Overview
Human fear of technology is portrayed in this very amusing futuristic parody. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
Reviews
Six besuited employees are working away at their desks until one keels over from exhaustion. Next thing, the boss has opened a trap door. Gone is the worker and in comes a robot. Curiously still working with a pencil it, and it’s colleagues, are soon able to outperform the remainder of the increasingly struggling workforce until there is only one human left. When the slave-driving boss goes home, the lone two-legged survivor sees an opportunity to redress the balance somewhat. This is where the film goes a little “Tom & Jerry” with some slapstick antics and even a little unlikely teamwork as the man tries to reassert himself over his more efficient mechanical creations and the latter start to fear for their own survival too. It’s quite a cleverly crafted animation that mixes the two and three-dimensional characters quite seamlessly as well as pinging the principle of exploitative bosses - old and new. It’s all a vicious circle, really, so just wait until the laptop arrives!
