Secrets of Nature

Number of Movies: 53

Overview

A series of short educational nature documentaries that were produced from 1919 to 1933 by British Instructional Films.

Featured Cast

Featured Crew

53 Movies

Hand Versus Feet

January 1, 1922

A Secrets of Nature short, shot in a Zoo.

A precursor short film to the Secrets of Nature shorts.

A precursor short film to the Secrets of Nature shorts.

A precursor short film to the Secrets of Nature shorts.

A Secrets of Nature short depicting methods employed by sea birds to care for and protect their young are contrasted with those used by various land-based birds.

The Cuckoo's Secret

January 2, 1922

The film shows a cuckoo caught in the act of laying an egg in the nest of two titlarks. The egg is hatched by the foster-mother, and she and her mate feed and tend the young cuckoo, even to the detriment of their own chicks.

The White Owl

January 2, 1922

A short black-and-white silent documentary film featuring the life-cycle of the Barn Owl.

The Battle of the Ants

January 2, 1922

A short black-and-white silent documentary film featuring the conflict between two colonies of wood ants joined by a piece of tiber laid across a moat at a zoological garden.

The pictures show how the ailanthus silkmoth and the red admiral spin silk and weave a cocoon, and the way in which the change from caterpillar to moth is affected.

Beneath the waves are mountains, plains and valleys full of life: here the conger, the octopus, and the wrasse hunt for food; shrimps and prawns act as scavengers; sea anemones and starfish decorate the seafloor, and the spider crab assumes protective colouring by covering its back with pebbles.

Studies in Animal Motion

December 31, 1922

Captivating slow-motion and quadrupeds aplenty in this fascinating look at animal movement.

The Comma Butterfly

January 1, 1923

A study of the insect, from caterpillar to butterfly. Part of the “Secrets of Nature” series.

Winter

February 1, 1923

A sign of approaching winter - the frost catches the leaves which begin to fall.

Paws and Claws

January 1, 1925

Nature adapts the limbs of animals to the works they will be required to do. This principle is illustrated by the Lion, the Tiger, Leopard, Giant Ant-Eater, Armadillo, Camel, Reindeer, Gazelle, Fowl, Chameleon, Otter, Beaver, Penguin, Fruit-Bat, Spider Monkey and Gibbon.

Seed Time

January 1, 1926

High speed photography used to show the seed dispersal methods of various plants.

Busy Bees

January 2, 1926

These pictures show the marvellous industry of the Bee, the ingenuity it exercises in making its home, and the ordered programme of life that it appears to follow.

Short documentary film using innovative filming techniques to show how moulds grow and germinate.

How science and nature combine to purify water in a reservoir. Micro-cinematography shows the bacteria present in the water.

Plant Magic

January 1, 1927

Micro-cinematography is used to show how plants transform their secretions into other substances.

A short black-and-white silent documentary film featuring the sexual elements of pollenation in Dandelion, Globe thistle, Daisy, Cornflower, Carline thistle and Everlastings.

The Home Wrecker

January 1, 1929

A Secrets of Nature short film about a the cuckoo.

The Frog

January 1, 1929

A life history of the Frog. Released in a silent (1929) and sound (1930) version.

Scarlet Runner & Co

April 17, 1929

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

Playtime at The Zoo

January 1, 1930

A Secrets of Nature short.

Special Messengers

January 1, 1930

A Secrets of Nature short.

Mighty Atoms

January 1, 1930

A Secrets of Nature short.

Peas and Cues

July 11, 1930

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

The world of fungi captured by micro-cinematography and time-lapse photography.

The Strangler

December 31, 1930

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

The Aphis

December 31, 1930

The life cycle of the rose aphid (Macrosiphum Roseus).

Friendly Flies

January 1, 1931

A Secrets of Nature short.

The Light Of Love

January 1, 1931

A Secrets of Nature short.

In All His Glory

January 1, 1931

A Secrets of Nature short.

War in The Trees

January 1, 1931

A Secrets of Nature short.

Magic Myxies

February 1, 1931

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

Short documentary showing infusoria in a wine-glass.

Dream Flowers

December 31, 1931

The poppy flower in its psychedelic glory.

The Bittern

December 31, 1931

The breeding cycle of the bittern, the cryptically plumaged relative of the herons.

Water Folk

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short.

The Two Pounder

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short.

Great Crested Grebe

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short.

A Secrets of Nature short.

The Froth Blower

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short.

Short Eared Owl

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short film.

A Secrets of Nature short film.

Orphans of The Wood

January 1, 1932

A Secrets of Nature short.

The Nightingale

March 18, 1932

The nightingale and its song, its habitat, nest eggs and young.

Mary Field edits the time-lapse photography of F. Percy Smith to show the life cycle of ferns and related plants.

Romance in a Pond

July 1, 1932

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

Brewster's Magic

January 1, 1933

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

Fit To Boil

January 1, 1933

The penultimate Secrets of Nature short.

Amazing Maize

January 1, 1933

A Secrets of Nature short.

Brock The Badger

January 1, 1933

A Secrets of Nature short.

© All Rights Reserved 2025