#phil tucker

[anthonysperkins]

George Nader as Roy Robot Monster (1953) dir. Phil Tucker

[schlock-luster-video]

On October 19, 1996, Robot Monster was screened on Svengoolie.

Here's some new art inspired by the z-movie classic!

[qosmiq]

[weirdlookindog]

Robot Monster (1953)

[brokehorrorfan]

Robot Monster will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 25 via Bayview Entertainment. Celebrating its 70th anniversary, the movie is presented in frame sequential Blu-ray 3D, anaglyphic 3D, and standard 2D.

Also known as Monsters from Mars and Monsters from the Moon, the 1953 sci-fi horror film is directed by Phil Tucker and written by Wyott Ordung. George Nader, Claudia Barrett, and George Barrows star.

Robot Monster has been newly restored in 4K from 35mm 3D archival elements by the 3-D Film Archive. Special features - some of which are presented in 3D - are listed below, where you can also watch the new trailer.

Versions of the film:

Frame sequential Blu-ray 3D

Anaglyphic 3D (with a pair of glasses included)

Standard 2D

3D special features:

Stardust in Your Eyes - Robot Monster's original prologue starring Trustin "Slick Slavin" Howard

Interview with actor Greg Moffett

Travels Through Time & Space - Vintage slide presentation curated by stereoscopic anthropologist Hillary Hess

Adventures in 3D - 1953 3D comic book

Restoration demo

Vintage shorts

Trailers

2D special features:

Audio commentary by Greg Moffett, Mike Ballew, Eric Kurland, and Lawrence Kaufman.

Saving Slick - Featurette on actor Trustin "Slick Slavin" Howard

Mistakes & Innovations - 3-D Film Archive’s Bob Furmanek describes the original day-for-night footage and Robot Monster’s innovative use of “double film”

Rescuing Ro-Man - Featurette on how the discovery of 35mm prints saved the only complete 3D footage

Memorabilia gallery

Trailers from Hell - Trailer commentary by filmmaker Joe Dante

Bela Lugosi on “You Asked For It” - 1953 live TV appearance

A cosmic catastrophe has wiped out humanity, and now the last six survivors must outwit that strangely iconic alien menace, Ro-Man (George Barrows). Taking orders from the pitiless Great Guidance, Ro-Man wavers in his pursuit of human annihilation when he falls in love with a girl (Claudia Barrett). Can dashing young Roy (George Nader) save her?

[oldshowbiz]

The Cloister becomes the Pago Pago.

The former Chicago jazz room was where "resident blue comic" Phil Tucker emceed.

[gatutor]

George Nader-George Barrows-Claudia Barrett "Robot monster" 1953, de Phil Tucker.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Robot Monster (Tucker, 1953)

The release of the 2022 Sight and Sound poll has spurred me to start closing off a number of longtime blind spots with respect to classic cinema. I finally made the time to get through Jeanne Dielman... (I'm not writing out the whole title, it's longer than the movie) and Battleship Potemkin, and while at this point I probably appreciated them more than I enjoyed them, the former is certainly growing on me in the days since I've seen them. Both of those I watched on the Criterion Channel, through which I've also been watching a bunch of very good old time screwball comedies. But classics come in all shapes and sizes, and inspired by a recent MST3K-centric episode of The Important Cinema Club podcast and this great review by Letterboxd user sakana1, I decided to finally get around to Phil Tucker's 1953 movie about a robot monster, coincidentally called Robot Monster.

The movie plays like a child's idea of science fiction. The majority of earth's population is killed by a vaguely defined death ray, and the survivors band together as a family unit against the invading robot monster named Ro-Man. We also learn that Ro-Man's entire race is also known as Ro-Mans, and that he's actually Earth Ro-Man, who reports to another Ro-Man known as the Great One through what looks like a bedroom mirror. I don't expect a child to think through their choice of nomenclature, so I will excuse these awkward naming conventions. They're not even called Ro-Men, and we learn of no Ro-Women, but as all boys know, girls have cooties, which must hold for alien races and robot monsters as well. I will not spoil the ending, but it does support this reading.

I had trouble gelling to this at first, because while this is very bad, it betrays an understanding of how real "good" movies should operate. It's the opposite of exciting, but not in a way that suggests it's completely alien to such a concept. Compare this to Manos, another MST3K bad movie classic, and you see how that movie functions more convincingly as outsider art, made by filmmakers so oblivious to the rhythms of normal movies that they invent their own, with every shot framed awkwardly, held a little too long, creaking towards its conclusion like the blips on a heart monitor. Robot Monster only achieves this kind of anti-cinema in the sequences of Ro-Man waddling through the valley, framed so crudely and drawn out so long as to dissipate any tension, while Elmer Bernstein's score booms on the soundtrack. (Bernstein took the gig after being blacklisted.)

When we're stuck with the humans, this movie is regular bad and boring. When we're with Ro-Man and the Great One, this is gold. It helps that Ro-Man's appearance is never scary and indeed rather cuddly and huggable (the movie didn't have enough money for a robot suit, so Tucker hired a friend who owned a gorilla costume). It also helps that after endless, endless scenes of Ro-Man waddling around, mostly in the superior second half, we see Ro-Man's ruthless nature start to thaw, as his love for the last woman on Earth (okay, there's the mother too, but I guess Ro-Man isn't into older women) causes him to question his mission. He confesses to his superior that he wishes to "To be like the hu-man! To laugh! Feel! Want! Why are these things not in the plan?" And push comes to shove, finds himself hesitating to kill. "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!" I suppose at this point I was won over enough by the movie's directness that I was a little moved. Maybe at the end of the day, all Ro-Man needed was a hug.

[prescriptionfiction]

            Are you tired of characters having it too easy? Power and magic given to them with little to no drawbacks? Growing stronger so quickly that it feels unbelievable even in the realm of fantasy constructed by the author? Yeah, me too. Lemme tell ya, this book? No such problems

            This book follows Scorio, a man who wakes up in a massive tomb with no memories, no idea where he is, and no idea what’s happening. As the story progresses, you learn that he’s actually in Hell. Yeah, there’s a human city in hell. The human faction's goal? Reach the deepest pit of hell, break the pit, and return back to Earth. The problem is, they’ve been at it for many lifetimes, with no real results. Worse still, Hell is slowly devouring the city, the edges falling to ruin more and more. If things keep up, the city will fall to ruin and the humans will die without ever making it back to Earth.

            You want struggle? A real, believable, battle to survive against the odds? Then this is the book for you. Scorio starts off the book being informed that him and everyone else in the tomb are reincarnated heroes, powerful people who bound their souls to the city so they could continue to fight Hell over and over again. Each time, they wake in the tomb with no memories. They live their lives, fighting and growing stronger, until they die. And then they do it again. That’s the kind of world this is.

            Scorio is different, though. Of course he is, he’s the main character! He’s obviously going to be extra powerful for some inane reason or the other, the destined one to save the city and finally reach the depths of Hell. Well, not exactly. He’s special, yes, but upon being tested to determine his past life, you get to see that it’s not in a good way. Scorio has been declared a Red-Lister, a hero who has fallen from grace so hard, committing a crime so unspeakable, that they are to be killed on sight. Every time they reincarnate in the tomb. He obviously doesn’t remember what he did to deserve this, but he is dragged away to be executed all the same.

            That’s all I want to reveal about the story. The characters are well-written, the world fleshed out, and the magic system, while not world-shakingly unique or amazing, makes sense and works well for the story. The real thing that sets this book apart from all the others is the way the author describes the slow climb to power. Scorio may be left for dead but he sure as hell isn’t going to let that stop him from growing stronger. Without the help of the city, each step, each minute increase in power, feels earned.

You feel Scorio’s determination warring against the agonizing (often literally), painfully slow growth. Everything feels earned. In fact, I got a little annoyed halfway through because the effort :: results ratio was so skewed against him. It felt almost frustrating how much the world tries to crush Scorio, but then it all kind of clicked. It works so incredibly well, painting a dark, grimy picture of the world the author has created.

Everything about this book is just damn good. Some things certainly more than others, but I can’t say that anything about it was bad in any way whatsoever. If you can push through the dismal, depressing curtain, there’s so much to see under the surface here.

[mapas-fantasticos]

Map of Midgard from the Skadi's Saga by Phil Tucker.

[anthonysperkins]

George Nader as Roy Robot Monster (1953) dir. Phil Tucker

[schlock-luster-video]

On June 20, 2012, Robot Monster debuted in Poland.

[amalgamat1on]

Broken people working together in a further breaking world. This is a series everyone should try regardless if you're into litrpg or not.

[chewbacca]

MODERN FAMILY (2009–2020) S01E09: Fizbo

[thelassoway]

2012 Leap Day Episodes: Modern Family || 3.17 Leap Day Parks and Recreation || 4.16 Sweet Sixteen 30 Rock || 6.09 Leap Day