You can tell by the way I use my walk
An unusual trailer for movie serial THE MYSTERIOUS DR SATAN. Unusual in the way it’s narrated by Dr Satan’s unnamed robot, by way of a series of superimposed titles. There should be movies that actually do this. I don’t just mean titles to explain a character’s thoughts, but specifically the thoughts of robots. Because otherwise it can be hard to know what they’re thinking.
I like his walk! Looks like he’s constantly on the verge of falling on his big tin face. The outtakes for this one must have been both painful and hilarious.
Dr Satan himself is played by the great Eduardo Cianelli. Nobody seems to know who plays the robot. Theories are welcome, the more harebrained the better.
July 20, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Off-topic but of ENORMOUS cinematic interest
July 20, 2012 at 4:18 pm
What a nice, bright young person!
July 20, 2012 at 5:06 pm
He has his father’s eyes. And much of his manner (see Mickey One)
July 20, 2012 at 7:05 pm
I believe if you watch closely you’ll notice by the awkward walk the robot suit is being worn by a dog – Rin Tin Tin’s son, Tin Tin Tin.
…best I could do. Woof.
July 20, 2012 at 7:48 pm
I surmise by his awkward walk that he’s Liz Hurley, rehearsing her fembot turn in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
July 20, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Six of one, half-dozen of the other.
July 20, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Double mystery: who is playing Copperhead? (Imdb answers that question).
(I just watched EC directed by Antonioni in “I Vinti” (53)–the first time I ever heard him speak Italian).
July 21, 2012 at 12:23 am
Does it work? I ask because Maurice Chevalier never seems quite as good speaking French as he does speaking English with a French accent.
July 21, 2012 at 4:21 am
A local repertory theater always shows a short before the weekly feature, and last year they ran an episode of this very serial at the start of every show. It was the stunt laden usual nonsense, but it has some quite exquisitely lurid pulp-styled painted illustrations on the title cards.
July 21, 2012 at 10:28 am
Ah, must check those out!
July 22, 2012 at 4:34 pm
I’ve had no luck trying to find them online.
July 22, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Found them, and I think there’s a blog post in there!
July 23, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Bottom photo: I wish I had legs like that – but which pair? Also, Copperhead intrigues me, it’s amazing how they got his head to look so like it was actually made of copper, even in black-and-white!
July 23, 2012 at 7:05 pm
I’ve always wished I had legs like Eduardo Cianelli.
July 23, 2012 at 9:24 pm
The more I think about Copperhead I can really see the dramatic tension – he’s an excellent conductor of heat! I mean, it would be awful to be head-butted by a big chunk of metal, but what if he’d been resting it on the Aga for an hour? Perilous!
July 23, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Slightly problematic if he has a normal human head inside the copper one. Or even just a normal human neck.