Tobor the Great

Trailer—Tobor the Great

Tobor the Great_720p(480P)

Tobor the Great, 1954. *Spoiler/plot- A brilliant scientist develops a remarkable robot and his grandson becomes a friend to it. *Special Stars- Charles Drake, Karin Booth, Billy Chapin, Taylor Holmes, Steven Geray, Henry Kulky. *Theme- Innocent youth can conquer all problems. *Trivia/location/goofs- One of the first and most popular robot films and developed into a genre for the 1950's on TV and film. *Emotion- This is a charming piece of 1950 naively fun involving robots, scientists, space flight, international spys, friendship, and precocious kids. *Based On- 1950's robot and space flight sensibilities.

As of late, I've been spending my time watching vintage Horror and Sci-Fi movies and one of the most surprising things I've discovered is that many of these movies- often low budget, Poverty Row productions- are Light Years ahead of Contemporary movies when it comes to sheer Entertainment Value; movies like TOBOR, THE GREAT, for instance. The movie is well-written AND well directed and it deserves to be much better known than it is. With all due respect to Robby the Robot, I'd much rather have a Tobor action figure/model on my shelf (Gort's a different story, however...). (In the short story upon which THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is based, the robot is called Trog- "Gort," spelled backwards... or is that sideways...? TOBOR is, of course, Robot spelled backward. Coincidence...?) Tobor tears through doors and walls and electrified fences in impressive fashion, but his greatest feat may be commandeering a jeep to take off in pursuit of the villains. TOBOR, THE GREAT is Great Fun, no two ways about it.

source: Tobor the Great

Baby boomers of a certain age may recall being entertained, back in 1965, by the latest Japanimation product at that time, a TV program called "Tobor the 8th Man," which had its origins in a manga comic in 1963. But almost a full decade before the 8th Man's initial appearance, another Tobor was thrilling baby boomers in America's movie palaces, via 1954's "Tobor the Great." In this surprisingly likable film, the elderly Prof. Nordstrom builds a mechanical simulacrum, operated telepathically; a robot designed to take the place of a human being in the first, ultrahazardous rocket voyage into space. The professor and his 11-year-old grandson, Gadge, soon become the targets of foreign spies, however, so it's a good thing that Tobor is prepared to meet ALL emergency situations! Anyway, "Tobor" is a perfect film for adults to watch with their kiddies. The film has been well directed by Lee Sholem (the man responsible for 1951's "Superman and the Mole-Men"!) and features some very competent acting (especially by Taylor Holmes as the professor and Charles Drake as his assistant) and a compact (the whole film runs only 77 minutes in length), fairly intelligent script; don't believe the wet blankets at Maltinville who claim these latter two aspects are "terrible." As far as Tobor itself is concerned, comparisons to Robby the Robot, in 1956's "Forbidden Planet," are hard to avoid. Tobor might be a taller and thus more imposing creation, which is not to say cooler looking. And lacking the power of "speech," it doesn't have 1/10 the personality of Robby. Still, it is a wholly endearing construct, and the final shot of the big galoot at the controls of Earth's first space rocket is fairly touching. In all, "Tobor" is good, lighthearted sci-fi fun, and demonstrates that a film doesn't necessarily require the resources of an Industrial Light & Magic complex to fashion a memorable robotic character. Tobor might not be Robby or R2-D2, but it sure is a good dude to have on one's side when the chips are down!

I saw this in the theater as a kid and in true fifties style the guy in the robot suit made an appearance in the lobby of the theater! How cool was that!!?? Even after all these years I still find this film charming. In my opinion the robot is spectacular! (especially for this low budget) You can just tell he was designed in the 50s. I even found a guy on the internet who is selling "TOBAR" full sized and it looks like an excellent reproduction! I find the "bad guys" very amusing and everybody has those cool 1950s cars! The scene of the robot driving a Jeep is not to be missed! Now fess up, don't you wish you had a robot like TOBAR to play with? Several reviewers downplayed this as a kiddy movie, but I find the effects and cold war sub plot pretty entertaining!

True, its budget is small, its special-effects minimal, its appeal somewhat juvenile, but there's a directness and innocence about this boy-and-robot adventure which -- when seen from a modern-day perspective -- is quite appealing. I agree, however, with the author of "Keep Watching the Skies" that the ending is a curious and rather unsettling miscalculation.

I thought this was going to be the typical 50s sci-fi b-movie and it's not. Not only does it have a plot and good acting, there's almost no sci-fi in it. Just a robot. It's more like a feel good family movie. One way it was like an old b-movie was that it had lots of stuff that wasn't needed. It could have easily been 20 minutes shorter. Definitely worth seeing once.

To be honest, the only reason I'm commenting is because I remember seeing this film in the theater when I was six years old, and it made quite an impression on me. I was fascinated with robots (to an unhealthy degree!), and the "robot spelled backwards" really stuck with me. I would love to see it again. It could be one of those "so bad it's funny" movies, the kind that were perfect for Mystery Science Theater 3000. Having a robot who could think and had emotions is a pretty advanced concept for the age.