even selected it from the Page Template popup.

This is a new installation and I’ve just started using it.

Any idea why this might be happening?