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The Birth of the Robot
1936 | 6m | English
Popularity: 0.1 (history)
| Director: | Len Lye |
|---|---|
| Writer: | C.H. David |
| Staring: |
| This experiment was a “prestige advertisement” for Shell Motor Oil. As conventional animation became dominated by Walt Disney, many European filmmakers turned to puppets as an alternative, and Lye enlisted the help of avant-garde friends such as Humphrey Jennings and John Banting to make the amusing puppets. Exploring the still-complex color process, which involved the combination of three separate images, Lye creates such a vivid storm scene that reviewers hailed it as “proof that the color film has entered a new stage.” The music is Holst’s The Planets. - Harvard Film Archive | |
| Release Date: | Oct 01, 1936 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Len Lye |
| Writer: | C.H. David |
| Genres: | |
| Keywords | |
| Production Companies | |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 23, 2026 Entered: Jun 23, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Len Lye | Director |
| Humphrey Jennings | Color Designer |
| C.H. David | Writer |
| Alex Strasser | Director of Photography |
| John Banting | Prop Designer |
| Jack Ellitt | Music |
| Gustav Holst | Music |
| Name | Title |
|---|
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
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| 2024 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
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| 2024 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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