The Rubber-Keyed Wonder

2024

Action / Documentary

5
IMDb Rating 7.4/10 10 245 245

Director

Anthony Caulfield Photo
Anthony Caulfield

Top cast

Stuart Ashen Photo
Stuart Ashen as Self
Harold Macmillan Photo
Harold Macmillan as Self - Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Shahid Ahmad Photo
Shahid Ahmad as Self
Mevlut Dinc Photo
Mevlut Dinc as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.27 GB
1280*674
English 2.0
NR
us  es  
25 fps
2 hr 21 min
Seeds 9
2.35 GB
1920*1012
English 2.0
NR
us  es  
25 fps
2 hr 21 min
Seeds 16

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by warren-87235 8 / 10

Excellent - just needed a little more energy

This is a great documentary on the history, and even a little on the future, of the ZX Spectrum. There's a lot to be enjoyed by those filled with nostalgia, or even younger enthusiasts who want to see why the UK punched way above its weight in software and game development for a long time.If I had one or two suggestions... It all felt a little 'dry'. The Netflix 'Movies that Made Us' or 'Toys that Made Us', series, or even the recent and superb 'Robodoc' on the making of Robocop, are perfect examples of how to bring life and fun to these kind of documentaries using humour, punchier editing, and animated inserts. 'Robodoc' for example, is so long it spans four, yes four, separate episodes and is at least twice as long as this. But it flies by. This drags a little by the end, despite there being enough material to probably make something twice as long but still more attention grabbing.Secondly, they covered the Spectrum Next and numerous clones, but there was a seriously missed opportunity to do a small section on the SAM Coupé, which is every bit (if not more) attached to the Spectrum's legacy, since many people who worked on the spectrum created it to be a successor, with backward compatibility.Lastly, all of the people interviewed were relevant to the history of the machine except James O'Brien. Why spoil a great documentary by adding the irrelevent musings of such a divisive and often vitriolic individual? He felt jarring and out of place, and could have been left out without losing anything.Otherwise, an excellent documentary that is well worth watching!!
Reviewed by speckled10 9 / 10

Near perfect celebration of an Icon

Reviewed by edwardrevans 7 / 10

A good homage to a legendary computer

Without this affordable home computer i would not have had the long and successful career in the Information Technology industry. As a Kid of the 1980's I was there I experienced the home computing boom starting with the Commodore Vic20 which I guess some smarmy salesman convinced my dad to buy for me and my brother when in reality most kids wanted the the Speccy. The Rubber-Keyed Wonder is a long documentary on the most successful product that Sir Clive Sinclair ever produced. Though long the documentary does cover all angles and it is nice to see those who were there at the time., though the addition of mentions of subsequent models such as the 128K and QL me thinks do not add anything to the story., where as Micro Men does. I am glad I was a backer of this movie/documentary otherwise the story would not be told of the pioneering days of the computer industry without which we may not have the multibillion industry we have today.
Read more IMDb reviews

5 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment