The Death Of Sensation!

What utterly bizarre movie is the Russian flick The Death of Sensation or otherwise called The Robots of Ripley. It speaks of the creation of a "horde" of robots for the purpose of replacing men in dangerous and monotonous jobs. Their creator Ripley seems to be a man moved by a true desire to help people but who by creating these metal tireless and uncomplaining workers has actually handed a bludgeon for the factory owners and military to use to oppress the workers. It's the classic struggle between capitalist and worker, and since this is a Soviet film you can likely guess how it ends.

The only movie I can think to compare this one to is Metropolis, though this film appears to have somehwat smaller ambitions. This is the story of one man who wishes to help his fellows but fails largely due to the corrupt nature of the society in which he lives. His creations are mighty robots, ten feet tall at leas and while less elegant than the lovely robot from Fritz Lang's masterpiece are still quite compelling. One detail is that the robots are controlled by sound and their creator uses a saxophone to get them to do his bidding whether that's work on dangerous welding assembly lines or in a drunken moment getting them to dance with him.

The Sinister Cinema DVD supplies no subtitles and but does give some notes periodically to help the viewer stay in tune with the plot such as it is. There are some fascinating and compelling visuals in this film. Here's a link and it's where I learned most of what I have about the flick. And here is a link to the Wikipedia page I discovered with assistance which indicates the source of this movie is a novel called "The Iron Riot". Below is a Youtube version of the film with subtitles.


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