8. MARIA
FROM Metropolis (1927)
PLAYED BY Brigitte Helm, once she's fully animated
PROGRAMMING In a future world where masses of industrial workers toil underground while the elite live in the spires of skyscrapers, a scientist (played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge, pictured) kidnaps radical labor leader Maria and replaces her with a robot doppelgänger to defuse a potential rebellion.
SPECIAL FEATURES Looks like the real thing but is more inclined to dance with erotic abandon than to give fiery speeches
MEMORABLE MOMENT The android Maria offers a lascivious, unsettling wink, an instant re-created in 2004's I, Robot.
WHY SHE PUSHES OUR BUTTONS Robot or not, Maria is a captivating presence and an apparent influence on a range of electric-powered film females, from the Bride of Frankenstein to the T-X of Terminator 3.
EW MOVIE GRADE: A-
