Tobor the Great (1954)

Two brilliant scientists create a robot for the purpose of exploring deep space but the mechanical marvel is stolen by enemy agents . Only the scientists' psychic link with the robot can save it from being reprogrammed for evil purposes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 031398232834 Manufacturer No: 23283 Product Description

Tobor the Average

My friend and fellow sci-fi fanatic have our own personal "wish lists" of films we've always wanted to see. Well, Tobor has topped my list for the past 20 years or so. It's almost never shown on t.v., and even the VHS tape of the film has been out-of-print for years. So it was with great enthusiasm that I greeted this long-overdue DVD release.

Unfortunately, like so many things that we build up in our minds to be great, the reality is that Tobor isn't really the "lost classic" I'd hoped it would be. Oh, it's hardly a bad film. The production values are first-rate, especially the expansive lab set wherein the title character is created. And I was impressed that there was some real SCIENCE in this science-fiction: The idea of using artificial beings to test the dangers of space travel is a fine idea.

Where Tobor misses the mark is with the ludicrous plot device of the robot creating an ESP-based link with its inventor's grandson, which then proves useful when the boy is kidnapped by criminals intent on stealing the mechanical man. It's as if the writers couldn't decide if their story was a kid's movie, or serious sci-fi. With about equal amounts of both, the result is not that satisfying.

But if you like 50's sci-fi, you may still find this a worthwhile purchase. It does retain much of the "gee whiz" innocence of the era, and I'm sure the nostalgia factor is high for anyone growing up during that time.

For a much better boy-and-his-robot picture, check out THE INVISIBLE BOY, available as a bonus feature with Forbidden Planet (Two-Disc Special Edition).

May 24, 2008

Tobor flies again.

the movie is excellent and I look forward to enjoying it for many years,and I hope to keep it around for posterity. September 10, 2007

One of the best kids robot b-movies.

Tobor is Robot spelled backwards. Invented by a scientist (Taylor Holmes) for the space program, Tobor is befriended by the scientist's grandson, played by Billy Chapin (who appeared in the Christmas episode of Dragnet, the one in which someone stole a statue of Jesus from the church, and is the brother of Lauren Chapin, who played Kathy on Father Knows Best). But foreign spies are after Tobor to turn his technology to evil uses.

This is one of the best Robot movies for kids from the 1950s, though not quite as entertaining as the Disney movie The Invisible Boy, which featured Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet. The name Tobor was used again for a robot in a more recent movie - Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

The cast includes some of the most familiar and prolific B-move character actors including Robert Shayne, who portrayed Inspector Henderson on the Superman TV series; William Schallert, best known as Patty Duke's dad on The Patty Duke Show, with 300 film & TV credits - and still appearing in films today, like Sweetzer (2006); and Lyle Talbot, who appeared in everything from The Clyde Mystery (1931) to Newhart, including Plan Nine From Outer Space, Batman and Robin, and 42nd Street.
October 15, 2006

...and Robot is Tobor spelled backwards, too!!!l

Truly one of the better of the 50's robots!! I feel sorry for the guy who created the awesome robot suit for this movie. What a waste. Miles better than the robot in Target Earth!! I think they tried to walk the line between kid movie and classic 50's sci-fi and that's what weakened it. Give the robot some lasers or somethin'!! Let's see him take out some US Army troops or a tank or sumthin'. Instead we see Tobor go off-roading by himself in a military Jeep and then stop the crooks by tearing the hood off their running car and reaches in for the distributor cap and pulls it off to stop the engine!! I did have some great laughs with this one and like I said earlier, the robot is great. See 'Tobor the Great' just to watch him drive the Jeep or to watch a guy wearing just the robot-suit boots go up a small spiral staircase(Tobor is 8.5 feet tall, never would have made it up that staircase!!) With a better script, some better actors, and shorten the name to 'Tobor', this could have been an all-time classic. March 2, 2001

TOBOR IS ROBOT SPELLED BACKWARDS!

TOBOR is one of the most delightful juvenile sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s, and one of the best movie robots of all time! Although TOBOR was closer related to the tin-can clanking robots in the old Republic movie serials of the 1940s than to more futuristic versions like Robby and R2-D2, he endeared himself to 1954 audiences of kids who loved to see a 7-foot-tall robot as a hero. The archetypal boy-and-his-robot movie, like Robby in The Invisible Boy (1957) this one works as sheer entertainment and no doubt inspired many young boys in the Fifties to grow up to be scientists. Billy Chapin as Gadge heads an all-star cast of sterling character actors during the cold war McCarthy era. Stephen Geray is tops as the villainous spy you love to hate, and was supported by top character heavies Peter Brocco and Henry Kulky. They were nicely counterbalanced with Taylor Holmes as TOBOR's inventor, Professor Nordstrom, and Charles Drake as a pre-NASA-era rocket scientist. Highly recommended! Great fun for all ages! Three cheers for TOBOR THE GREAT! July 12, 2000

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