The Invisible Boy (1957)......sort of functions as an unofficial sequel to MGM's classic sci-fi blockbuster from the previous year, the now legendary "Forbidden Planet".....
But unlike the sequels of today which double-down on the budget, effects and spectacle, 1950's follow-ups were usually done fast and dirt cheap for a quick cash grab.
"The Invisible Boy" done in black-and-white on a budget of possibly 150 bucks or lower, finds a way to deposit "Forbidden Planet" s beloved robot Robby from his 23rd century existence into this film's current timeframe of the mid 1950's.
Somehow a 50's science wiz zapped himself into the future and brought back Robby, complete with Robby's souvenir photo of his own bulky self stepping off the "Forbidden Planet" saucer ship after it landed back on earth. .
In this film's scientific organization, apparently a precursor of NASA, nobody finds the parking of Robby three centuries into the past as anything groundbreaking and extraordinary. The careless brain trust just disassembled him and their genius-in-chief, Dr. Merrinoe parked the pieces in his garage like assorted junk awaiting a yard sale.
Meanwhile, Dr. Merrinoe (Phillip Abbot) frets over his not-too-bright 10 year old son Timmie (Richard Eyer) who slurps his soup and can't comprehend multiplication. So on take-your-dumb-brat-to-work-day, dad introduces the kid to his pride and joy - a Sooper-Dooper Computer, borrowed from the Spenser Tracy-Katherine Hepburn comedy "Desk Set". Like all 1950's computers, it's a a bunch of spinning tape discs, a vast board of little blinky-blinky lights and a big glass dome with spinning wheelie things.
The ever clueless Dr. Merrinoe doesn't realize Sooper Dooper Computer is secretly an evil son-of-a-bitch plotting world domination and extinction of all living things. The S-D-C hypnotizes Timmie with its blinky-blinky lights and has the kid re-assemble Robby to operate as a big-ass minion.
Timmie, who's much smarter now from blinky-blinky light therapy, uses Robby as a playmate, having the robot build him his very own remote control flying kite he can grab on to like a an airborne theme park ride. For even more fun, Timmie uses Robbie and Sooper Dooper to render himself invisible so he can prank a school bully and his dad's entire team of scientists.
Sooper Dooper Computer has bigger fish to fry though, turning an Army general and all of Dr. Merrinoe's science guys into slave-minions, via brain implants inserted by Robby. (which might lead one to wonder how Robby conducts such delicate surgery with his thick, rubbery two-fingered hands...)
From this description, if you think this movie can't get any crazier, you're so wrong......Sooper Dooper then has Robby spirit away Timmie into a conveniently parked rocket ship, blasting them off into outer space, from which Sooper Sooper will continue its conquest of the universe or whatever.
And here's something we never dreamed we'd see in a kid-oriented 50's movie..... in order to extract the essential secret codes it needs from Dr. Merrinoe, the S-D-C threatens to let him and his wife watch a video feed of Robby slowly torturing little Timmie.....for days no less......to commence with Robby using his fat rubber finger to squish Timmie's eyes. Holy yikes!
But to everyone's relief, Robby still remember sci-fi writer Issac Asimov's most famous first law of robotics......that a robot can never harm a human being. The Rob-inator saves the day, brings Timmie safely back to earth and evil Sooper Dooper doesn't even get enough time to sing "Daisy....Daisy, give me your answer do"......
The script, by "Forbidden Planet"s writer Cyril Hume, throws all this loony stuff into the movie like spaghetti hurled against a wall......including some Cold War references to "those guys on the other side of the Pole" (we're not sure if that means Russians or penguins...) And we wouldn't have it any other way.
As cheap and slapped together as it is, we dearly loved "The Invisible Boy" taking us on a nostalgic tour of so many 1950's tropes.....the science gone awry, the domestic bliss (with Timmie enduring enough parental spankings to make his ass redder than Mars)......and the wondrous, glorious first metallic movie star, Robby The Robot, who sadly retired from feature films to a career of multiple cameos in "Twilight Zone" episodes.
Robby, we hardly knew ye......but you live in our hearts forever. And given what happened to future Sooper Dooper Computers like Hal 9000 and Colossus The Forbin Project, you had the right idea in "The Invisible Boy".....go medieval on that sucker. 3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)
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