Contrary to what has always been believed, L’uomo meccanico, is not an autonomous film, but the second part of a ciné-roman. This would explain the presence in the story of certain elements that are not very clear. In fact the film was distributed in the twenties without recalling that it was the following to Il documento umano. As far as the historians are concerned, today they can only analyse one reel that is a little more than a third of the original length.

In 1921 André Deed returned to Milan to shoot the sequel to Il documento umano, L’uomo artificiale, which became L’uomo meccanico. As with the previous episode he is the author of the story and the screenplay, director and actor, alongside Valentina Frascaroli. The Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino has a first draft of the screenplay, L’uomo artificiale, “Ciné-Roman by André Deed. Sequel to Documento umano”. The summary of the story is preceded by some ‘Notes on the character of the Uomo artificiale’, also called electrical man or man of steel:

“The amazing invention of the engineer Dell’Ara consists of a machine in human form built out of pure steel and extremely resistant. The electric mechanism is operated by the influence of Hertzian waves. The inventor from his laboratory, with a series of handles, can communicate to his monster, both near and far, a terrifying strength, an incalculable speed and if necessary render him uncatchable due to the electrical charges that can emanate from his body. In short a truly infernal invention”.

Jean A. Gili