Robot Monster (1953)

Director:

Phil Tucker

Writer:

Wyott Ordung (original screenplay)

Release Date:

25 June 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Adventures Into The Future in New TRU-3 Dimension

Plot:

The monstrous Ro-Man attempts to annihilate the last family alive on Earth, but finds himself falling for their beautiful daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Robot | Gorilla | Helmet | Death Of Daughter

Cast

George Nader	...	Roy
Claudia Barrett	...	Alice
Selena Royle	...	Mother (as Selena Royale)
John Mylong	...	The Professor
Gregory Moffett	...	Johnny
Pamela Paulson	...	Carla
George Barrows	...	Ro-Man the Monster / (2nd role) Great Guidance
John Brown	...	Ro-Man / Great Guidance (voice)

Directed by
Phil Tucker

Writing credits
Wyott Ordung		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Phil Tucker	....	producer
Alan Winston	....	associate producer
Al Zimbalist	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
Jack Greenhalgh		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Merrill G. White		(as Merrill White)

Makeup Department
Stanley E. Campbell	....	makeup artist (as Stan Campbell)

Production Management
Clarence Eurist	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert E. Barnes	....	assistant director (as Robert Barnes)

Art Department
John Orlando	....	property master

Sound Department
Ben Coleman	....	stereo technician
Lyle Willey	....	sound director (as Lyle E. Willey)

Special Effects by
David Commons	....	special photographic effects
Jack Rabin	....	special photographic effects

Visual Effects by
Roy Seawright	....	dinosaur sequences (archive footage) (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Henry West	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Bruce Schoengarth	....	associate editor

Music Department
Elmer Bernstein	....	music director

Other crew
Irving Lerner	....	production associate
Herbert G. Luft	....	assistant to producer (as Herbert Luft)
Ted Schilz	....	script supervisor (as Teddy Schilz)

Production Companies

• Three Dimension Pictures

Distributors

• Astor Pictures Corporation (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Exclusive Films (1953) (UK) (theatrical)
• Peerless Films (1954) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Image Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Rhino Home Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Admit One Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Englewood Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Englewood Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Consolidated Film Industries (CFI)  optical effects
• N. A. Fisher Chemical Products  automatic billion bubble machine

Also Known As:

"Monsters from the Moon" - USA (TV title)

Runtime:

66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Three Dimension Pictures

Trivia:

It was reportedly shot in just four days, utilized no sets, and was entirely filmed outside.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Roy and Alice told Carla to go home she is going on wrong way.

Quotes:

Ro-Man:I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Megamind (2010)

The classic good/bad movie of all - arguably

The first time I saw this, in the '60s, I managed to catch clips off of a late night Creature Feature that cut the crap out of the movie to insert commercials. Thus it made little sense. However, the images that I did see never left me and I have been haunted with the desire to see it again in its entirety. Over the years I managed to catch even more clips but never the entire movie. Nevertheless I was still intrigued by a certain something. Finally I just flat out bought the DVD.

I watched it twice in a row and discovered that this is really quite a little gem. When you finally realize what is going on (which I certainly won't tell you) it makes perfect sense in a 1953 flavor. The important thing to remember is that it is from a child's limited experience and point of view. Once that is realized it becomes great fun.

Perhaps the best part is Elmer Bernstein's score. It kind of does for this movie what Max Stein did for 'King Kong'. The mood is set. Things become a bit surreal and eerie. You become unbalanced. This is good because upon first viewing it throws you a curve and suddenly you aren't in Kansas anymore. How did this happen? It isn't explained until the end, but all at once we have stock footage of dinosaurs fighting(both actual lizards and stop-motion animated models) and a large armadillo walking through the scene. Why? It makes no sense....at first. It is certainly a bit upsetting to your reality though.

Then we discover that the entire word's population is gone with the exception of a handful of people because of Ro-man and ensemble taking over the world. As you know Ro-man is a guy in a gorilla suit sans gorilla head which is replaced by a goofy space helmet. He has a bubble machine (for some reason) and a communication device at the entrance of this cave. His mission is to kill off the rest of the remaining humans. Piece o cake? Nope. Crafty humans have accidentally figured a way to cloak their exact location.

The acting is not good but I have the strangest feeling it was completely on purpose to unbalance the viewer. The same holds true for much of the logic. But in the end that is OK when you discover what has really happened. As soon as that is revealed you will groan and wonder what you missed that might have explained this earlier in the film. No, you didn't miss anything. The movie leads you where it wants you to go and reveals nothing until it wants you to know. Then, if you're dedicated, you will watch it again and perhaps enjoy it much more like I did. I also discovered that while it is logically lame it is never flat out stupid. There really is a method to the filmmaker's madness here.

This movie is cheesy and cheap - it probably wouldn't have worked any other way. Because of Bernstein's music and some of the work by the sound department this movie can even raise your sense of unease. This is good! It doesn't try to scare the Hell out of you but tries to convey a story - which is somewhat interesting from a 1953 point of view.

Bottomline: I personally like this movie and will see it again. I think David Lynch should try a remake. It has some of the same qualities as some of his films for developing a sense of the surreal.

I give it a 4.