Mechanical Man, The
Entry updated 13 February 2023. Tagged: Film.
Italian film (1921). Original title L'Uomo Meccanico. Milano Film. Directed and written by André Deed. Cast includes André Deed, Valentina Frascaroli, Mathilde Lambert and Gabriel Moreau. 60-80 minutes. Black and white (but with colour tinting). About 26 minutes of this movie survive: it had long been considered lost, until parts of the Portuguese version were discovered in Brazil, albeit in poor condition.
When a criminal gang learn a Scientist has designed a remote-controlled Robot they realize it could be used for larceny – however, the scientist is killed and they are arrested before they can get the blueprints. Their leader, Mado (Frascaroli) ingeniously escapes police custody and fools the scientist's niece, Elena D'Ara (Lambert), into giving her the plans. A robot is duly built and Mado sends it on a crime spree. The scientist's brother, Professor D'Ara (Moreau), constructs his own mechanical man and the two robots end up fighting, however the decisive action is performed by Elena's boyfriend, Saltarello (Deed), who creeps into Mado's control room and short-circuits the equipment, electrocuting her and blowing up the robot.
The best scenes usually involve Mado, though the robot's attendance at a fancy-dress ball is memorable too: everyone assumes it is someone in fancy dress, until it begins behaving in a most ungentlemanly manner. Though the special effects budget is clearly small and the robot usually a little stiff and lumbering, it is reasonably imposing (probably just under two metres tall), is strong and seemingly has an oxyacetylene torch built into its arms; it can also change gear and move fast enough to nearly catch a fleeing car. The robot fight, likely the first of its kind, is a little disappointing; although, as they are remotely controlled, it could also be considered the first Mecha battle. The operators watch from afar, reacting to events on screens, suggesting advanced surveillance Technology.
André Deed was a French comic actor, initially directed by Georges Méliès and also working with Segundo de Chomón. In 1909 he moved to Italy: the slapstick films produced here (which he directed) made him internationally famous prior to World War One and were an influence on silent Hollywood comedians – though his star quickly waned after the war. L'Uomo Meccanico was originally to be called L'Uomo Artificiale ("The Artificial Man") and is the second of Deed's planned trilogy centred on "Mado the adventuress" (see Women in SF): the first was Il Documento Umano (1920) ("The Human Document"), which is lost; the third was to be Gli Strani Amori di Mado ("The Strange Loves of Mado"), but was never made.
L'Uomo Meccanico was not the first Italian sf film: aside from any that might have been lost, it was preceded by Il Mostro di Frankenstein (1920, vt The Monster of Frankenstein), the third Cinema version of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel; it is also likely that Documento Umano was a genre production, though its plot seems to be unknown. [SP]
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