The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

TEACHER COMMITTEE EVALUATION I.. C. LARSON, Editor Director, AudioVisual Center Indiana University, Bloomington CAROLYN GUSS, Instructor, School of Education BETTY STOOPS, Film Librarian, Audio-Visual Center Indiana University, Bloomington Prospecting for Petroleum (Shell Oil Company, 50 West SOth Street, New York 20, N. Y.) 23 minutes, 16mm, sound, color, 1947. Free loan. Produced by George Pal. Description of Contents: Using George Pal's puppets, miniature sets, cross-section models, relief maps, blackboard drawings, and diagrams, this Technicolor film presents briefly the history of man's use of petroleum and then goes into more detail on the formation of oil in the earth, early attempts to find oil under the earth's surface, and the present-day science of locating petroleum deposits. After the many modern uses for petroleum are quickly summarized, a puppet Professor explains the geologic theory of how oil was formed by tlie action of the earth's crust. Next, the history of petroleum's early uses is presented by means of moving stone figures representing Babylonians, who used it in lamps, and puppets representing the old-time Medicine Man, who sold it as a cureall, and the men who finally realized the necessity for locating oil deposits under-ground and drilled wells successfully near Titusville, Pennsylvania. The crude methods of locating oil by hunches or by the magic of the "doodlebug" are contrasted with modern scientific procedures involving aerial observation and instruments such as the seismograph, the magnetometer, and the gravimeter. In closing, a brief review summarizes the material presented. Committee Appraisal: A lavish production with many novel sequences, this film completely holds the attention, whether it is presenting the Medicine Man's song and sales talk or a rather In "Prospecting for Petroleum," a puppet professor gives a lesson in elementary geology. Shell Oil Co., Inc. complicated explanation of how sound waves are used to determine the location of oil-bearing rock deep in the earth. The puppet sequences are both instructive and entertaining, and the three-dimensional maps and diagrams are amazingly effective for showing geological formations and the function of modern instruments for locating petroleum. The excellence of the photography far exceeds the quality of the voice recording, although the musical background is quite satisfactory. The sponsor's name appears only at the beginning and the end of the film, which is the first of a series of six entitled "This Is Oil." It should be useful for social studies and general science classes on the junior and senior high school levels, American history on the college level, and general interest for club use on the adult level. The Story of the Bees United World Fil«s (United World Films, Inc., 445 Park Avenue, New York 22, New York) 17 minutes, 16mm, sound, black and white, 1947. $45. Description of Contents: This film presents the life cycle of the honey bee, emphasizing the intense activity within the hive, as shown in close-up photography. Bees flying from flower to flower, carrying on their vital role in the pollenization of plants, are shown gathering nectar into the baskets on their legs. Returning to their hive in a hollow tree, they perform the "nectar dance," which tells the others where a good supply of nectar has been found. The nectar is transferred to the crops of young worker bees, where chemical action changes it into honey, which will be sealed in cells for future use. Deeper within the hive are seen the drones, whose sole duty is to fertilize the queen bee on her mating flight, and, the queen bee herself. Carefully attended by workers, she j deposits one egg in each cell until she has laid more than her own weight in eggs each day. Each rapidly developing larva is fed by nurse bees until it spins a cocoon for the pupa stage. Emerging from its cell, the young bee cats and rests only a day or two before entering into the regular work of the hive for its lifetime of six weeks to six months. The first task is the cleaning out of the cells from which