Tags:
Film: Robot Monster
Year: 1953
Director: Phil Tucker
Writer: Wyott Ordung
Starring: George Nadar, Gregory Moffett and Claudia Barrett
Review:
This is a movie that I didn’t know about until looking for horror from 1953. The name sounded interesting and it has a good poster. Aside from that, I double checked the writer and director as well as our starring cast to make sure this was the right film. I didn’t see a synopsis, just knowing that this would also be science fiction.
Synopsis: the monstrous Ro-Man (George Barrows) attempts to annihilate the last family alive on Earth but finds himself falling for their beautiful daughter.
We start this off with siblings playing ‘space man’. The boy is Johnny (Gregory Moffett) and he has a ray gun as well as a cool set up for a helmet. His sister, Carla (Pamela Paulson), wants to play ‘house’ instead. The two wander off to the mouth of a cave. There are two archologists there, Roy (George Nader) and his professor, played by John Mylong. Johnny is fascinated to learn what they’re doing. He asks if they see a space man in the cave drawings.
They’re interrupted by the children’s mother, played by Selena Royle, and another sister, Alice (Claudia Barrett), approach. The children are told they need to come back to the picnic to take a nap as they promised. Roy and the professor help to ensure that Johnny goes. He sneaks off though while everyone is asleep.
This is where things take a turn. We see a burst of light and then dinosaurs fighting each other. We learn that an invasion took place. Most of the world’s population has been eliminated. There are only a few survivors left. Johnny is spying on Ro-Man the monster (voiced by John Brown) while he communicates with his home. Back on their planet of Ro-Man, Great Guidance (Barrows and voiced by Brown as well) tells their creature on Earth to get rid of the last few survivors. For whatever reason, they cannot detect them.
Now this is where it gets odd. Roy used to date Alice from what we learn. Alice is living in a destroyed place with her father who is Mylong, her mother and two siblings. They need to find a way to defeat Ro-Man before they’re killed. As the synopsis said, this creature is feeling something it hasn’t before toward Alice. It causes it to pause. This gives humans time to plan.
That is where I’m going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’m going to start is that this is an interesting sci-fi horror film. What I’ve gathered, this didn’t have a big budget. It looks like it was filmed in 3D, but the only things that seem to use it are bubbles from a machine, the bursts of light and something at the end with Ro-Man. I’m fine there, but an interesting choice. This one seems to be panned as well as being featured in a book about the Razzies.
Let me start with the positives here, I think they do good things with the concept. You can work with a limited cast by having the world ended. Our family was on a picnic in an area where people don’t live and that would be in country of what I’m guessing is California. Then you shift it to the same area where they’re surviving. I like the idea of Ro-Man coming here to wipe out humanity and then showing that being around us has softened this monster. It upsets Great Guidance, causing the consideration to eliminate the tainted creature back on Earth. The use of their advanced ray to kill off humanity also works. The problem that I’ll say is that there are things here that we’ve seen elsewhere and done better though.
To then go to a negative with the story, there is a troupe here that I knew immediately and it annoyed me. I won’t spoil it here, even though this is 70+ years old. The change to characters was too abrupt so I knew that was what they were going for. There is another thing that they could have used and the ray could be a part of how it happened as an explanation. The troupe is one that I despise. Since it wasn’t used well here, that is a negative for sure.
The last thing I’ll say will also involve cinematography. I love that they shot this near the desert. It feels desolate and that there aren’t other people around. Also using a building that is destroyed for our survivors to hold up helps as well. What is funny is that they probably aren’t that far from people in real life. It just shows that solid cinematography can help. I’d say this was strong there. I’m also glad they didn’t lean too much into showcasing the 3D. That would have taken this down a notch for me unless it makes sense and done well.
I’ll finish out the filmmaking with the effects being next. I love the look of Ro-Man and Great Guidance even though it is simple. I also believe it is the same suit. Barrows is an actor that would take on these ape roles and don similar suits. I’ve also seen him do this in Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. It doesn’t look great, but I have a soft spot for them doing it practically. There is footage from other movies with the dinosaurs edited in. Not sure why that was used there. It doesn’t fit outside of trying to indicate time travel or another planet. That doesn’t go anywhere. The sound design and track are also fine. There is creepy music that my wife asked me if it was from my movie while I was downstairs. Credit to creeping her out.
That will then just end with acting. There is an amateur feel here across the board. Nader has a good look as our lead. He fits the character well. What impressed me was that Barrett is the brilliant mind in the fight against Ro-Man. That wasn’t something we’d see a lot in this era. She is a strong woman so credit to her. Moffett was also solid as this boy. Barrows has a good build to take on these characters and I like the robotic voice done by Brown. Together they bring Ro-Man and Great Guidance to life. I do feel that Royle and Paulson were underused while Mylong was fine as well.
In conclusion, this is a low budget movie that is flawed. It still has good aspects to it as well though. I don’t mind the sci-fi angle here with a killer alien named Ro-Man and the use of a killer ray. My problem is a troupe that was used. More care could be put in there for it to work. The acting though is fine. I like the look of the monsters. This isn’t a great movie and not one that I can recommend to everyone. It is one that is fun enough to have people over for drinks as you don’t necessarily need to pay attention to follow it.
My Rating: 5 out of 10