United Kingdom
English
00:06:15
150 ft
16mm
B&W
Silent
A nature documentary on Bees.
IAC Film Library Catalogue (Silent and Sound). Institute of Amateur Cinematographers, 1975.
This film is part of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers Collection held by the East Anglian Film Archive, Norwich, UK.
Institute of Amateur Cinematographers Collection, East Anglian Film Archive
"Opens with a tree trunk covered with bees. The veiled, but bare-handed, bee-keeper transfers them to a hive and puts leaves an twigs in too. A smoke 'puffer' is used to introduce smoke into the box to quieten the bees, then some racks are removed. Close-ups of bees drinking honey in their hexagonal cells. Racks are shaken out and held up. The larger Queen bee is shown in close-up, inserting its abdomen into its cell. For comparison, the Queen, a drone and a worker are shown arranged left to right on a plain background. The result of their Queen laying an egg in each cell is shown - with the dark occupant developing the into a white grub. Close-ups of bees gathering pollen from flowers to feed the larvae. After the transformation of the larval grubs into bees, the bee-keeper is seen prising a few remaining grubs from the hive cells. The hatched bees emerge from their cells. Close-up of the much larger cell built for the Queen. The honey having matured and the cells sealed by the bees, the bee-keeper is shown lifting racks from the hive and the bees shown in close-up. Finally, bees are seen drinking at the water's edge." (EAFA Database)
Amateur Cinema