David Traversa
This film was shot "with special cameras going where only the mind can enter" said in his review "Thinker1691" (I read them all) and I literally borrow it to open my own review because it encloses the very essence of this documentary.I saw it many years ago and since then it always stayed in my mind with such an impact that watching it again yesterday night was equally impressive. Funny how memories can play a trick on us, in my mind the photography was of such pristine quality as to be mind boggling, nowadays it looks a bit "out of focus" compare with the latest technology.But what they filmed in the real interacting of insects --daily life, wars, struggles, escapades, etc.-- even today it's flawless, breathtaking and extremely impressive. What was TRULY impressive was the music created for the soundtrack of this film by that IMMENSE musician, Lalo Schifrin, a music that was, maybe, the main factor next to the insects behavior to keep, for so many years, this magnificent film in my mind.
liscarkat-2
"The Hellstrom Chronicle", a well-done science mocumentary, came more than thirty years before Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," but the parallels are uncanny.Both movies received undeserved Oscars in the documentary field.Both were fake.Both fooled a lot of people who might otherwise have been assumed to be intelligent.The frightening differences are that "Hellstrom" did not spawn a religion of hysterical fanatics who want to destroy our quality of life and our economy."Hellstrom" was never used as a bible to brainwash college students and even innocent school children.The producer of "Hellstrom" was not given the Nobel Prize (presumably the Nobel still had some credibility in 1971).And "Hellstrom" was ultimately laughed off as a silly piece of entertainment.Which is exactly what should happen to "An Inconvenient Truth."
thinker1691
In 1971 a film arrived at our campus and our school was privileged to see it. Witness, would be a better word as what we learned was so fantastic. To ignore what was being shown and investigated, would be to doom our existence to the fact, we were warned of the impending doom and did nothing. The star of this film is the incredible and versatile insect as illustrated by a narrator/biologist Dr. Neil Hellstrom (Lawrence Pressman). His research takes the audience around the world in a desperate attempt to awaken our poor understanding of the mightiest creatures on the planet. Despite the fact man has the potential to destroy the world and its populations with his awesome weapons, it is the Insect who will eventually reclaim what's left. The film is informative and insightful as well as incredible with it special cameras going where only the mind can venture. Want to learn who our greatest enemy is? See this film and then guess which species will inherit the Earth. ****
ffa77punks
I may be biased for this movie, but I love it and loved it as a child. I was completely into insects as a kid, so this movie didn't scare me. To the contrary I was probably exited by the possibility of a world ruled by insects. I guess I assumed they would let me hang around or something!The movie is still great today, a quasi- documentary of the ways and purposes of insects and how they blindly and without hesitation follow that purpose even to the death.. Very well played by 'Dr. Hellstrom' and beautifully filmed, it stands the test of time very well with this viewer. I just watched it today.
AD
