Lack of good storyline.

Brilliant and touching

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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.

I have to admit having a soft spot for TOBOR THE GREAT, but not for the reasons one might expect. Oh sure, the robot is great, a towering behemoth of tin cans and toasters welded together into a clattering, somewhat clunky suit. He doesn't have much of a personality but he's cool. The scenes where Tobor goes postal and sets off to right wrongs are the best, especially when little Timmy is threatened by the bad Slavic accented spies who want to force his kindly scientist grandpa into spilling his state secrets for them.And it's here where my interest in the film kicks in. It's a very subtle bit of indoctrination for young viewers into the wonders of America's cold war military industrial complex disguised as a giant rampaging robot movie. The heroes are all sharply uniformed military men or scientists working to further America's dominance in the space race, and the bad guys are all thugs who work for a foreign power with a vested interest in disrupting their progress. They probably don't even celebrate Christmas.The film is rife with military lingo, helpful Air Force officers, well intentioned grandfatherly politicians who understand the need to keep secrets from the public, and little Timmy eagerly helping things along by his own deft contributions to ensuring for the common defense. It's a great little study about how national security really begins with each of us and our need for vigilance (sound familiar, War On Terror veterans?), hard work, and personal sacrifice. The biggest laugh comes in the opening monologue's passage regarding congress supposedly granting unlimited funding to the Tobor project -- those were the days!The most interesting character in the film is actually the reporter, absurdly named Gilligan. He's a hard working leathershoe journalist who is determined to break his big story but is sympathetic to the government quashing his efforts when it comes to keeping the marvel of Tobor's development a secret from our enemies, and our friends. Everybody pitches in, including the shapely mom with her fresh, clean, good looks, representing that which we fight to protect back at home, which looks like Ward Cleaver's house. And just like the Beaver's mom I bet she'd be an animal in bed.The big robot and his flashing lights & funky metallic shoes are just window dressing to keep the kids' interest -- and make no mistake, this film was aimed squarely at the bright 6 to 12 year old future defense industry workers in the audience. The lesson being that if you do well in school, mind your manners at home, and take an active role in the community you too might one day get to build friendly robotic soldiers who are immune to human weaknesses. It's a pretty fun little movie too and a harmless diversion for 9 year olds of all ages.6/10

Kindly Professor Arnold Nordstrom (the excellent Taylor Holmes) and humane, no-nonsense Dr. Ralph Harrison (a lively and engaging performance by Charles Drake) create a robot called Tobor (Lew Smith in a cool metallic suit) who can feel human emotions and has superhuman strength. Tobor develops a telepathic link with Professor Nordstrom's smart, mischievous grandson Gadge (an endearingly spunky portrayal by Billy Chapin). When Nordstrom and Gadge are kidnapped by a no-count gang of covert agents, Tobor comes to their rescue. Director Lee Sholem relates the neat story at a steady pace and does a solid job of maintaining an amiably lightweight tone throughout. This film further benefits from winningly sincere acting by a sturdy cast: Karin Booth as Nordstrom's fetching daughter Janice, Steven Geray as the nefarious foreign spy chief, William Shallert as folksy reporter Johnson, Franz Roehn as Nordstrom's grouchy assistant Karl, Henry Kulky as mean brute Paul, and Peter Brocco as the antsy Dr. Gustav. John L. Russell's stark black and white cinematography and Howard Jackson's robust, stirring score are both up to snuff. The warm relationship between Tobor and Gadge is genuinely charming and touching while the scenes of Tobor in action are very cool and exciting. But what really makes this film so special and appealing is its marvelous surplus of pure heart. A disarmingly sweet little treat.

To be honest, the only reason I'm commenting is because I remember seeing this film in the theater when I was six years old, and it made quite an impression on me. I was fascinated with robots (to an unhealthy degree!), and the "robot spelled backwards" really stuck with me.I would love to see it again. It could be one of those "so bad it's funny" movies, the kind that were perfect for Mystery Science Theater 3000.Having a robot who could think and had emotions is a pretty advanced concept for the age.