Edwardian Insects on Film

IMDb 9.0 2013 • 59 min • Documentary

Director

John Holdsworth

Country

GB

Plot Summary

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.

Top Cast

Charlie Hamilton James
Charlie Hamilton James Self - Presenter
David Attenborough
David Attenborough Self
Dr Tim Boon
Dr Tim Boon Self - Science Museum, London
David Cleveland
David Cleveland Self - Film Archivist
Tim Cockerill
Tim Cockerill Self - Entomologist