Alternately Svengoolie Reviews, I guess, since I'd never heard of this Film before he ran it last week.
Is it a forgotten gem or a creaky wannabe-classic? Let's see...
Over the years, we made more and more advanced Robots- starting at R1s (basically robot hands) and ending with R96s (lifelike humanoids).
However, they are deemed too dangerous and we mostly have R70s, a downgrade...but still effective.
They work with a Scientist- who looks like Count Olaf- to make R96s that can fool the Humans.
Speaking of which, we get the Order of the Flesh & Blood, a group of robot-haters who call them 'clickers.'
If you don't get this Social Commentary, you may be under the age of 10.
The face of that group- The Craigis- has a Sister who lives with one of the Robots and doesn't share his hate.
This seemingly-random woman was pestered by him earlier (before he smashed up a Robot Base) and meets him again there.
She...instantly falls in love. Why?
The happy pair are grabbed by some Robots and taken to their Lair.
It's here that they reveal the big truth.
50 year old SPOILERS ahead...
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All good?
Craigis was killed 6 months ago and remade as an R96. The woman was also killed a few months later...by a bomb set by Craigis.
In spite of that, the pair still love each other as they learn that humanity will die out and the Robots want to replace us to save us.
The Scientist breaks the 4th Wall to address us...as I guess this was just an 80 minute long 'Accept that you are all Robots' Seminar.
Crazy twist and fun joke aside, I must ask- what's up with the Civil War Uniforms?!?
The End.
A good Film is hiding in here somewhere. The concept has promise. It's clear to see why this Film is talked about after over 4 Decades plus. Creation's big problem is that it isn't good per se as an actual Film. They just people in a Room about five times and have them talk. It isn't super-interesting. The first Scene thankfully has the odd delivery of Dudley Manlove as one of the Robots. He wasn't a great Actor, but he sure did talk in an interesting way. The other Actors are pretty dry. Most of them don't have long Careers and this is probably an example of why. The Robot make-up is actually pretty nice, to be fair. They got Jack Pierce from Universal to make them, so it is a B+ effort on a Film that features alot of D+ material. The Sets are alright, but cheap and few. Speaking of cheap, the Order walk around in Civil War-style Uniforms. It was apparently just cheap to get and looked different than a jumpsuit. For a while, I gave them credit for the social commentary...that they weren't making. There's lots here otherwise and it feels ahead of its time. If you could talk these ideas- which still have merit- and make a palatable Film, I'd be on board. You could even do like this artist did and make the Scientist into Doc Brown with a sole patch too!
A talky Film that is both cheap...and arguably-inspired. If someone with money and filmmaking skill could Remake this, I'd be on board!
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