Released
Edwardian Insects on Film
March 19 2013 (almost 12 years ago)Rating
Based on
1 review
- Director: John Holdsworth
- Genre: Documentary
- Runtime: 59 m
- Country: United Kingdom
- Companies: National Media Museum, BFI National Archive, BBC, Mentorn Media
In 1908, amateur naturalist and pioneering filmmaker Percy Smith stunned early cinema goers with his footage of the juggling fly. Hailed as the father of Natural History film, Smith was a hugely influential visual pioneer, inventing many techniques that are still used today. Being both a genius and an eccentric, we follow his life from his earliest films, to the collapse of his house from his mould experiment to his ultimate suicide. We also meet Natural History icon Sir David Attenborough, who was so amazed by Smith’s films in the 1930s that they inspired him to get into natural history.