Robot Monster (1953) - full transcript

Ro-Man, an alien that looks remarkably like a gorilla in a diving helmet, has destroyed all but six people on the planet Earth. He spends the entire film trying to finish off these survivors, but complications arise when he falls for the young woman in the group. Love that bubble machine!

Am I dead?

You're disintegrated!

Good, does that mean we can

play house now? You promised.

These woods are full of space men.

It's either them, or us. Come on.

Spaceman, you must die!

Did you say something?

He says, we must die.

Oh well... well,

if you insist, but...come here.

Wouldn't it be nicer if we could

live at peace with each other?

Okay, I'll be from a friendly planet.

Good! Does that mean

we can play house now?

No! I'm friendly, but I still have

to find out what they're doing here.

We, we are acheologists, boy.

People who try to find out

what men were like

way back before they

could read or write.

The only way to pass on what they knew

was through pictures like this one.

You see, our job is to chip it out

carefully and take it to a museum,

so people can study it.

Gee, are you scientists?

It's even better than being

cowboys, eh professor?

You bet.

Was he a spaceman robot?

As far as we know, there were

no spacemen at those times,

and robots either.

He looks some of those people

I saw last time I was on Pluto.

Oh! What's your name, son?

Johnny!

Uh oh, Johnny, it looks like you've stirred

a little outside of your orbit, doesn't it?

Carla!

Here we are, in the cave...

...my mother and sister.

- Bet you'd like her!

- No doubt!

Johnny, that wasn't fair!

You kids promised you'd take a nap right after lunch

if we took you on this picnic, and off you scoot!

I hope he hasn't given you any trouble?

Not at all...Johnny,

at the camp I used to go to,

we used to have to take a nap after lunch,

right up until we were fourteen.

- You did?

- Sure.

- Will you be here when I get back?

- If we are, you are welcome to join us.

Come on, come on, quit stalling.

Here dear.

There you are. Take this too, darling.

Good.

Wanna take that?

If dad was still alive,

I bet he'd let me stay.

I don't think he would, John.

Say, are we ever going to have

a new father around our house?

I don't know, dear, would you like that?

If we do, I hope he's a big scientist

that makes rocket ships and things like that.

Extension Ro-man, X-J-2,

reporting to Guidance Ro-man.

I salute you.

You are late, fourteen minutes!

Gravitational pull is stronger than reported,

0.7652 higher than our planet.

Accepted. Report!

May I ask first for other news?

Granted. No life has been

discovered on any other planets.

Earth is our only rival.

Boss, Greatness

The Hu-Man knew about atomic energy,

but had not mastered the cosmic ray.

Wherever I directed the calcinator

beam, they crumbled.

At first, the fools thought it came

from one among their many nations.

They began destroying each

other with hydrogen bombs.

I announced myself to keep

them from wiping out cities,

which will give our people

much amusement.

Too late, they banded against me.

Their resistance pattern showed

some intelligence,

but all are gone now.

They way is clear for our people.

I want facts, not words!

Fact A, my pulse has been

reduced to plus zero zero.

Reject! Pair off!

Pair... But great guidance, I approved it!

My energizer has scan-checked

by square feet.

No life above lepidoptera level exists.

My computator is more accurate.

In the 22nd category,

there is an error of sixteen billionths.

The great one is never wrong.

Then there are, perhaps,

eight people left on earth?

Not perhaps.. precisely.

Find and destroy them!

Then report back.

Hey pa!

Pa.

Shh! Martha, it's all right! He's here!

Pa, what do you think!

I've a good mind to give you a thrashing,

didn't we tell you, never, never,

never to go outside of those wires,

without our permission?

Mother(Martha), ..............................

We must tell him why.

You know the terrible things

that have happened

when the Ro-man landed on earth.

The only reason we are still alive

is that your sister Alice and I

worked out a way to reflect his

deadly beams away from the house.

He can't see us, he can't hear us,

but one word spoken outside the barrier,

and he will be down on us.

Do you understand that, Johnny?

- But I saw him!

- Saw who?

Ro-man, he's in a cave at the

end of the ravine.

- Then he's found us out.

- Not yet, or we'd all be dead by now.

Are you sure?

I was in the cave, painting his picture

the way we saw him on the viewer screen.

Why were you doing that, Johnny?

So in case he did wipe out the human race,

there'd be some record of how it happened.

Go on, go on!

I heard him coming, ducked out just in time.

Looked to me like he was making it his home.

Why here, why so close?

Maybe we could kill him, huh, pop?

No, Johnny.

The arms of the entire world

tried, and failed.

We have thrown everything

we had at him, but he is impervious.

Unless...we could find his weak spot.

Could I have just a little water, Mom?

Yes, dear.

But why here,

why here?

Perhaps we're the last

people on earth, dad.

He senses our presence.

He keeps calculating closer and closer.

I don't believe that.

I'm sure there were some other scientific minds

capable of rigging a foil, to prevent detection.

If you only could find the way,

only one way of communication with each other.

Do you think we still have

a garrison on the space platform?

Ro-man hasn't destroyed that, yet.

Well...

it could be.

If we only could get through to them.

But why should we succeed,

where others failed.

Don't you talk like that, dear.

This may be them!

Maybe they are coming

through from the space platform!

Hu-mans, listen to me!

Due to an error in calculation

there are still a few of you left!

You escaped destruction

because I did not know you existed!

Now I know you are watching!

I see five of you who

have not been destroyed!

Show yourselves, and I

promise you a painless death!

Just the five of us left? But this is incredible!

It means that Roy is gone too!

I'll bet Alice is happy,

the way they used to fight!

Don't say that, Johnny.

Roy was a great scientist.

I would've never developed

the serum without him.

The trouble was, he wouldn't

admit I was good in my field.

Anyone who could fix that viewscreen

after what that blast did to it is better than good.

Oh...easy, easy.

I'm sorry.

Seems silly after all the terrible

things that have happened.

To go to pieces over one...miserable...

egotistical, impossible guy!

Oh, Roy!

Do you wonder what

happened to your fellows?

Watch them!

My calcinator beam wiped

out your last sages,

your last scientists in their

deepest shelters.

Everyone but you few.

There is no escape from me.

Very well, I will recalculate...

Your death will be indescribable!

Fool hu-mans, there is no escape!

Perhaps we should talk to him,

try to arrange a truce, make peace!

He would be able to plot

our position immediately.

If Ro-man wants us, he should calculate us.

Have you made the correction?

I need guidance, Great One.

For the first time in my life, I am not sure.

You sound like a hu-man, not a Ro-man.

Can you not verify a fact?

I meshed my LPI with

the view-screen auditor,

and picked up a count of five.

Error, error!

There are eight!

Then the other three still elude me.

And all escaped detection

by the directional beam.

Is it possible they have a counter-power?

And if they have?

Reduce, correlate, eliminate error!

Is this not the law?

I will find them, Great one.

Trust me!

And if the C-Ray fails,

I will use physical means.

Planet Earth can revolve once more,

then you must either report success,

or I will sentence you for failure.

Sh, it might be the Ro-man!

If the atomic guns can't stop him...

It's not for him...it's for us.

Hi there, anybody home?

- It's Roy!

- Yay!

- He's alive!

Do you know who's in

the cave at the end of the ravine?

Ro-man!

Well then.. I, I was as close to him as I am to you!

So was I!

But he didn't know that

I was there! You know why?

- Maybe you're not worth noticing.

- Now, I know I'm in the right house.

Yes, and a moment ago, she was

crying because you were dead!

Ha ha ha, you didn't have to waste any tears

on me, honey, I bear a charmed life.

Ro-man spoke to us over the viewscreen.

He said that we are the last

five people on Earth.

Is he lying, or are there any other people?

Two more, Jason and McCloud.

But why them?

That doesn't make sense.

Oh, doesn't it? Look,

the professor here spends his

entire life trying to discover a serum,

an anti-biotic serum that will cure

all diseases, even the common cold,

and, thanks to his wise

choice of assitants,

he manages to achieve his goal,

and so, who does he experiment

on with his first injections?

Himself, his family, myself,

and Jason and McCloud.

Therefore, the great anti-biotic is also the

immunizer to Ro-man's death ray.

And I thought it was the electronic

barricade around the house!

Well, that may prevent Ro-man

from finding us and blowing us up...

...which is nothing!

...but against the sweep of the death ray,

it's powerless. No, the serum, that's the thing.

Couldn't you find any more in the lab?

- Plenty! But I didn't bring it.

- Why?

Because we managed to get together enough

fuel to take a rocket ship to the space platform,

and there's enough serum on board

to immunize the entire garrison there.

Does the garrison know you're coming?

How could I tell them without

letting Ro-man know too?

They know what's going on down here...

they'll figure it's Ro-man and

blast the ship right out of the sky.

We'll have to get word to the

space platform, that's all.

Jason and McCloud take off in two days.

On foot, it would take me longer

than that to get back there.

We'll have to re-wire the

circuits on the viewscreen,

so that we can broadcast without

Ro-man picking it up.

But such a complicated job in two days?

Well, at least I can try.

If I only had a decent assistant,

who could take orders,

instead of trying to be the boss!

I'm bossy? You're so bossy you ought

to be milked before you come home at night!

- Children, children!

- All right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Professor.

Okay, boss, where do I begin?

- Don't you have to loop it?

- Roy, will you not argue, please?

You know something?

You're either too beautiful to be so smart,

or too smart to be so beautiful.

I guess we do get along all right, at that.

But, let's work together now.

We can play later.

- Roy, what time is it?

- Four-thirty.

And what day, Roy?

I can't remember the day!

I'm so tired.

There...

There. Oh Roy, we'll never make it!

I can't control my hands any more!

- Let's rest a little.

- Oh, but we can't.

Roy's right...it's time you get some sleep.

Jiminy, two days you've been at it!

Oh, not that long, it can't be that long!

The rocket ship must have taken off at dawn.

They're either in the air by now, or...

Then I've failed you then.

I'm sorry, Dad.

Failed, do you realize what you tried to

do was impossible, yet you almost did it?

But I didn't!

Hu-mans!

Yesterday I calculated five of you!

Now, I find six.

He still doesn't know about

Jason and McCloud!

There were eight of you,

the guidance Ro-man who

understands everything showed me that,

yet I might have had trouble

locating the other two,

had they not taken off in a rocket

ship and revealed their presence.

Look, hu-mans!

They are headed for the space platform,

which guidance Ro-man spared because

it would have been a convenience for my people

when they arrive on Earth.

The space platform!

But now we shall destroy that too.

Alert!

Ten, nine, eight...

the Great One himself sends the cosmic blast

that atomizes the rocket ship..

the space platform...

Hu-mans seven and eight, all!

And now, of the two billion, there are six.

Calculate your chances...

Negative. Negative. Negative.

Is there a choice between a

painless surrender death,

and the horror of resistance death?

Show yourselves!

By your clock-time, in one

hour I seek you out.

Last warning!

Mommy, why doesn't he like people?

I don't know, darling...

perhaps if we could talk to him...

you'd better go and rest, too.

George, we can't go on

this way much longer!

Our food is almost gone.

What else can we do?

Commit suicide,

or give in to Ro-man,

as the last people on Earth?

George, talk to him, make him

see that we won't harm him...

..he can let us live.

If Alice could've finished

re-wiring the viewscreen,

you could have talked to the platform

without Ro-man discovering our presence,

- why can't you talk directly to him?

- I could. Of course I could.

As soon as Alice has had her sleep, I will.

Not like that!

Alice, look. You simply

can't connect these two circuits.

Here, let me.

Ro-man, Ro-man!

Do you scan us on your viewscreen?

Yes, earth-man, I see you.

This means only one thing:

you have decided to take the easy way out.

No, Ro-man. We have fought you to a stand-still.

And we will go on doing it,

as long as necessary.

If you try to figure out our position,

you are wasting your time.

None shall escape me!

I shall find a way to

rid this earth's planets...

of hu-mans!

No!

We humans will not give

up this earth of ours.

But let me ask you something else.

What do you have to fear from us?

Let me show you the six

people you want to destroy.

First, my wife Martha.

My companion for twenty-three years.

Is there anything to fear from this woman?

The hu-man wo-man

is the bringer of hu-man life!

There must be an end to your race!

Or my children...

Alice.

No. I have a mission to perform.

Carla.

I am built to have no emotions.

And Johnny.

The boy is impertinent!

Or is it in the ettiquette

code of your people,

that children must be murdered?

You are not like my people.

You are savage barbarians,

non Ro-man, animals!

Take my assistant, Roy

who has developed a serum with me,

which would have wiped

out disease among my people.

Wait.

There is something I do not understand, quite.

But I want to see the

girl A-lice again.

We want peace, Ro-man.

But peace with honor.

I will talk with the girl.

It is not in the plan,

but although I cannot verify it,

I feel that she will understand.

No!

I am the head of this family unit.

You have to talk with me!

Calculate, hu-man!

If I meet with the girl, I may

find a way to integrate you into the plan!

It is not a fact,

but what you would call... a hope!

Name the place, Ro-man...

I will be there!

I do not understand...

but it is only the one called A-lice

that I want to see.

Here I am, Ro-man.

Where shall we meet?

Do you know the area

of the fork of the two dry rivers?

There is a ruin there.

I will meet you in an hour.

- But you must be...alone.

- I will be there.

You will not.

Have you gone crazy?

- We've played every other card, why not try this one?

- Do you realize what you're doing?

If there's a chance I can strike a better

bargain than father, then I'm the one to go.

Is Alice gonna have a date with Ro-man?

This is madness, Alice!

Roy, you have to speak to her!

I know I'm not in the family,

Alice, but your father's right.

You mean, there are certain

things nice girls don't do?

Even if it means that man's millions of years

of struggle up from the sea, the slime,

to fight to breathe air, to stand erect,

to think, to conquer nature,

to be stopped cold by a doting

father and a jealous suitor?

I just don't think that any human

being should degrade himself in order to survive.

You'd rather just have us go out of business,

is that it? Letter returned, no forwarding address.

Can't you see you're being sentimental idiots,

letting your emotions run away with you?

Perhaps that is the quality

of being human.

The very thing that makes

us different from Ro-man.

The difference we are

trying to preserve.

Very pretty talk...

but I still intend to do something about it.

- Get out of my way.

- You're not going.

- I said get out of my way!

- And I said you're not going!

Johnny! Johnny!

- Johnny is gone!

- You don't think he'd be outside in that?

Oh, that fool romantic

kid will try anything!

What a family I have!

I wouldn't do anything!

Johnny has left the barricade.

He might have it in his head to find Ro-man.

We have to stop him.

Don't worry, Professor.

Alice and I can find him.

I'll go, of course, but don't

either of you speak to me!

But be careful of Ro-man!

When Johnny comes back, I will set off a flare.

Right.

What are you doing here, boy?

My sister isn't coming.

So they sent you?

I came by myself.

I wanted to find out what you had against me.

You are hu-man. Your people were

getting too intelligent.

We could not wait until you

were strong enough to attack us.

We had to attack you first.

I think you're just a big bully,

picking on people smaller than you are.

Now, I will kill you.

You look like a pooped-out pinwheel!

So...the calcinator death ray

REALLY cannot harm you.

Your father must be

a brilliant scientist.

He's got a super-serum that

keeps people from ever getting sick.

How do you know it works?

Cause he tried it on me and Carla

and Alice and Roy...and everybody.

And we don't get sick even when we

swallow capsules with real bad bugs in 'em.

And the two men who took off on the rocket ship?

They also had this injection?

Sure, they...

You have told me all I need to know.

I will calculate the spectrum dust

in the calcinator death ray,

to counteract this antibiotic.

And you will all be destroyed.

George! George, there he is!

He looks all right!

Oh thank God, thank God!

Johnny!

Johnny!

Where did you go?

There, there, darling.

It's all right.

Now, tell us all about it.

No it isn't, ma.

I gave it all away!

- I didn't mean to, but I did.

- You did what?

I wanted to talk to Ro-man,

but he got out of me how we

were protected from the death ray,

and now he's gonna do

something about it.

It's all right, boy.

You did right.

And Ro-man won't find it easy

to counteract the serum,

so we have still a little time left.

I only wish it were over now.

Well, when it is, can I go over to

Janey's house and borrow her dolls?

Yes, er, of course, darling.

- Is Johnny safe?

- Shh. Ro-man........................................

Oh! What has kept you two?

- We were worried!

- Now, really, father, isn't it obvious?

Have you been playing house?

Professor, uh, it may

sound silly to you, but...

Alice and I want to get married,

and we were wondering how

you'd feel about performing the ceremony.

- You want me to...

- Oh, yes!

In that case, let's do it!

And I want you to know...

this is the biggest social event of the year!

The whole darn town will turn out!

Great guidance,

I have discovered the secret of our failure

to destroy the remaining hu-mans!

Our C-ray... the calcinator

death ray..cannot penetrate them.

They have been made immune

through the anti-biotic serum,

which I believe is the

same as our formula X-Z-A.

Reduce their counterpart!

Eliminate the error!

Death to hu-mans can

come by force!

I will use physical

means, Great One.

The plan shall be fulfilled.

The planet Earth has half-revolved!

You have but a short time

to achieve our goal!

All right.

Places!

Go!

Dearly beloved,

we are gathered here to...

Dear Lord.

You know that I am not trained for this job.

But I have tried to live by your laws.

The ten commandments...

the beatitudes...

the golden rule.

I would like you to look down,

on Alice and Roy, and give your blessing.

Even in this darkest hour,

we have kept the faith.

In your grand design, there

may be no room for man's triumph

over this particular evil that has beset us.

But if by any chance,

victory should be on our side,

I want you to give a long life

to Alice and Roy,

and a fruitful one.

But no matter how it ends, Lord,

watch over them this night...

watch over us all.

Amen.

And now, I pronounce you ?Man, and Wife.?

Roy, do you have the ring?

Why, I didn't think about that.

Oh, brother...

Are you going to have to pick up after him!

I wanted you to have it,

some day, Alice.

With this ring, I thee wed.

The only thing to seal it now, is a kiss.

Where are you going on

your honeymoon, Niagara Falls?

Well, to tell the truth, we hadn't thought about that.

Wherever you go...

be careful.

And I want you back, the

first thing in the morning.

And in case you don't know,

there is a war going on!

And now, more than ever,

I don't want to give up!

Thanks for everything, dad.

Most of all, for having raised Alice.

You too, mom.

I'll go get my things,

and then we'll go.

She ought to have some

flowers, it isn't right!

Roy, Alice, wait for me!

Carla, what are you doing here?

I didn't get you any presents.

Oh, you little rascal!

Thank you very much.

- Now, you'd better run right on home!

- Quickly, Carla.

What are you doing here alone, girl-child?

My daddy won't let you hurt me.

We'll see!

Great guidance, I have a favorable report.

I have already eliminated one of them.

Force was necessary

it was a simple matter of...strangulation.

That leaves four.

Error again! Five.

Four and one more,

on whom I have made an estimate,

in relation to our strategic reserve.

The plan should include one

living human for reference,

in case of unforseen contingency.

Do you question the plan?

No, great one. I only postulate...

Proceed on schedule!

Destroy the others.

All of them!

Carla!

Carla!

No! No! No!

Shh! He will hear you!

I don't care! I don't care!

You must care!

You must not give up!

I am ordered to kill you.

I must do it with my hands.

How is it you're so strong, Ro-man?

It seems impossible!

We Ro-mans obtain our strength

from the planet Ro-man,

relayed our individual energizers.

- Small enough to carry with you?

- No, mine is in the cave.

I wish now I'd played house

with her more often when she wanted to.

No regrets, Johnny.

We enjoyed her as

long as she was with us,

and now, somehow,

we have to find a way to live without her.

Roy! Where's Alice?

Ro-man's...

Ro-man's got her!

Roy is dead...

And nothing can be done. Nothing!

Maybe one of us could

lure him out for a moment,

and then the others could

run in and grab Alice.

That's easier said than done!

He'd come if he could be sure of killing us.

Go on! Go on!

We call him on the viewer screen.

Tell him we don't want to fight anymore.

He can get us in the ravine

if he promises easy death.

You slip in and grab Alice

when he comes out after me.

It might work!

There's no time to lose.

Suppose I were hu-man.

Would you treat me like, a man?

No, Ro-man...

You haven't told me yet

where the energizer is kept.

Silence, girl!

Why do you call me at this time?

Ro-man, we can't stand it any longer.

I have made my last offer.

You promised us a painless death,

if we give ourselves up.

Come and get us!

You can wait. Call me

again at another time.

No! We will meet you

half-way.

In the ravine!

All right!

I will meet you in the ravine,

when the sun passes over the mountains.

Attention! Attention, extension X-J-2!

Attention! Attention, extension X-J-2!

We hear you, great guidance.

Earth Ro-man, you violate

the law of plan.

Fact: you have captured

the girl and not destroyed her.

Fact: you have delayed

accepting the surrender of the others.

This verges on failure.

There is one thing you do not

understand, Great Guidance.

You reject the plan?

I wish to make an estimate of my own!

To think for yourself is to

be like the hu-man.

Yes...to be like the hu-man.

To laugh, feel, want...

why are these things not in the plan?

You are an extension of the ro-men.

And a Ro-man, you will remain.

Now, I set you into motion.

One: destroy the girl.

Two: destroy the family.

Fail, and I will destroy you.

I cannot, and yet I must.

How do you calculate that?

At what point on the graph do

?must? and ?cannot? meet?

Yet, I must. But I cannot.

Attention! Attention extension X-J-2!

Speak, great guidance.

Why have you not killed the girl?!

I must, but I cannot.

Here I am, Ro-man!

The girl first, then the boy! Now!

Great guidance, I cannot kill the girl,

but I will kill the boy.

Here I am!

A-lice, do not hate me...

I must!

You wish to be a hu-man?

Good, you can die a hu-man!

Human elements still roam planet Earth!

I, the ruler of all Ro-mans,

shall complete your task, earth Ro-man.

I shall release our cosmic Q-rays!

This will bring prehistoric reptiles

to devour whatever remains of life!

The cyclotronic vibrations will smash

the planet earth out of the universe!

Found him!

Take it easy, son, you're all right.

- How is he?

- He's all right.

We just want to make sure you get

up with everything you fell down with.

Hey, I found him!

That's quite a bump there, boy.

What happened?

Huh?

Darling! Are you all right?

- You gave your mother quite a scare!

- Yes!

Here it was getting dark,

and no Johnny!

- You're alive?

- Yeah.

Her, too?

Boy, was that a dream, or was it!

I must try and repay you

for all the trouble you've gone to...

won't you and your assistant

join us for dinner?

- Do!

- Done!

Will you play house

with me when we get home?

Well...

oh, all right.

But I gotta keep an

eye out for Ro-man!

Really, Johnny. You're

overdoing this spaceman act.

There simply aren't

any such things.

Come on, dear. This way.

Subtitles by Eazin