Attack of the Robots

Attack of the Robots
French film poster
Directed byJesús Franco
Screenplay byJean-Claude Carrière
Story byJesús Franco[1]
Starring
CinematographyAntonio Macasoli
Edited byMarie-Louise Barberot[1]
Music byPaul Misraki[1]
Production
companies
  • Hesperia Film
  • Cine Alliance
  • Spéva Films
Distributed by
  • CEPICSA (Madrid)
  • Société Nouvelle de Cinématographe - Les Film Imperia (Paris)
Release dates
  • 27 March 1966 (1966-03-27) (France)
  • 1 August 1966 (1966-08-01) (Madrid)
Running time
94 minutes[2]
Countries
  • Spain
  • France
BudgetPts 19,860,000

Attack of the Robots (Spanish: Cartas boca arriba, lit.'Cards Face Up')[1] is a 1966 spy film directed by Jesús Franco. The film stars Eddie Constantine as Al Pereira, a spy brought out of retirement to investigate a series of murders conducted by a robot-like army of people with black-framed glasses and strange darkened skin.

The film was a co-production between the Madrid-based Hesperia Film and the Paris-based Cine Alliance and Spéva Films, the same group that had previously financed The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966). Franco signed on to the project after it had already been sold throughout the world as a project starring Constantine in a spy-oriented narrative. Written by Jean-Claude Carrière, it would be the last of his collaborations with Franco. The two decided to play on the perceived notion of Constantine's film persona, making a more clumsy spy.

The film was released in France and Spain in 1966 and performed relatively well at the box office of each country. While reviews in Spanish newspapers ABC and El Mundo Deportivo gave generally positive reviews to the film, it was received poorly by the critics of Spanish film magazine Film Ideal.

  1. ^ a b c d Cesari & Curti 2024, p. 309.
  2. ^ Thrower 2015, p. 108.