Birth of a Robot, The (1935)
*** (out of 4)
Shell Oil produced this rather bizarre and surreal short. Apparently the world turns by a human cranking a wheel but at some point in the future this man dies and is resurrected as a robot. The robot carries on this mission of keeping the world turning but he of course needs oil. There's not too much story to fill up this 6-minute short but the images here makes this a must-see for fans of animation. You shouldn't come into this thing expecting Disney-like quality but that's not really needed here. The entire film is full of beautiful colors that really leap off the screen and the bizarre animation ranges from weird looking puppets to even stranger looking scenes including one where a car is driving through the desert and eventually over some pyramids. The scene where the man's skeleton turns into a robot is certainly nothing ground breaking but it looks very good. It seems this thing has pretty much been forgotten over the years but it's a rip candidate for rediscovery for those who enjoy weird stuff.