Bertie's Cave

1925
Silent
6m

A bedtime story for insects by a legend of natural history filmmaking

If you are sitting comfortably then Archie the Ant will begin his bedtime story, although sadly Archie's creator left it unfinished. Frank Percy Smith was a true pioneer of natural history filmmaking and a real lover of insects. 'Marking time', as he later put it, between working on educational films he spent two years making this 'Bedtime Stories of Archie the Ant' series, which was seemingly never released.

The film is left as it was when Smith abandoned work on it. It's out of sequence, and has repeat alternate takes giving an insight into his working methods. The intertitles are bunched at the end, offering a tantalising glimpse of where the story was going.

Early Animation

The dawn of a new celluloid art: Britain's animation pioneers at peace and war

When you're creating a new art form, everything is experimental. The pioneers of animation in Britain cast a range of subjects as the stars of their films - the toys of an Edwardian child; insects and animals; Kaiser Bill and John Bull. But even the richest of fantasies on display here offer a window into the turbulent era in which they were made. When the nation went to war, animation was conscripted to meet its propaganda needs. In peacetime, the industry sought success as an entertainer, but found a career in sales.