'Why don't you beat it while you still have a beat to beat.''
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World
‘It's what we've been waiting for.'
Creation of the Humanoids was the last film of make-up supremo Jack Pierce,
best known for creating Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s monster.
and he manages an arresting design for the robots in this
‘He can still perform his duties’
Which is a relief given the early robot designs
‘This 1st robot was quite ungainly’
You don’t say
‘We learned how to laugh and how to cry.’
The easiest way to summarise this film is to say: It’s Blade Runner
'This is some sort of a joke?'
Without any action.
‘That’s admirable, logical and a lie’
In fact...
'It must be a mistake.'
almost without movement
‘Be pateint’
I actually checked to see if this was originally a stage play because in 84 minutes it only has 9 scenes
‘The structure is excellent’
And because one of its actors appears to be playing to an audience
'You could have fired bombs and guns and thrown spears.'
It’s not even a well-staged, the dialogue never stops, and there’s never any emotion in it,
‘You like dramatic gestures don’t you’
I’d like to see something!
Little less than that
‘That would be a dramatic gesture.'
Yes I suppose it would, but I’d like to think there was a happy medium
‘Let’s behave like human beings’
If only!
Here’s 2 people falling in love
'Maxine, you're late.'
'Only two hours.'
Only thing that happens quickly in whole damn film
‘I don’t understand your prejudces, your ideals, but I’ll try’
I’m not prejudiced yet, but I can change!
‘Are you always so gloomy’
Characters don’t talk, they just exchange ideas whilst standing still.
'Be an artist, be a musician, even be a poet.'
'But express your freedom some other way.'
'You know how I've always felt about this sort of thing.'
'Do you know how I felt about it?'
'Did you ask me? Did we discuss it?'
Which makes the film, unwatchably boring
'That sometimes poses an unsolvable problem.'
Which is a shame because, for a boring film, it’s quite interesting
‘Most, most interesting’
The robots are treated as second class citizens by...
'The body of the order of flesh and blood.'
Who feel very familiar
‘You hold meetings, wear ridiculous clothes’
They might as well be wearing white sheets
‘There are always ultra-conservative pressure groups’
Aren’t there just
‘All clickers look alike to me’
Then there’s the fuss over a human-robot marriage, called Rapport
'I love you Ezra.'
‘I suggest you do what you can to see this relationship is voided’
This is pretty bold subject matter for a film made in 1961.
‘That makes me feel better’
But the over-arching plotline isn’t about robot rights,
it’s about the robots using the memories of dead humans to make ultra-sophisticated robots that give humans a kind of immortality
‘Raven operation will convert him to an R96 with all the emotions of a human’
and comes with a very Blade Runnery twist involving love interest Maxine
‘You are a robot’
which would be a damn sight twistier were it not for her introduction
‘You certainly may not’
She’s a robot?! Why I can’t believe it!
‘Irony, one of the funniest forms of humour’
This is also an interesting plotline, tying in with many other sci-fi classics
‘The robots have circumvented the prime law’
But if really undermines the civil rights comparison because it the robots are plotting against us.
'And when the entire human race has been transplanted?'
Remember the loving rapport between human and robot?
‘Pax is especially indoctrinated in morphio suggestion.'
'Each time she sleeps she is made more sympathetic to our cause’
She’s essentially being brainwashed into loving a robot, and suddenly any racial metaphor seems less apt and more wildly offensive.
‘That was unfortunate’
I don’t think it’s deliberate, I think they fucked up.
‘Your terminology is crude but your conclusion is correct’
The way they look at women however
‘We did make you a bit thinner, you had a tendency to be plump.'
Right
‘The most precious hope of every woman’
In the 1960s, even the robots were sexist.
‘I’m unoffended’
We thought this movie would work better as a Twilight Zone episode.
What other films would have better on TV?
check out the other reviews and don't forget to subscribe for a new review every Tuesday.'
'Goodnight.'
'Goodnight darlings.'