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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, January 4, 2020

The Creation Of The Humanoids (1962)

Starring Don Megowan, Erica Elliott, Frances McCann, Don Doolittle, David Cross
Directed by Wesley E. Barry
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After an atomic war, humanity becomes more dependent on robots and an officer in a resistance group tries to thwart efforts by the robots to pass themselves off as humans. 

This independent science fiction film has some intriguing ideas, and profound parallels to contemporary race relations, comparing the robots' struggle to integrate with humanity with those of minorities in our current age.  For that it's definitely worthwhile viewing, but it's a very talky and slow-moving film which requires dedication to sit through.  There's no musical score, and not many action sequences, with the plot driven by lengthy speeches by the actors, most of which could have been truncated and accomplished better visually.  I thought the art direction was unique and worked for me, with minimalistic sets and futuristic painted backgrounds, and enjoyed Megowan's performance as an anti-robot crusader who has to face previously unknown truths about himself.  Sadly the other cast members don't have roles as well developed.  Regardless, the film is a noble attempt at rendering a worthy science fiction tale, but sadly too wordy for its own good.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Tim, I usually take slow movies about 10 minutes at a time before I go to bed. This might be another.

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