1953 - THE TWONKY, Sci-Fi Comedy about an evil television set

After setting the bar fairly high with his science fiction film Five , auteur filmmaker Arch Obler set it pretty low with The Twonky. The Twonky is a television set possessed by a robot from the future. A college football coach becomes a victim of the robot/television's hypnotic ray. How does the coach know this? He holds up a plate and says it's because of Einstein's theory of relativity and "I've read a lot of science fiction."  

This film is apparently about the evil influence of television on early 1950's American society or a warning about the dangers of communism overtaking the United States. The television hypnotizes a college football team, a university professor and a delivery man to become mindless conforming members of society in one of the film's most unsubtle moments of satire. The Twonky has other incredible powers like lighting your cigarettes and playing solitaire. This TV robot from the future truly is a threat to our American way of life.

The star is Hans Conreid a character actor in probably his only starring role ever. Conreid did a lot of work for Disney. He was the voice and model for Captain Hook in Disney's version of Peter Pan. Conreid supposedly told Obler while they were filming The Twonky that the film would be a flop. Obler answered that he needed the tax write off .

 84 minutes.