Magic Myxies
Mary Field and F Percy Smith's delightfully
anthropomorphic study
of the life-cycle of
the myxomycete, or slime fungus.
Secrets Of Nature - Magic Myxies (1931)
Wardour Films Ltd. presents a British Instructional Films production.
Myxies are small mushroom like growths to be found on rotting wood or decaying leaves. Part of their lives they are vegetables, part of their lives they are animals (!). C/U shots of the toadstool-like growths. If the cells from the Myxies fall into water they turn into animals. Microscopic shot of tiny moving specks in water. They are tiny water creatures with a little tail. Microscopic shot of a human hair to compare with the tiny creatures floating around it. Myxies gather around floating rubbish. They split into two. C/U of Myxie pulling in its tail and changing shape. Through time lapse photography we see the change in form. It has no fixed shape and eats by surrounding its food. Very bizarre shot of the blob eating. Myxies join together into pairs and then "parties". Only Myxies in couples are allowed to join the parties.
The narrator comments: "If the Myxie has been so bad tempered that it has failed to find a partner, it is not allowed to become one of the party, but is eaten up! This is a far greater encouragement to matrimony than any tax on bachelors".
When the party of Myxies is large enough it decides to leave the water and venture on to dry land. Shot of pulsating Myxie thing! It turns back into an animal. Psychedelic shots of a changing, evolving Myxie creature. The shape is continually changing as it moves along. Microscopic shots of the cells of the Myxie. Myxies advancing and meeting. They join up and flow away together. Beautiful patterns are made by the moving Myxie cells. We see the Myxie devouring a decaying leaf. We see it quiver. The Myxie eats a toadstool stalk - seen through time lapse photography. The Myxie has no sense of smell. A drop of arsenic is put in front of the Myxie, it moves over it and "is taken very ill". We see the Myxie disintegrate.
A Myxie faced with a drop of Epsom Salts immediately retreats "leaving behind in his hurry a lot of good food that it had already swallowed". When there is not enough moisture the Myxie dries up - we see this through time lapse. Myxie comes to life with "the autumn rain". Myxie growing. Frozen Myxie thawing out. We see a hungry group of Myxies balance across a single cobweb thread to get to a mushroom and eat it. Myxie fruit - Time lapse photography of the Myxie growing into toadstools. Cells grow on the outside of the caps.
Note: this is a bizarre film about a bizarre entity! The time lapse photography is very good, with beautiful patterns being made by the Myxie. Weird!
FILM ID:2953.01
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