Secrets of Life
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
James Algar
Winston Hibler
James Algar
William A. Anderson
Arthur Carter
Robert O. Cook
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The Earth has continually developed over its history, and the current lands and seas hold a record of this evolution, in their fossils, soil deposits and life forms. All of the planet serves as nature's raw material, and each species struggles with issues of adaptation and self-preservation. For plants, the secrets of life start in the seeds, which propagate in often strange ways. The seeds of the wild oat, for instance, drop to the ground and then undulate to move themselves to a favorable position to take root, while other seeds wind once on the ground, drilling themselves into the soil. The witch hazel plant shoots seeds out of its body, helping them reach a sunny spot. A forest fire, though apparently destructive, aids in the production of some pinecones, which open only when in flames. Seeds in the soil push aside objects to aid their growth, helping flowers to bloom and fruits to ripen. Corn reproduces by forming a tassel to release pollen dust, which is then captured further down the stalk by silks. Each kennel represents a new seed. Insects, especially bees, often provide the transportation for pollen. As the bumblebee crawls into a flower to locate the nectar, it is brushed with pollen, which it then scatters. Some flowers, such as those on cacti, have waving "arms" to better reach the bees. The honeybee is a master pollinator. It gathers pollen to feed its larvae, collecting it in sacks on its rear legs. The honeybees battle dangerous plants and rainstorms in order to work tirelessly on their hives. In hollow trees, one queen bears all the responsibility for reproduction, after which her eggs are deposited in wax chambers created by the worker bees. They produce wax in their bodies and squeeze it from between their abdominal segments. Each hive cell fits the others, creating a strong and efficient chamber packed tight with food supplies for winter and honey created from nectar by house bees. After harvest season, the queen must leave to create a new hive. The drones then select several larvae and feed them royal jelly to make them fertile. When one emerges, it must kill the other contenders and then mate with one drone in a "wedding flight." Some ants also make honey, and store it in their abdomens, which swell to huge proportions. There are over five thousand species of ants, each specialized and individual. For instance, the harvester ants dig tunnels and move objects many times their size; hunting ants eat pests such as termites; and leaf cutters collect pieces of flora to grow a fungus they need to survive. Even drops of water contain life, in the form of single-cell protozoa and rotifers, which have crude digestive systems. In the rivers, a more developed fish called the sickleback creates a nest where the male lures the female and encourages her to lay her eggs. He then supplies the milk for fertilization, and defends the nest. Nearby, dragonfly nymphs eat fish eggs; archer fish shoot "bullets" of water at airborne insects; and diving spiders build an underwater air bubble in which to live. In the ocean, some fish bear the traces of prehistoric life forms, such as kelp fish, which can walk. The angler dangles a wormlike growth to attract fish to eat, while on land, the fiddler crab waves its one oversized claw to attract a mate. Off the ocean in California and Mexico, schools of grunion lay their eggs ashore, bury them in the sand, then return to sea. Later, the eggs hatch by the million, but many are eaten, acting out nature's ebb and flow. Also mirroring this delicate balance is the volcano, which looks destructive but actually helps replenish the planet's raw materials. Nature continues to create and recreate, replenishing the world with her secrets of life.
Director
James Algar
Crew
James Algar
William A. Anderson
Arthur Carter
Robert O. Cook
Jack C. Couffer
Robert H. Crandall
Murl Deusing
Walt Disney
Rex R. Elliott
Anthony Gerard
Fran William Hall
William M. Harlow
Ub Iwerks
Claude Jendrusch
Stuart V. Jewell
Stuart V. Jewell
Evelyn Kennedy
George Macginitie
Nettie Macginitie
Franklyn Marks
Joshua Meador
John Nash Ott Jr.
Rutherford Platt
Edward Plumb
Art Riley
Tilden W. Roberts
Tilden W. Roberts
Vincent J. Schaefer
Ben Sharpsteen
Paul Smith
Donald L. Sykes
Erwin L. Verity
Roman Vishniac
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
James Algar's onscreen credit reads" "Written and directed by." Husband-and-wife marine biologists and photographers George and Nettie MacGinitie's credit reads; "George and Nettie MacGinitie." The film begins with the following written statement: "This is an authentic story of nature's secret world...of her strange and intricate designs for survival...and her many methods of perpetrating life. These intimate and unusual scenes were made possible through the development of new photographic techniques...and through the skill and patience of many scientist-photographers." Although most of the film was projected at a standard ratio, the final scenes, of volcanoes erupting, were shot in CinemaScope. In Secrets of Life, as in the other "True-Life Adventure" films, an animated paintbrush "paints" the opening scenes and illustrates transitions from one section of the film to the next.
The Hollywood Reporter review points out that, unlike the previous "True-Life Adventure" films, Secrets of Life has few comic sequences and thus less distortion of the original material. Despite this, the film contains many visual tricks, including animation effects, time-lapse and stop-motion photography, and a tracking shot from the point of view of a bee. As noted in the press materials and reviews, the filmmakers made use of many contemporary innovations in photography and lighting in order to portray the familiar subjects with a fresh perspective.
Studio press materials list the individual contributions of each photographer, including Stuart V. Jewell's exploration of the honey bee; Robert H. Crandall's shots of ants via a photo-microscopy set-up in his Altadena, CA home and garden; George and Nettie MacGinitie's lensing of underwater life; John Nash Ott, Jr.'s time-lapse fruit development; and Roman Vishniac's microscopic photography, using state-of-the-art lighting techniques and color rays. A November 1956 Hollywood Citizen-News article explains the fine points of Crandall's ant photography, while a November 1956 New York Times article details Jewell's bee footage. For more information on other feature films in Disney's "True-Life Adventure" series, please consult the Series Index and the above entry for The Living Desert.
