The first great robot in the history of cinema is entirely Italian: nearly 40 years before the famous Robby from Forbidden Planet, the forerunner of all science fiction automatons worldwide was the colossal protagonist of the extremely rare silent film L'uomo meccanico, produced in Italy by the Società Anonima Milano Films in 1921.
Sadly, only about 25 minutes of the film survive today, with nearly the entire opening section lost. However, the few preserved sequences are enough to highlight the remarkable foresight of this film, which anticipates nearly all the themes developed in much more famous and celebrated science fiction and horror classics, from King Kong in 1933 to Terminator.
Several sequences are unforgettable, such as the battle between two giant robots controlled remotely or the chase scene where a robot pursues a car, achieved with truly rudimentary but highly effective special effects techniques. Undoubtedly, the most shocking scene for its time is the one in which the villainous robot seizes a beautiful woman and strips her in front of a terrified crowd.
From a prop perspective, this proto-robot is particularly fascinating, designed and crafted from scratch in an era with virtually no established iconographic tradition to draw upon, nor any real expertise or school of sci-fi prop-making, which was still in its infancy, especially in Italy (Metropolis by Fritz Lang would arrive only seven years later). This mechanical monster is somewhat naive in certain respects but also strikingly effective and unsettling in its menacing stage presence.
