View movie

View thumbnails

Play / Download (help)

(112 MB)Ogg Video
(115 MB)512Kb MPEG4
(964 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Mystery of Time (1957)

On the surface, this film may seem like an average science film about time and space, but like most of films from the Moody Institute of Science, there is an ulterior motive. The films host Irwin Moon had an interest in science as a child and later incorporated that interest into his life as a pastor. He would tour the country giving his Sermons of Science where the marvels of science provide the visible evidence of a Divine plan of creation. His work with GIs during World War II showed him the impact that training films had on the troops. Moon partnered with the Moody Bible Institute to form the Moody Institute of Science a company that made basic science films with a religious hook at the end. While revealing the complexity of nature, their films would end with Moon saying that this complexity was part of God's plan rather than evolution. Moody Institute of Science films were marketed to churches and also to public schools where today even the mention of the word God sparks a conflagration of protests and court cases.


This movie is part of the collection: A/V Geeks

Production Company: Moody Institute of Science
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: religion vs. science

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 9,382 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: PhotoElectricMan - - February 24, 2008
Subject: Fun to watch
This film is filled with cool imagery, and thought-provoking ideas.

I'd give it 5 stars, except for the ridiculous commercial for God at the end. Time-lapse photography does not require a supreme being...it works just fine without divine intervention.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - January 24, 2006
Subject: Great Vacation!
This is definitely the best stop motion photography film I¡¯ve seen on the archive! This is a totally fun film that explains, in the first half, how stop motion photography works, both as slow motion and quick motion.. There are a lot of GREAT examples here, most notably the 2 day vacation, and the stadium scenes. In the 2nd half, it sort of gets too sciencey with the relativity discussion (but I still love the demos!) and of course, the narrator gets his shots about God and Science blah blah blah at the end. A fun fun movie, one of the best in the AV archives!

Reviewer: longhair_hippy - - July 8, 2005
Subject: Evangelizing the Geeks and Nerds
Hello everyone,

I first saw Mysteries of Time, when I was 11 years old, at Man and His World, in Montreal. It was the ongoing, annual replay of Montréal's Expo 67 (which you will find in the Newsreel section of the archive).

The venue for the 30 or so documentaries by the "Moody Science Institute", was the Sermons from Science Pavillion. This pavillion was also in the 1964-1964 New York World's Fair as well.

After waiting in line for about 15 minutes outside the pavillion, one entered a 300 seat auditorium movie theatre. Each seat had a peculiar "headset" with a switch allowing the viewer to choose the language in which to listen to the movie. It consisted of a plastic tube, linked to a Tupperware bowl with its cover. A hole was cut in the plastic bowl's cover to allow the ear to enter.

While watching the movie, one had to hold that tupperware-bowl contraption to his-ear, set the switch to either of French or English, and sit through a pseudo-scientific documentary with eye-catching and dramatic photography. The "science" was secondary to the Moody Institute. I feel that it was to attract nerds and geeks. The documentary starts talking about time, einstein, and relativity. I love the special effects of travelling near the speed of light. Gradually God is introduced and mixed with the scientific matter, and the documentary becomes more and more moralizing and religious.

At the end of the movie, spectators are invited to place the Tupperware ear-pieces back on their hooks, and to see an eight-minute production, which is strictly religious. The Moody Science Institute seems to be a front for the Moody Bible Institute, some kind of religious organization bent on recruiting the eyeglasses and pocket protector crowd.

I do remember, as an 11 year old kid, in 1970 watching movies like "God of the Atom" that scared the pants off me with the atom bomb blasts. I also remember some people, who came back to see other documentaries, leaving around the 20th minute, when the narator was talking about God.

Other features of the Sermons from Sciences Pavillion were live stage demos by George Speake, the "Man of 1,000,000 volts". This was the crowd pleaser of Expo 67, and Man and His World from 1968 to 1970. This guy would be zapped with 1,000,000 volts, and would survive, thanks to his faith in God. There was also demos about optical illusions by the same guy and chemistry "magic" as well.

This is sure to bring back memories of my childhood when I download a documentary or two.


http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/expo67/map-docs/sermonsinscience.htm

In the link above, you will see a picture of The Sermons from Sciences Pavillion at Expo 67.

If you are curious about the 1967 world's Fair in Montreal, you can click here: http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/expo67/


Have a nice day,


Georges in Montréal.

Reviewer: opt17 - - May 21, 2005
Subject: nothing to say
nothing to say

Reviewer: Violet Red Bile - - April 30, 2005
Subject: Quite nice
Nice time-lapse films which in the 50s must have been quite amazing. A short introduction to the concept of relativity. In such a short movie one can't expect an explanation (if anyone can give it?). I thought it was fun watching.