The Battle of the Plants

A wildlife film with a difference: it has A Message for any humans in the house. "The squirrel in the tree, the fox below, the birds, insects, all know that a time of plenty will not last forever". Austerity-stricken wartime viewers can learn from their economical feeding habits. An entertaining hybrid of public information and natural history from the makers of wildlife series Secrets of Life. Released in the BFI boxset Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front.

A meditative, immersive tribute to the astonishing work and achievements of naturalist, inventor and pioneering filmmaker F. Percy Smith. Smith worked in the early years of the 20th century, developing various cinematographic and micro-photographic techniques to capture nature's secrets in action. Working in a number of public roles, including the Royal Navy and British Instructional Films, Smith was prolific and driven, often directing several films simultaneously, apparently on a mission to explore and capture nature's hidden terrains. This film is an interpretative edit that combines Smith's original footage with a new contemporary score by tindersticks to create a hypnotic, alien yet familiar dreamscape that connects us to the sense of wonder Smith must have felt as he peered through his own lenses and seen these micro-worlds for the first time.

"Percy Smith (1880-1944) was world famous as a photographer of plant life. Probably the first British example of time-lapse photography as applied to the growth of plants." Monthly Film Bulletin, November 1955.

The film shows the birth, life and reproduction of sweet peas, a familiar and well loved plant of British gardeners.

The Strangler shows the life history of dodder, from its earliest stage as a seedling, to its parasitic stage feeding off its host.

Charming animated illustration of one of nature's wonders from Britain's most inventive pioneer of wildlife filmmaking.

Mosses are seen on walls, old roofs and in hedgerows.

Short film showing (with limited accuracy) the life-cycle of myxomycetes.

This peek behind the scenes at Kew Gardens in the 1940s was part of the ever-eccentric Secrets of Life series. Arcadian images of tranquil greenery, attended to by a discreet army of gardeners, make it hard to believe WWII was raging in the background. We're also treated to a spot of the series’ trademark time-lapse nature photography and charming narration - one plant described as "rather like an Italian having an argument with his hands".

The film shows speeded-up germination of the seed to form roots and shoot, at whose base the leaves later form a bulb. The flower produces pollen grains (shown much magnified), which are transferred by insects to the stigmas for fertilization of seeds inside the ovary.

Short documentary showing infusoria in a wine-glass.

A short documentary study of hops, barley and yeast, and how they interact.

An early British Kinemacolor short, in which delicate tones and shades of color are beautifully reproduced in examples of highly cultivated sweet pea flowers.

Underwater and microscopic photography by F. Percy Smith tell the story of a newt's life.

Short, anthropomorphically-inclined documentary showing the life-cycle of the common newt.

Time lapse photography of the broad bean flower unfurling. Released in a silent (1929) and sound (1930) version.