Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams
2013 · 60 MIN · IMDB 7.7 · 117 VOTES · DIR. Nic Stacey
Overview
Documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer which charts the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life. The film brings the past to life in vivid detail as we see how and why these masterpieces were built. Travelling around Europe, Simon uncovers the history of these machines and shows us some of the most spectacular examples, from an entire working automaton city to a small boy who can be programmed to write and even a device that can play chess. All the machines Simon visits show a level of technical sophistication and ambition that still amazes today.
Dialogue Timeline — 565 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:01 It's often said that if you really want to understand something
00:02:41 that could begin to make complex, controlled and regular movements.
00:05:07 This is the Zeitglocke, a German word that means "time bell".
00:07:22 transformed into a machine for the citizens to enjoy.
00:10:04 Archbishop Jakob von Dietrichstein.
00:12:52 The salt miners generated the wealth on which the city relied
00:15:14 automata could now simulate new kinds of movements
00:17:01 because there is virtually no metal in the pin that you're forcing
00:18:55 in which each house would specialise in a different component
00:21:29 against changes in their environment.
00:23:49 that the way in which the human body works is essentially automatic.
00:26:02 and its whereabouts, or indeed, its survival
00:28:17 Devices would be built that contained
00:31:21 As these cams move, three cam followers read their shaped edges
00:34:12 They were for posh people, for well-heeled gentry
00:36:54 many of grandest automata collapsed
00:39:20 the one thing they did desire was automata.
00:41:41 roller skates.
00:43:56 on the underside of the swan.
00:47:14 You would be shown in to a darkened chamber lit by candles
00:50:34 of the Industrial Revolution.
00:52:53 a range of automatic machines like this would revolutionise the world.
00:55:12 began to make vast swathes of artisans and craftsmen redundant.
00:57:42 We live in a world of technologies that try to achieve this.