“I cannot – 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! “
– Ro-Man (George Barrows), Robot Monster (1953), screenplay by Wyott Ordung
Daily Dialogue theme this week: Monster movie dialogue suggested by GITS reader Patrick Sweeney.
Sheer blissful insanity, this movie.
There was a minor, weird flirtation in the mid-80's with bringing 3-D movies to television. Our local sub shop chain was selling the red and blue glasses and Milwaukee's own channel 18 showed Robot Monster in 3-D.
To make the 3-D work, you had to mess with the contrast on your TV.
It never worked. At best, there was a bit of a Viewmaster feel to it but only if you stood on your head in a certain corner of the room.
(P.S. – I hate to say it but its beautiful failures like that that make me COMPLETELY pessimistic about our cinema culture's current weird flirtation with 3-D. At best, it's a gimmick. A VERY EFFECTIVE gimmick but after 20 Avatar types, who will care?)