The Invisible Boy

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The Invisible Boy
Theatrical poster to The Invisible Boy (1958)
Directed by	Herman Hoffman
Produced by	Nicholas Nayfack
Written by	Edmund Cooper (story) Cyril Hume
Starring	Richard Eyer Philip Abbott Diane Brewster Harold J. Stone
Music by	Les Baxter
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
Release date(s)	October 1957 January 1, 1958 November 24, 1958 June 1, 1959
Running time	90 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
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IMDb profile

The Invisible Boy (1957) is a science fiction film, directed by Herman Hoffman, and starring Richard Eyer and Philip Abbott. It is the second film appearance of Robby the Robot, a famous science fiction character, who first appeared in Forbidden Planet (1956), which is set in the 23rd century. Released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, this film's earlier title was S.O.S Spaceship. According to a subtle backstory, the robot in The Invisible Boy is the same character as that in Forbidden Planet, brought back to Earth through time travel. However, that fact appears to play no other role in The Invisible Boy. There is a rumor that there will be a remake of this film, Robby the Robot will appear.

[edit] Plot

The Invisible Boy is a curious mixture of lighthearted playfulness and menacing evil. At it begins, ten-year-old Timmie Merinoe (Eyer) seems only to want a playmate. After he is mysteriously invested with superior intelligence, he reassembles a robot that his father and other scientists have been ready to discard as unrepairable junk. No one pays much attention to the robot after Timmie gets it going, until Timmie's mother becomes angry when Timmie is taken aloft by a huge kite that the robot builds. When Timmie expresses a wish to be able to play without being observed by his parents, the robot--with the aid of an evil Supercomputer--makes him invisible. At first Timmie uses his invisibility to play simple pranks on his parents and others, but the mood of the film soon changes, when it becomes clear that the super computer intends to take over the world through a satellite.

One of the most remarkable things about this film is the near-indifference of Timmie's parents to his invisibility. His scientist father expresses no curiosity about how Timmie has achieved his invisibility and seems to be concerned mostly about the difficulty of disciplining him when he can't be seen.