GB
A dramatization to promote the Territorial Army.
Sep 1937
This film shows how and why the animals which inhabit a pond are dependent one on another for their survival. We see the minnow in pursuit of water fleas and a stickleback seeking worms to satisfy his need of fuel. Carbon-dioxide, we are reminded, is essential for the growth of the green plants and the oxygen they release for the breathing of the animal population of the pond.
Aug 1936
A retired Major's efforts to hone his golf skills are thwarted by the diminutive but defiant common daisy.
Mar 1945
Go with the flow: to gentle but spellbinding effect this innovative natural history film glimpses marine life astride rising tides at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. Urchins, lugworm, weaver-fish and crabs are the shy-but-elegant stars coaxed onto the screen (with the assistance of Millport’s local research station) for this archetypal edition of Gaumont-British Instructional’s 1930s cinema series Secrets of Life.
Mar 1948
A Secrets of Life short about the movement of animals.
Mar 1938
Story of how two youngsters round up crooks planning to blow up the British fleet off Gibraltar.
Nov 1953
A wildlife film with a difference: it has A Message for any humans in the house. "The squirrel in the tree, the fox below, the birds, insects, all know that a time of plenty will not last forever". Austerity-stricken wartime viewers can learn from their economical feeding habits. An entertaining hybrid of public information and natural history from the makers of wildlife series Secrets of Life. Released in the BFI boxset Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front.
Dec 1940
Explores the natural history of the otter, depicted through the fictitious account of a day in the life of Otto the Otter and his mother. The narrator claims that the short features "the first film ever taken of an otter swimming underwater."
Jul 1939
E.V.H. Emmett narrates this propaganda short about how sacrifices on the home front support the war effort.
Aug 1940
A Secrets of Life short about waterfowl.
Dec 1939
A Secrets of Life short about the sawfly.
Jan 1936
A Secrets of Life short about the Sparrow Hawk.
A Secrets of Life short about the tawny owl.
Dec 1936
"If they were as rare as orchids we would probably rave about them" opens this film in the Secrets of Nature series, directed by the prolific Mary Field. The mesmerising time-lapse photography is offset by a jokey commentary voiced by EVH Emmett, then best known as the voice of the Gaumont newsreel. The flippant tone is exemplified by his comment on the range of responses to dandelions: "Some gardeners tear up the lawn and lay crazy paving, some tear up a high cliff and jump off".
Oct 1938
A Secrets of Life short about the production of seeds.
A Secrets of Life short.
Jan 1942
A film based on a story by Leo Tolstoy about a cabinet maker, his wife and an angel punished by God.
Sep 1938
Jan 1947
In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.
Jul 1947