'Tobor the Great', wow what a title. If you're a fan of cheesy B-movies from '50s, you know you have to see the film titled like that. 'Tobor the Great' doesn't serve as a monster movie, it is a film more about the kid and his pet robot. Heartwarming science-fiction comedy that could be a classic. Although fairly entertaining the film is quite slow in the pace and uses the ideas presented in the script in very shallow way.After his concerns about human testing on pilots Professor Nordstrom (Taylor Holmes) invents a robot named Tobor (robot spelled backwards) to fly the first spaceship. He is helped by his colleague Ralph Harrison (Charles Drake) who resigned his government job in protest against human testings on pilots. Nordstrom's grandson Gadge (Billy Chapin) discovers Tobor and they became sort of a friends. Of course, an evil foreign agents want to steal the secrets behind Tobor.The film is slow moving and its many subplots are underdeveloped exactly like the main premise. Acting is uneven but not too distracting. Special effects are actually very good considering the era and the budget. At least the design of Tobor is not totally laughable. Like I said, 'Tobor the Great' could have been classic, but it is too unpretentious and modest in all the wrong reasons. Still worthy enough to give it a look.

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

I was a little girl when this came out. I saw it in the theater and was spellbound. I only saw it once, but remembered it all my life. I just bought it and could not be happier. It is very much for children, but I will always hold it dear. I think the plot is fun. The robot is great and the people are funny, but all in all this is a film I would take any one to see, big or small. It just makes you feel good to watch it. I wish that there were more movies made this wholesome. The title is wonderful too. Robot spelled backwards. You just can't lose with a movie like this. I would give it a big thumbs up!!!!

what a great film! Its about a robot named Tobor which does some stuff in the 1950s. There's a little kid and a grandpa scientist and they do stuff, and thats pretty much the movie. I love how the evil spy gets in to the secret lab, which is simply the basement of the scientist. Very cool indeed.Yeah, a great movie I saw on AMC one afternoon with ym dad. We both feel asleep from the boredom and woke up for the end. A great film I recommend to anyone who likes to laugh at things.