Our Mr. Sun

This was a part of a series of educational films from the Bell System. It was written, directed and produced by Frank Capra, the legendary film maker. The series was hosted by Dr. Frank Baxter and featured the distinctive voice work of Sterling Holloway. I saw it first while I was in elementary school (almost before electricity) and it has stuck in my mind all this time. I recall seeing this two or three times, but to remain in my memory that long means that these films were good! This was the first time I'd ever seen footage of any sort of solar activity. Before seeing this film, I thought the sun was just a round ball, but they showed me solar flares. I learned that the surface of the sun is a violent, ever-changing place. I must have believed that the sun was solid, but learned that it's made of gas. I learned a lot from this series of films and I still remember them more than 40 years later.

Having enjoyed this film and other science-oriented films made by Capra in Elementary school, I was delighted to see how well "Mr. Sun" holds up. Other than a brief clip featured in the movie "Gremlins", I hadn't seen or thought of these films in thirty-five years.

Apart from the obvious nostalgic emotions one associates with fond memories of childhood, this film also present scientific information about the sun in an entertaining and comprehensive way with Eddie Albert and the voice of Sterling Holloway to add charm to an already charming documentary. I would rank this film of Frank Capra with the best of Walt Disney's True Life Adventures of the same period.

Just watched this live action/animated educational film directed by Frank Capra with UPA's Bill Hurtz handling the animation stuff on Google Video as linked on the Mark Evanier site. In it, we see Dr. Frank Baxter as Dr. Research talking to Fiction Writer Eddie Albert about ways in explaining the uses of the sun to the audience. Mr. Writer then opens the curtain as we see in animated form, Mr. Sun (Marvin Miller) and Father Time (Lionel Barrymore in his final performance) arguing about Sun's importance over the years. Both Writer and Research explain to them, and us, all the advances that the sun made possible. Many of the facts presented here can be pretty overwhelming and I admit I wasn't always paying attention. Still, it was fascinating to watch various animated visuals illustrating just how important the sun is to various technologies. And the cartoon segment featuring a character named Chloro Phyll (Sterling Holloway) was pretty amusing. I partly question having Father Time at the end praise the Lord since it didn't seem to have been relevant to what went before. Still, I recommend Our Mr. Sun both for its educational merits and for anyone interested in vintage animation and the work of Capra. P.S. Bill Hurtz' birthplace, like mine, was in Chicago, Ill.

Our Mr. Sun was my first AV experience in Elementary School back in 1961 (Grade 5), and I am certain that having seen it helped to kindle my interest in Science Education......I became a science teacher, and have taught Grade 7 science for the past 33 years. Some of the scenes in this film stuck with me, particularly the animated scenes with Mr. Chlorophyll and with the recipe for the photo-electric silicon wafer. I rate this film highly for classroom use still today. For one thing, there is precious little available in instructive video on the subject of Solar Science. For another thing, I believe that watching this film intent on filling in some of the science that was little understood or misunderstood at the time is a useful exercise. As a part time social studies teacher I also find that examining the sociological content of the film, in consideration of its 50 year old values and assumptions is quite instructive. As to any criticism of moralistic bias in this film, of course one must always remember its vintage foremost, before criticizing the screenwriters, since times, they sure have changed!!!

I attended Elementary school in the early-mid sixties, and I have to say, they must have shown this movie every year, and maybe even once or twice after elementary school. It became somewhat of a ritual, and I did enjoy watching it.

I recently purchased a copy on Ebay (VHS) and showed it to my 9 year old son. Yes, it is probably so outdated, but I still found it interesting and informative, and it was truly a (enjoyable) blast from the past.

If you are boomer, you must have scene this movie more than once, as I think we were all spoon fed the same stuff. Yes, it was a great time.

Enjoy.