

Feature1936·6m·7.0
The Birth of the Robot
Animation
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
Details
- Status
- Released
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- —
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
- Age rating
- —
- Quality
- 4K UHD · HDR10 · Dolby Vision
Crew
Director
Len Lye
Writers
C.H. David
Alex Strasser
Director of Photography







































