'Tobor the Great', wow what a title. If you're a fan of cheesy B-movies from '50s, you know you have to see the film titled like that. 'Tobor the Great' doesn't serve as a monster movie, it is a film more about the kid and his pet robot. Heartwarming science-fiction comedy that could be a classic. Although fairly entertaining the film is quite slow in the pace and uses the ideas presented in the script in very shallow way.
After his concerns about human testing on pilots Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes) invents a robot named Tobor (robot spelled backwards) to fly the first spaceship. He is helped by his colleague Ralph Harrison (Charles Drake) who resigned his government job in protest against human testings on pilots. Nordstrom's grandson Gadge (Billy Chapin) discovers Tobor and they became sort of a friends. Of course, an evil foreign agents want to steal the secrets behind Tobor.
The film is slow moving and its many subplots are underdeveloped exactly like the main premise. Acting is uneven but not too distracting. Special effects are actually very good considering the era and the budget. At least the design of Tobor is not totally laughable. Like I said, 'Tobor the Great' could have been classic, but it is too unpretentious and modest in all the wrong reasons. Still worthy enough to give it a look.
After his concerns about human testing on pilots Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes) invents a robot named Tobor (robot spelled backwards) to fly the first spaceship. He is helped by his colleague Ralph Harrison (Charles Drake) who resigned his government job in protest against human testings on pilots. Nordstrom's grandson Gadge (Billy Chapin) discovers Tobor and they became sort of a friends. Of course, an evil foreign agents want to steal the secrets behind Tobor.
The film is slow moving and its many subplots are underdeveloped exactly like the main premise. Acting is uneven but not too distracting. Special effects are actually very good considering the era and the budget. At least the design of Tobor is not totally laughable. Like I said, 'Tobor the Great' could have been classic, but it is too unpretentious and modest in all the wrong reasons. Still worthy enough to give it a look.