The Film (3/5)

Tobor the Great is another fifties B movie, with science fiction overtones, which starred a robot. Well, maybe not starred but was prominent in the picture.  Other films with robots during this era include Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Kronos and Target Earth. And all of those are better films than Tobor the Great, although Tobor does have its own merits

Tobor, which in case you didn’t catch it, is robot spelled backwards (pretty clever, huh). Tobor is a robot created by Dr. Harrison (Charles Drake, It Came from Outer Space) and Prof. Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes, Kiss of Death, Nightmare Alley) , to be a test pilot of sorts for traveling through space, rather than use human beings. They feel sending humans into space is too dangerous so why not send a robot. Tobor is introduced by Professor Nordstrom to his colleagues at a press conference and appear to be impressed by this imposing robot.

Tobor “befriends” a young boy Brian “Gadge” Roberts (Billy Chapin, the same child actor from the vastly superior Night of the Hunter). He’s called “gadge” because he’s brilliant when it comes to gadgets, like his grandfather, who happens to be Professor Nordstrom. The boy genius learns how to control the robot and builds some sort of friendship with Tobor. However there is a Russian spy and a few agents including Dr. Gustav (Peter Brocco, Throw Momma from the Train) who is steal Tobor, and kidnap both Nordstrom and his grandson. The Russian agents threaten to harm the boy, but thanks to his

grandfather using a pen transmitter to contact him, Tobor comes to the rescue! Tobor saves the boy, and then gets launched into space.

This is a fun, albeit minor film, with a mere seventy-seven minute running time. This would make for a great Sunday matinee. It was meant for kids, but I’d say Tobor is fun film for all ages. I would call it juvenile, cheesy entertainment, save for the part where a Russian agent threatens “gadge” with a blowtorch.

Director Lee Sholem, who also did the directing chores for Pharaoh’s Curse and Catalina Caper, keeps things moving along steadily in your typical 1950s B-movie style. The performances from the mostly veteran cast are good and credible. Tobor was introduced two years before the iconic Robby the Robot from the science fiction classic, Forbidden Planet. Both cinematic robots were designed by Robert Kinoshita, who also designed the robot for The Lost in Space TV series, known as The B-9 Environmental Control Robot

Audio/Video (4/5)

Kino Lorber presents Tobor the Great in its original 1:67:1 aspect ratio (however, it does say 1:85:1 on the back of the Blu-ray case), in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode and overall it looks really stellar! Black levels look fine and balanced, with excellent greyscale. The image appears soft here and there, on occasion.

Otherwise, outside of that, the sets, scenery are very detailed with strong textures.  Film grain is present, and no DNR has been applied. Kino Lorber did a remarkable job restoring Tobor the Great, making for a great viewing experience. It is vastly superior to the full screen DVD that was released by Lionsgate over a decade ago.

English DTS-HD Master 2.0 is the audio used for this release and the sound quality is perfectly adequate. There were no drop-offs or other audio issues noticed. The dialog from the actors, and other sound effects all came in nice and clear. Let’s call it fundamentally ‘sound’!

Extras (1.5/5)

Extras are scarce for this release, which is common for movies that are over sixty years old. There is an audio commentary by Richard Harland Smith and a trailer gallery.

Overall (3.5/5)

I liked Tobor the Great. The robot is a really good looking creation. Kino Lorber has given Tobor the Great a very respectable release. Let’s hope for even more great science fiction movies from this era down the road!