The Birth of the Robot

1936 6m ★7.0

The Birth of the Robot

This experiment was a “prestige advertisement” for Shell Motor Oil. As conventional animation became dominated by Walt Disney, many European filmmakers turned to puppets as an alternative, and Lye enlisted the help of avant-garde friends such as Humphrey Jennings and John Banting to make the amusing puppets. Exploring the still-complex color process, which involved the combination of three separate images, Lye creates such a vivid storm scene that reviewers hailed it as “proof that the color film has entered a new stage.” The music is Holst’s The Planets. - Harvard Film Archive

Release Date October 1, 1936
Runtime 6m
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Director Len Lye
Category Animation
Rating 7.0 / 10 (TMDb)
Year 1936
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