Sponsored by Rolex, this educational film “The Story of Time” is about mankind’s numerous ways of measuring the passage of time through history. The film relies upon stop-motion animation, and shows ancient sundials, simple mechanical devices from history, and modern, complex timepieces including wristwatches. The film was created by Robert G. Leffingwell with animator Frans Hendrix, with art direction by Jan Coolen, and a score by Guy Warrack and the London Symphony Orchestra. Copyright is 1951. (Note: the film was originally released in Technicolor, this is a B&W version).
Opening titles: The Story of Time by Rolex, A Signal Films Production (:06-:38). A crawl explains man’s progress with time measurement. Stars in the galaxy. The sun and earth. The moon and earth. Earth spins. Shade goes across mountains. People bow to the sun (:39-2:25). A man places a pole then others place rocks. An Egyptian obelisk. A sun dial is made. Boat on water. Sun dial is only half a clock (2:26-3:29). Nighttime. A tiny flame burns through string and drops balls below it. During the day the sundial and at night the clock of fire. Water clock is any timepiece by which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel, and where the amount is then measured (3:30-4:53). Sands of time in an hour glass. Bar and cog and weight of iron, the clock is born. Discovered by Galileo in 1602, the swinging motion of a pendulum by the action of gravity and acquired momentum..More accuracy as time goes on. Wheels swing quick. Pendulums swing (4:54-6:09). Mechanical clock. Clocks move. Some clocks have figurines moving around doing various things. Spring clocks and coils. A timepiece clicks. A ship at sea (6:10-8:07). Pedometer principle measures your steps because your body swings from side to side as you walk. Each swing counts as one step. Multiplying the number of “swings” by the average length of your steps tells you how far you’ve gone. The watch wasn’t accurate. As time went on, a watch was created with a waterproof case. A clam closes its shell on a pearlescent, Rolex oyster shell perpetual watch. A Rolex watch ticks. Clock tower in a town. Earth in space (8:08-9:40).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
