Nature's Half Acre (1951)

This might have been better for me had they scaled back on the jolly score and left us with some actual sounds of the nature we are watching. Instead, we get a surfeit of different musical styles and tempos accompanying Winston Hibbler's commentary of life in an half acre of ground upon which mankind has yet to make his presence felt. There is some innovative time-lapse photography and clearly time was spent collating and editing this fascinating look at just how diverse the range of critters are, trying to make a life (and avoid being eaten) in this wilderness. Some are astonishingly adaptable, hungry, beautiful, hungry, violent, hungry and even amorous and again the imagery captures quite a bit of that as well as the comical and the eat or be eaten mentality that not only nourishes those further up the food chain, but protects the plant life from their insatiable appetites. (Did I mention these things are hungry?). It's fun watching newly hatched chicks trying to digest worms that are quite possibly heavier than them and though maybe this could have been shortened a little, it's an entertainingly scripted foray into the world of natural history that mixes some elementary science into a film that still bears watching.