The Shell Oil Company made this film and distributed it all over the country before feature films. It was colorful and interesting (and quite surreal). It was designed to use the title robots to show how important oil (and lubricants) were to future. Quite unique.
4 Reviews
Modern Worlds Need Modern Lubrication
richardchatten5 October 2019
I was expecting some sort of documentary depicting a production line, but instead we get a fanciful public relations exercise for Shell Oil in psychedelic thirties Gasparcolor stirringly set to Holst's 'Planet Suite' which perfectly captures the optimism then prevailing in those far off days about human technological progress.
A motorist increases his no doubt already enormous carbon footprint by driving his jalopy up and down the Pyramids before getting lost, running out of petrol and seeing a petrol station emerge from the heat haze like a mirage before expiring in the blazing desert heat. Serves Him Right, I hear you say; but the oil industry comes to the rescue in the form of droplets of petrol send by the goddess Venus to resuscitate his car and rejuvenate him as a gleaming mechanical man.
Fascinating both as filmmaking and as a relic of era that now seems as remote as the one that created the Pyramids in the first place.
A motorist increases his no doubt already enormous carbon footprint by driving his jalopy up and down the Pyramids before getting lost, running out of petrol and seeing a petrol station emerge from the heat haze like a mirage before expiring in the blazing desert heat. Serves Him Right, I hear you say; but the oil industry comes to the rescue in the form of droplets of petrol send by the goddess Venus to resuscitate his car and rejuvenate him as a gleaming mechanical man.
Fascinating both as filmmaking and as a relic of era that now seems as remote as the one that created the Pyramids in the first place.
Imaginative and surreal cinema commercial
guyburns12 September 2017
This cinema commercial for Shell Oil Company was a great success at the time of its release, playing in more than 300 cinemas and reaching an audience of 3 million. It is difficult to fully understand on first viewing, and requires some explanation to get the best out of it.
1. The film was an experiment in using a new colour process – Gasparcolor.
2. It opens with Old Man Time cranking the handle of a clockwork carousel which caused the five planets known to the ancients to circle the Earth. In order of appearance, the planets are:
Jupiter (Zeus holding his thunderbolts)
Mercury (bright planet closest to the sun)
Saturn
Mars (the god of war)
Venus (with her lyre)
The scene closes with a pan out, showing the Earth, the sun, and the five planets on a carousel operated by Old Man Time.
3. A man in a wayward car is meandering among the pyramids. He's rather proud of his car and the sound the engine makes (music notes flying upwards).
4. He wanders into a sandstorm, and the car becomes delirious with thirst for oil. It sees a mirage of an Arabian petrol station with stylised petrol bowsers looking like perfume bottles.
5. Hallucinations begin: an hour glass and Old Man Time appear as apparitions, signalling death –- Old Man Time is now the Grim Reaper wielding his scythe.
6. The man and car perish in the desert.
7. Venus wakes, sees Old Man Time asleep (or dead), and sees the remains of the man and car. She decides to turn the skeleton into a robot, by raining down music notes which turn into oil drops, lubricating the skeleton and bringing it to life.
8. The robot rises and begins road building and development.
9. Man takes to the skies, and then to outer space.
10. Venus looks down and waves to the robot, who has motorised the planetary carousel.
11. The final scene reveals the reason the film was made: "Modern worlds need modern lubrication – lubrication by Shell Oil."
An impressive commercial for any era, let alone 1936.
1. The film was an experiment in using a new colour process – Gasparcolor.
2. It opens with Old Man Time cranking the handle of a clockwork carousel which caused the five planets known to the ancients to circle the Earth. In order of appearance, the planets are:
Jupiter (Zeus holding his thunderbolts)
Mercury (bright planet closest to the sun)
Saturn
Mars (the god of war)
Venus (with her lyre)
The scene closes with a pan out, showing the Earth, the sun, and the five planets on a carousel operated by Old Man Time.
3. A man in a wayward car is meandering among the pyramids. He's rather proud of his car and the sound the engine makes (music notes flying upwards).
4. He wanders into a sandstorm, and the car becomes delirious with thirst for oil. It sees a mirage of an Arabian petrol station with stylised petrol bowsers looking like perfume bottles.
5. Hallucinations begin: an hour glass and Old Man Time appear as apparitions, signalling death –- Old Man Time is now the Grim Reaper wielding his scythe.
6. The man and car perish in the desert.
7. Venus wakes, sees Old Man Time asleep (or dead), and sees the remains of the man and car. She decides to turn the skeleton into a robot, by raining down music notes which turn into oil drops, lubricating the skeleton and bringing it to life.
8. The robot rises and begins road building and development.
9. Man takes to the skies, and then to outer space.
10. Venus looks down and waves to the robot, who has motorised the planetary carousel.
11. The final scene reveals the reason the film was made: "Modern worlds need modern lubrication – lubrication by Shell Oil."
An impressive commercial for any era, let alone 1936.
Surreal Short from Shell Oil
Michael_Elliott28 July 2010
Birth of a Robot, The (1935)
*** (out of 4)
Shell Oil produced this rather bizarre and surreal short. Apparently the world turns by a human cranking a wheel but at some point in the future this man dies and is resurrected as a robot. The robot carries on this mission of keeping the world turning but he of course needs oil. There's not too much story to fill up this 6-minute short but the images here makes this a must-see for fans of animation. You shouldn't come into this thing expecting Disney-like quality but that's not really needed here. The entire film is full of beautiful colors that really leap off the screen and the bizarre animation ranges from weird looking puppets to even stranger looking scenes including one where a car is driving through the desert and eventually over some pyramids. The scene where the man's skeleton turns into a robot is certainly nothing ground breaking but it looks very good. It seems this thing has pretty much been forgotten over the years but it's a rip candidate for rediscovery for those who enjoy weird stuff.
*** (out of 4)
Shell Oil produced this rather bizarre and surreal short. Apparently the world turns by a human cranking a wheel but at some point in the future this man dies and is resurrected as a robot. The robot carries on this mission of keeping the world turning but he of course needs oil. There's not too much story to fill up this 6-minute short but the images here makes this a must-see for fans of animation. You shouldn't come into this thing expecting Disney-like quality but that's not really needed here. The entire film is full of beautiful colors that really leap off the screen and the bizarre animation ranges from weird looking puppets to even stranger looking scenes including one where a car is driving through the desert and eventually over some pyramids. The scene where the man's skeleton turns into a robot is certainly nothing ground breaking but it looks very good. It seems this thing has pretty much been forgotten over the years but it's a rip candidate for rediscovery for those who enjoy weird stuff.
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