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-