Moss (Paul F.) & Thelma SchneeBee City (1951)

Humorous exploration of the life of the bee.

This item is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Moss (Paul F.) & Thelma Schnee
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Insects

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - September 20, 2003
Subject: Bee City

This is like Ant City, only about bees. It's a little more interesting than the other film, probably because bee life is somewhat more interesting than ant life. Like the other film, though, it has a questionable narrator who sounds like he's winging it. And he never tells us exactly how honey is made, which to my mind is missing the point. Mostly, though, this is an average nature film with slightly weird narration.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - July 21, 2003
Subject: A film in need of a script.

I'm still up in the air of what I think of John Kieran's 'Kaleidiscope' films. On one hand, they seem woefully ilprepared and scattered, yet on the other, you can't argue with the man's knowledge and every-man's narration. It sounds to me that Mr. Kieran learned about Bees yesterday, and just can't wait to tell us about it. But a script WOULD be nice, as the "um's and ahhh's' seem to get in the way.

Shotlist

A companion film to Ant City, though not as good. title crawl: "an amazing chapter in nature's wonderland" lots of XCUs of the hive; JK tells us that bees sleep with their eyes open, that there are 5,000 bees to a pound, and that worker bees feed an average larva 13 or 14 hundred (?!) times a day.
"Odor is very important in the life of a bee." As usual, JK's narration drags behind what's on the screen.

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