Note: this version of the film dates from 1953. A revised version of the film is also available.
Created in the year 1953 by the Shell Oil Company, “The Fossil Story” explains the importance of fossils to geologists who are searching for oil, and examines the role of paleontologists in interpreting the nature of the pre-historic world. This film was one of a series created by Shell to educate the public about geology, oil exploration, and the petroleum industry in general in this period.
In this film, Shell Oil situates its extractive process as an episode within geologic time, naturalizing its products even as it inspires wonder. It contrasts the impatience of the suburban husband wanting to drive his car against the expansive scale of fossil history. According to Shell, with the drilling of oil, “The cycle is complete. Nature’s plan is quite perfect” – the question of where we might fall within such a purported cycle, and what nature may have in store for us, remains an open one. (TRT 18:38)
A glowing Shell Oil sign (0:07). Opening title: “Shell Presents The Fossil Story” Animation by Art Scott, Ted Robinson, Director (0:15). Sunrise over the Grand Canyon, “A monument to time itself” (0:45). Flowing water demonstrates the process of erosion (1:10). “The layers of rock are like the pages of an ancient book” – such is the medium of stratigraphy (2:18). Fossilized ferns, fishes, mammals, dinosaur footprints, archaeopteryx skeleton, tube worm boreholes (2:30). Oil drilling rigs are clustered. “The luxuries we take for granted, and even our security depend largely on our supply of petroleum (3:11). An oil drill turns and is raised (3:32). The drill core is removed and brought to a laboratory (3:46). Fossil fragments within the drill core (4:07). A forest of drilling rigs (4:17). Paleontologists excavate with brush, hammer and chisel (4:36). The imprint of a leaf, an insect wing (6:03). A glimpse of a cross relates Biblical to geologic time (6:34). A suburban couple leave for the beach in a steel car, which might be a Buick Roadmaster or Super Sedan (6:45). An animation depicts photosynthetic organisms producing oxygen and depositing solid iron ore at the bottom of the sea (7:35). A factory, the golden gate bridge, a train, cruise ships (8:19). Fossilized seaweed from primordial oceans (8:31). fossil trilobites (9:01). fossilized coral, bivalve mollusks (9:16). Scorpion footprints, called “the first air breathing land animal” (9:26). A painting of a prehistoric forest, with plant and fish fossils (9:59). Dimetrodon painting (11:02). Stegosaurus and tyrannosaurus skeletons under garish lighting (11:24). Brontosaurus painting (11:52). Fossil trees from Petrified Forest National Park (12:00). Jewelry derives from the same fossil processes – “Of onyx and jasper, chalcedony and carnelian, chrysoprase and agate” (12:52). Statues of now-extinct animals, bubbling tar at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles (13:13). Skeletons of extinct sloths, camels, birds, dire wolves, saber tooth tigers (13:45). A kangaroo, a possum, a lemur – species with ancient relatives (14:03). Foraminifera descendants examined through a microscope (14:23). An animation of foraminifera falling to the sea bed like snow, becoming fossils (14:35). These are found in limestone, chalk and marble (14:44). Workers spread cement (15:00). An excavator shovels diatomaceous earth (15:05). The earth is processed to remove impurities (15:34). Sugar, soap, mouthwash, hand lotion and drugs are manufactured (15:55). A woman examines diatoms under a microscope (16:13). Living diatoms float, “Grass of the sea,” source of petroleum (16:40). oil well pump jacks (17:25). Title “A Shell Film Library Subject” Copyright MCMLIIII, 1953 (18:20)
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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
