Strong and Moving!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

'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.

As of late, I've been spending my time watching vintage Horror and Sci-Fi movies and one of the most surprising things I've discovered is that many of these movies- often low budget, Poverty Row productions- are Light Years ahead of Contemporary movies when it comes to sheer Entertainment Value; movies like TOBOR, THE GREAT, for instance. The movie is well-written AND well directed and it deserves to be much better known than it is. With all due respect to Robby the Robot, I'd much rather have a Tobor action figure/model on my shelf (Gort's a different story, however...). (In the short story upon which THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is based, the robot is called Trog- "Gort," spelled backwards... or is that sideways...? TOBOR is, of course, Robot spelled backward. Coincidence...?) Tobor tears through doors and walls and electrified fences in impressive fashion, but his greatest feat may be commandeering a jeep to take off in pursuit of the villains. TOBOR, THE GREAT is Great Fun, no two ways about it.

To the genre buffs - I'm watching a movie called "The Invisible Boy" that was included as an extra on the Blu-ray of "Forbidden Planet" that I bought recently. I knew in the past about the "Tobor the Great" movie (Robot spelled backwards) that used the "Robby" robot prop because I saw it on WGN-Chicago as a kid. And I know that a "Robby" variant was used in the original "Lost in Space" TV series, which is detailed in the "Forbidden Planet" extras disk that I'm watching. But its been roughly 40 years since I saw the "Tobor" film, and there is no mention of it in the extras on the Blu-ray that I'm watching. My WIKI/IMDb search mentions the "Tobor" movie and gives a plot synopsis that is vaguely similar to the movie I'm watching, but the character names have changed. Is this a case of studio manipulation, or are the movies distinct? BTW, the Blu-Ray version of "Forbidden Planet" is beautifully done, as Ridley/Lucas/Spielberg/Cameron point out in the extras. I have a std. DVD and this is worth the upgrade. I wish that I'd seen it as a kid in a theater rather than just TV. The included extras are excellent, and you can understand how monumental this film was as an MGM classic that really was an inspiration for S.Kub's 2001. I've shown this film to XGens & Melms who aren't into SF and even they were blown away by effects that were done in the '50s. If you're into SF & haven't seen this the Blu-Ray is the best choice. I'd give it 10 if I'd gotten an answer to the above question.

Watch this one with child-like eyes and you'll have a great time. Tobor ('robot' spelled backwards) is the invention of an elderly scientific genius who develops a robot to serve as the pilot for dangerous space flights in place of human astronauts. The inventor's grandson (Billy Chapin) befriends the robot during the development of its complex brain and artificial personality. Commie spies kidnap the inventor and the boy, attempting to get their hands on the valuable robot.Tobor is incapable of speech, which gives the robot an interesting quality of mystery and strangeness. But he does have the ability to sense human thoughts and emotions. In other words, he can tell when someone is up to no good!In the climax, Tobor has to break out of his own lab to rescue the boy from the evil commies who kidnapped the youth to gain control of the robot. Although Tobor is less agile that a human being, he moves around much better than Robby or Gort -- which comes in handy when Tobor has to lift the back end of the bad guy's car and prevent them from escaping!Tobor's physical design is pretty impressive. Although it doesn't have the aesthetic appeal of Robby or Gort, he is solidly constructed and a pleasure to watch in action. The movie includes a scene in which the inventor opens up Tobor's chest to show his interior to a group of reporters at a press conferences when Tobor is presented to the public. Obviously the reason for the scene is show the audience that this is no mere suit with a man inside. It's a real robot!It's a nice little touch in a movie designed to inspire younger viewers . . . and to entertain older ones.'Tobor the Great' is a terrific kid's-fantasy-come-true story. Admitttedly, the direction by Lee Sholem is decidedly unskilled, and young Chapin is a mediocre actor at best (he's no Michel Ray of 'The Space Children', I'm sorry to say), but Charles Drake ('It Came from Outer Space') holds his own as the boy's father. William Shallert ('The Monolith Monsters' and several other 1950s classics) plays one of the reporters in the scene mentioned earlier.A prerecorded tape was available a few years ago, but you'll have trouble finding it now. If a DVD comes out, it's worth the money if you have a soft spot in your heart for the sincere and unique efforts the 1950s sci-fi films.