ROBOT MONSTER (1953)
70th Anniversary Restoration in 3-D
Label: Bayview Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 66 Minutes no with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Phil Tucker
Cast: George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle, John Mylong, Gregory Moffett, Pamela Paulson, George Barrows, John Brown.
Notorious sci-fi schlocker Robot Monster (1953) is an entertaining slice of z-grade cinema, often talked about in the same rarified air as legendary 'bad films' like Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space, Manos: The Hands of Fate, and The Creeping Terror (1964), it's a super low-budget black and white 3-D spectacle wherein an alien named Ro-Man (George Barrows, Frankenstein's Daughter) is the leading edge of an alien invasion, an alien robot monster with an ape-like body and an antenna-equipped diving helmet covering its head, his face unseen. He's destroyed all the world's inhabitant with a "calcinator death ray" with the exception of eight humans, among them a Professor (John Mylong, Captain Scarface), his wife (Selena Royle, The Damned Don't Cry), and their children Alice (Claudia Barrett), Carla (Pamela Paulson) and young son Johnny (Gregory Moffett, TV's The Adventures of Superman), plus the prof's strapping assistant Ray (George Nader, The Million Eyes of Sumuru); all of whom were on a picnic in the mountains, and after taking a mid-afternoon awaken to discover that that the Earth had been invaded and the human population destroyed, all except for them. The secret to their survival? Apparently an experimental cure-all vaccine that the Professor had devised and injected them with previously made them impervious to Ro-Man's patented death rays - now that's some vaccine! These so-called death-rays that wiped out humanity are seen as negative-image flashes throughout the film, a very no-budget effect, but this was supposedly made for $16K, so everything about it is pretty chintzy to be honest. The alien communicates via a rudimentary TV screen-looking device with his supreme leader known as the Great Guidance, also played by George Barrows in the same ape-suit, he's told to destroy the surviving "hu-mans", but when Ro-Man starts to develop feelings for the professor's fetching daughter Alice things don't quite go as planned, so Great Guidance has to come down to the planet to finish the job.
It's a ramshackle and threadbare production shot over the course of four-days in Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles, directed by Phil Tucker (The Cape Canaveral Monsters) and produced by Al Zimbalist (Monster from Green Hell) - now that's a pedigree in b-movie queso right there - this is a pretty wacky b-movie and there's good reason it's lumped in with those previously mentioned z-grade bad movie gems, on it's face it's just terrible, but for connoisseurs of b-movie fromage it's a cult-classic for sure. The camerawork and production design is perhaps the cheapest quality I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of no-budget shot-on-video atrocities so that's saying something, and the alien robot creature is a mash-up of cheap incomplete Halloween costume store leftovers cobbled together to corny effect, but I tell you what, it's the design of that campy robot monster that's kept this sci-fi cinema swill in the public consciousness. I know quite a few people familiar with that image who have never watched this movie, it's transcended it's crap-flick origins into the realm of pop-culture. While I deride the film quite a bit, because it is a bad movie, I still get a kick out of it. I love this sort of inept shlock-bomb, there's a certain joy to how utterly weird and awful movies of this ilk are. It's chock full of static shot and baffling stock footage of battling lizards, dinosaurs, apocalyptic cityscapes, and rocket ships from other lower-tier b-flicks like Rocketship X-M, It Came from Outer Space and One Million B.C., some of which are repeated multiples times. The at times almost nonsensical verbal-diarrhea that constitutes dialogue will have you cracking-up, from the way that Ro-man refers to the "hu-mans", or his stilted threats “show yourselves, and I promise you a painless death”, or young Johnny lamenting “gee, I wish now I’d played house with her when she wanted to” when she becomes a victim of Ro-Man's attacks. Don't try to make much sense of the dialogue, they're words but they are not stringing together a coherent story by any means. All the world -destruction is relegated to stock-footage borrowed from those other films, the scope of this is ultra-limited, mostly just scenes shot around Bronson Canyon, a very familiar and well-shot location, used in tons of b-flicks including The Brain from Planet Arous (1957), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), Earth vs. the Spider (1958) and Monster from Green Hell (1958). Despite the lack of imagination when it comes to the production values the Tru-Stereo 3-D is surprisingly quite excellent with solid 3-D with good separation and depth of field, that is by far the most interesting aspect of the film aside from the corny but culty-iconic design of Ro-Man.
Roman's arsenal seemingly consists of a monitor-device with antennae's crackling with low-watt energy and a bubble-machine. I am not sure if the bubble machine sitting atop a small table at the entrance of a cave, which seems to be Ro-Man's homebase on Earth, is supposed to be. Is it some sort of terraforming device or perhaps something to create a breathable atmosphere for Ro-Man inside the cave, or is it simply just a bubble machine just meant to provide some lovely 3-D effects for the film at a bare minimum of cost?
Audio/Video: Robot Monster (1953) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment in 1080p HD in the original full frame (1.33:1) aspect ratio, prepared for it's 70th anniversary release, restored from 35mm archival 3-D elements by the stereoscopic film restoration archivists at the 3-D Film Archive. This is a fantastic HD upgrade over previous sub-par standard-def editions, the source elements offer pleasing depth and detail, the source are 35mm projection print so there are obvious limitations and slight scratches that pop-up, but contrast and grayscale are pleasing. There are noticeable dips in the quality of the source but for the most part this looks impressively crisp in 2-D. Not only do we get the 2-D presentation but two 3-D versions by way of both BD3D (Blu-ray 3-D) and compatible anaglyphic 3-D which will play on any system or monitor, inside the case a pair of red/cyan anaglyph glasses are included. Watching the 3-D version is where it's, the 3-D restoration work by The 3-D Film Archive is top-notch, using 3-D Film Archive’s Adaptive Multi-Band Anaglyphic Encoding process we get a wonderful depth of field, the 3-D effect is surprisingly robust, there's terrific separation of the foreground and background that really sell the 3-D illusion. There's not a lot of in-your-face popping-off-the-screen effects, but I was reaching out to catch some of those bubbles floating around at the entrance of the cave and there's a pretty good 'comin' at ya' moment when the alien commander the Great Guidance pokes his hand directly towards the audience, it's a fun gimmicky effect, but there's not a lot. I have not had the capability to enjoy the more modern and refined Blu-ray 3-D version but I had such a blast with the anaglyph 3-D I am already looking to upgrade my viewing capabilities, I just need the glasses as my TV and player are compatible. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.O Mono with optional English subtitles, it sounds like a cheapie flick and of it's vintage but what little hiss there is do deal with is not even close to ruinous by any means, a perfectly fine track and I am pleased it's uncompressed despite the lack of range.
Onto the extras, interestingly while there are over two-hours of extras they for the most part are not viewable separately, instead you have the option to view different blocks of extras, we have the 2-D extras (37:34) and the 3-D extras (63:52), each with chapter stops separating the extras, some of the extras are available in both 2-D and 3-D. It's quite a bit of content, including new mini-docs, interviews an featurettes, like Sean Thrunk's Saving Slick (2023) docu-short featuring 1950's nightclub comedian Slick Slaven who appeared in the prologue that played before the film theatrically. Mistakes & Innovations (2023) features Bob Furmanek describes the original day-for-night footage and Phil Tucker's innovative use of "Double Film" aka "3-D Blinkey", while the Thrunk directed mini-doc Rescuing Ro-Man (2023) tells the story of how the two forgotten 35mm prints were discovered by accident in 1990. We also get an Audio Commentary with Greg Moffett, Mike Ballew, Eric Kurland and Lawrence Kaufman (2022).
The vintage 3-D extras are really special, we get a awesome memorabilia with still and advertising for the film, Travels Through Time & Space (2023) a slideshow presentation of vintage 3D photography narrated by stereoscopic historian Hillary Hess, a newly created 3-D Trailer for the film, plus
the 3-D cabaret short Side Streets of Hollywood 3-D (1953), and one of my favorite non-film related extras is the inclusion of Adventures in 3-D (1953) - a newly restored 3-D Harvey Comic Book! There's loads of other extras but these are a few of my favorites, there's a more complete list of the extras below. Additionally there's the 8-min curio Bela Lugosi - You Asked For It (July 27, 1953) - a 2-D live television appearance, sponsored by Skippy Peanut Butter, newly restored from 16mm Kinescope, featuring Universal Monster icon Bela Lugosi with Optional Commentary by Gary D. Rhodes.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear Viva Elite keepcase with a 2-sided non-reversible sleeve of artwork, featuring terrific new art by Stewart McKissick. On the flipside is the description of the fantastic bonus features, and tucked away inside are a pair of fold-up cardboard anaglyph 3-D glasses. The glasses are manufactured to be small enough to fit neatly into the keepcase and were a bit small for my admittedly large head, but I made it work.
Special Features:
3-D Special Features: (63:52)
- Stardust In Your Eyes (1953) - Robot Monster's original prologue starring Slick Slaven aka Trustin Howard. New 4K scan from the left/right 35mm master positives.
- Memories of a Pooped-Out Pinwheel (2022) - Greg Moffett shares his personal recollections of filming on location over a period of four days in March 1953.
- Travels Through Tome & Space (2023) - Newly curated vintage slide presentation from Stereoscopic Anthropologist, Hillary Hess
- Adventures in 3-D (1953) - Newly restored Golden Age 3-D Comic Book, presented in association with Carl Scheckel at Carl’s Comix.
- Plus additional trailers, vintage shorts, and a restoration demo!
2-D Special Features (37:34)
- Saving Slick (2023) - Sean Thrunk's new documentary short explains how 1950's nightclub comedian Slick Slaven is reminded of his long-forgotten act and identity when his lost 3-D film is revived in 2003.(37:32)
- Joe Dante, Trailer From Hell (2013) - Monster From Mars (1956) reissue trailer hosted by Joe Dante, courtesy of Trailers from Hell
- Mistakes & Innovations (2023) - Bob Furmanek describes the original day-for-night footage and Phil Tucker's innovative use of "Double Film" aka "3-D Blinkey."
- Rescuing Ro-Man (2023) - This documentary short by filmmaker Sean Thrunk tells how an accidental discovery of two forgotten 35mm prints in 1990 saved the only complete 3-D footage.
- Audio Commentary with Greg Moffett, Mike Ballew, Eric Kurland and Lawrence Kaufman (2022)
- Was I A Man (2022) - New song by The Other Favorites, aka Josh Turner and Carson McKee, played during the post-feature restoration credits and memorabilia gallery.
- Memorabilia Gallery (2023) - Created by Charles Barnard with original newspaper ads, posters, lobbycards and publicity photographs.
- Bela Lugosi - You Asked For It (July 27, 1953) - Appearance on live television, newly restored with Optional Commentary by Gary D. Rhodes (7:54)
This is a terrific release, The 3-D Archive did wonderful work bringing this golden age 3-D schlocker to Blu-ray fully restored with some kick-ass 3-D and an excellent set of extras that not only relate to this film specifically but the golden age of 3-D in general. If you're fan of vintage 3-D or crappy old sci-fi flicks this is a no-brainer. If I may paraphrase the lovelorn alien-invader Ro-Man, "at what point on the graph do must and own meet?” - right here at Robot Monster on Blu-ray, that's where, a must-own release.
Screenshots from the BayView Entertainment Blu-ray:
Top: 2-D Presentation
Bottom: 3-D Presentation
More 2-D Screenshots from the
BayView Entertainment Blu-ray:
2-D Extras:
