I watched a 1931 lecture on evolution so you don't have to

Is this worth your time?

If you are a history nerd or you really love old documentaries about science, then yeah, give it a look.

Most people will probably hate it because it is basically a recorded lecture.

It is not a 'movie' in the way we think of them now.

There are no explosions or big dramatic twists.

It is just a lot of talking and some very old footage of microscopic things.

The Scopes Trial Guy

The main reason I even clicked play on this was to see Clarence Darrow.

You might remember him from history books as the lawyer from the Scopes Monkey Trial.

He looks exactly like you would expect a tired, smart lawyer from 1931 to look.

He has this way of slouching in his chair that makes him feel very real.

Professor H.M. Parshley is there too, playing the 'expert' who explains things.

Their chemistry is... well, it is non-existent.

It feels like two neighbors who ran into each other at a hardware store and started talking about biology.

One of them is clearly reading from a script off-camera.

His eyes keep darting to the side in a way that is actually pretty funny if you catch it. 🐭

The Visuals (or lack of them)

A lot of the movie is just clips of animals and cells.

Some of the footage looks like it was borrowed from much older films.

I swear I saw a few frames that looked as grainy as Betty's Bath.

The microscopic shots are actually kind of neat, though.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Mystery of Life (1930) through its definitive frames.

You see these little blobs wiggling around and you realize people in 1931 were probably mind-blown by this.

Today, it looks like something you would see on a screen saver.

The pacing is very slow.

It makes a movie like The Wild Olive feel like a high-speed car chase.

A Few Weird Moments

• The way the professor points at things with a stick is very aggressive.
• The audio quality dips whenever someone moves their head too fast.
• There is a long pause where Darrow just looks at the camera like he forgot his line.
• The transition music is way louder than the talking.

I found myself wondering who the target audience was back then.

Was this shown in theaters?

Imagine paying for a ticket and getting a biology lesson.

It is much more interesting as a time capsule than a piece of entertainment.

It reminds me of the simple storytelling in Evangeline but without any of the romance.

Actually, there is zero romance here.

Unless you count the professor's love for amphibians. 🐸

Final Thoughts

I am glad I watched it, but I don't think I would ever watch it again.

Actually, it is very dry.

The way they explain evolution is very matter-of-fact.

It is just: here is a fish, here is a lizard, now here is a monkey.

If you have a short attention span, stay away.

But if you want to see what 'educational entertainment' looked like before the internet, it is worth a skim.

Just maybe keep your hand on the fast-forward button. ⏩