TOBOR THE GREAT (1954)
Article #295 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-4-2002
Posting date: 5-21-2002

A scientist creates a robot to replace astronauts in planned explorations of space.

Everybody feels the need to point this out, so why should I be any different; Tobor is robot spelled backwards (and Great is anagram of the word grate, a fact that nobody finds interesting). The movie is currently sitting with a 4.0 rating on IMDB, which is a little unfair; the movie is what it is, and what it is is a children’s movie. Specifically, it’s a movie for boys who love robots. Yes, the dialogue is a bit of the gosh-wow variety (The phrases “Gee whilikers” and “I just gotta see that robot. I just gotta!” do appear), but it’s nowhere near as condescending or simplistic as it could have been. In fact, it may be a shade too nasty; the scene where the bad guys threaten to torture the child with a blowtorch may be a bit much, even though they never actually do so. Sure, it’s indifferently acted and directed, but I always feel the need to cut the movie some slack.