Robots in Film

Robots in Film
A Complete Illustrated History

Part 1

Introduction: Throughout cinematic history, especially in science-fiction tales, robots have played a primary role. Throughout history and popular culture, robots have reflected the mood, social and cultural issues, and technology of their times. For example, in the Cold War 1950s, robots were generally viewed as threatening forces, but in later years reflected both the conflict and the continuity between man and machine. Robots have also functioned as both servant-helpers or oppressors of humanity, portraying the good and evil sides.

This compilation is not designed to be too strict in its choices of 'robots'. Herein are examples of various films with robotic characters.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star

are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Film/Year Name of Robot	Description	Example
*The Mechanical Statue and the Ingenious Servant (1907)* Mechanical Men	This very early, one-reel film from Vitagraph, was the first American film with 'robot' predecessors called mechanical men. They were created as automatons (or automated thinking machines), but proved to be dangerous and deadly after running amok, like Frankenstein (1931). The film's survival status is unknown. Other early depictions of "mechanical men" included these one-reel short films with threatening robot-servants: An Animated Doll (1908), The Rubber Man (1909), Dr. Smith's Automaton (1910, Fr.), The Automatic Motorist (1911, UK), D. W. Griffith's The Inventor’s Secret (1911), The Electric Leg (1912, UK), Sammy's Automaton (1914, Fr.), Hoffmans Erzaehlungen (aka Tales of Hoffman) (1915, Ger.), and the 6-part serial Homunculus (1916, Ger.).
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908) also Return to Oz (1985) Tik-Tok	L. Frank Baum's novel Ozma of Oz (1907) featured round-bodied Tik-Tok, the first 'robot' to appear in modern literature. The character also first appeared in the film The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908), presented in Baum's live travelogue presentation (with Tik-Tok - The Machine Man portrayed by Wallace Illington), and much later as the mustached Tik-Tok in Disney's film Return to Oz (1985).	Return to Oz (1985)
The Master Mystery (1920) (aka The Houdini Serial, and Le Maitre du Mystere) Q, or The Automaton	Director Burton King's and Harry Grossman's independently-produced serial (with 15 episodes, some of which are lost) was made by studio Pathe in France; it starred magician and trick escapist artist Harry Houdini as heroic Justice Department/secret service agent Quentin Locke who battled a threatening and criminal international cartel/corporation; it featured a huge, mechanical, evil robot named Q or The Automaton (Floyd Buckley), the cartel's protective robot-servant, with a goofy-looking face and a barrel-shaped pelvis; this film had one of the earliest (if not the first) on-screen theatrical representation of a robot.
The Mechanical Man (1921) (aka L’Uomo Meccanico, It ) Mechanical Man	Writer/director Andre Deed's short silent film (only parts of which survive, in a fragmented form) featured a giant, 9-10 foot-tall, colossal evil "mechanical" robot that was programmed by evil villainess adventuress Mado (Valentina Frascaroli) to cause severe damage with its fiery, acetylene blow-torch hands and its massive bulk; the lumbering robot had headlights for eyes, and had the capability of running at high speed; the film's finale featured a climactic battle at a masked ball in the Opera House between the first monstrous robot and a second mechanical robot, specifically created (with similar specifications) to destroy the first one.
*Metropolis (1927, Ger.)* "Fake" Maria	This future dystopic silent film from director Fritz Lang featured one of the earliest robots (and also female!), a great iconic image, in its story of an elite ruling technocracy run on the labor of oppressed underground masses of toiling workers who ran the machines; the Art Deco-styled female robot (Brigitte Helm) was constructed and brought to life by archetypal mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) as a metal android (later inspiring Star Wars' C-3PO); Rotwang had kidnapped the virtuous and compassionate union leader heroine Maria (also Helm), and created an evil doppelganger of her in his laboratory - in a stunning transformation scene in which he copied Maria's face and body onto the metal surface of the robot; she was to deceptively assume an evil, seductive and sadistic version of Maria; the robot had a fully-armored head, with slits for eyes and mouth, sculpted shoulders, as well as a mechanically-jointed body with armor-like coverings on the legs and feet; the android was created in order to discredit the real Maria by - among other things, performing lascivious, erotic dances to a frenzied male audience to incite them to riot (as part of the aristocracy's plan to brutally subdue them).
*Undersea Kingdom (1936)* Volkites	This early Republic Pictures serial (with twelve episodes or chapters), starring naval action hero Lt. Ray "Crash" Corrigan (Ray Corrigan) and featuring the lost city of Atlantis at the bottom of the sea, was produced in haste to compete with Universal's Flash Gordon serials; trash can-like robot soldiers with zap rays guns (Atomguns) called Volkites were commanded by Unga Khan (Monte Blue), the evil tyrannical ruler of the Black Robes and remote-controlled by his henchman Captain Hakur (Lon Chaney, Jr.).
*The Phantom Creeps (1939)* "Iron Man"	Bela Lugosi starred in his last serial, Universal's 12-part serial titled The Phantom Creeps, as mad scientist Dr. Alex Zorka intent on taking over the world. He invented a fearsome, slow-moving 8-foot golem-like iron monster or robot that he referred to as "his iron man" (played by 7'4" tall stuntman Ed Wolff). The robot was remote-controlled, designed to "crush all opposition and make me the most powerful man in the world" - acc. to Dr. Zorka.
The Wizard of Oz (1939) The Tin Man (aka The Tin Woodsman)	In this beloved musical fantasy film, the Tin Man (Jack Haley) (aka The Tin Woodsman in L. Frank Baum's original book) was one of the fanciful characters in the Wonderful Land of Oz - he was actually a silver-faced, funnel-capped robot who joined Dorothy (Judy Garland) on her journey to Oz' Wizard in the Emerald City to request a heart to fill his hollow chest ("The tinsmith forgot to give me a heart" and "If I only had a heart..."); he was first found rusted immobile from moisture and needed to be oiled to begin moving again; others who played the Tin Man in film: Oliver Hardy in the silent The Wizard of Oz (1925), Al Joseph in The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969), Nipsey Russell in the adaptation The Wiz (1978), and Deep Roy in Return to Oz (1985).
*The Mechanical Monsters (1941)* "Mechanical Monsters"	The Fleischer Brothers created this 10 minute-long animated short film (for Paramount Studios), titled "The Mechanical Monsters." It was the second of seventeen Technicolored Superman cartoons released in the early 1940s. It told about a group of giant flying robots (created by a mad scientist) with flamethrowers in their heads that were attacking the metropolis of Gotham City. After robbing a bank and a jewelry exhibit, they abducted Lois Lane (voice of Joan Alexander) - forcing Clark Kent/Superman (voice of Bud Collyer) to come to the rescue and use his X-ray vision to battle the army of multiple robots.
*The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)* Gort also, the remake The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu and Jennifer Connelly as Helen	Director Robert Wise's seminal science fiction film in motion picture history contained an anti-nuclear war message during the Cold War; it featured a giant, nine-foot tall, all-powerful, mighty, menacing and massive metallic robot companion-protector named Gort (Lock Martin), with a featureless face dissected by an opening visor, smooth metallic surface, straight legs (without knee joints), boots for shoes, and fixed hands (without joints or fingers); Gort was a prototypical Terminator and Robocop character and similar to the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz (1939); after a huge flying saucer landed on the mall in Washington, DC in 1951, a benevolent, humanoid, interplanetary alien visitor named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) who was seeking peace emerged down a ramp, followed to everyone's amazement by silent, killer bodyguard Gort - who had the ability to zap (melt) weapons or tanks with a lethal, disintegration laser beam heat-ray behind his sliding visor; the robot, an interstellar guardian, intended to destroy worlds, such as Earth, whose inhabitants were intent on destruction, aggression, and hostility; Gort was instructed to warn and then destroy Earth if peace couldn't be established - to demonstrate his power, he shut down the world's power supply (hence, the film's title "The Day the Earth Stood Still"); one of the most famous 3-word phrases in science fiction history was recited by single mother/widow Helen (Patricia Neal) to stop Gort's destructive rampage when Klaatu was killed: "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto"; the film ended with the alien visitor's resurrection and a warning-proclamation as an ultimatum for disarmament: ("...But if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple. Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you").
*Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952, UK) (aka My Son, the Vampire, and Vampire Over London)* Mark 1	In this awful B-movie vampire satire and horror comedy (the last in a long-running series of Mother Riley films), Central European mad scientist Von Housen (Bela Lugosi), known as the "Vampire" and intent on world domination, created a uranium-powered, 6 foot-tall slave robot named Mark 1, that was ordered to kidnap Irish grocery store owner and washerwoman Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan in drag costume) and bring her to his mansion; Von Housen's intent was to build an army of 50,000 robots, but he had only completed one robot due to the scarcity of uranium to power them; in one of the film's more memorable scenes, Mother Riley wrestled the robot and dismantled it, to come to the rescue.