''Of Stars and Men'' is a 1964 animated film from the Hubley family of animators, based on the 1959 book of the same name by astronomer

Harlow Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal. Shapley used Cepheid variable stars to estim ...

, who also narrates. Made in the style of a documentary, it tells of humankind's quest (in the form of a child) to find its place in the universe, through themes such as outer space, physical matter, the

meaning of life The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What ...

and the

periodic table The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ch ...

. There are no character voices; instead, they "talk" through their actions. It has been cited as an example of an "

animated documentary The animated documentary (also known as anidoc) is a moving image form that combines animation and documentary. This form should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts. History The fi ...

".DelGaudio, Sybil. ''If Truth Be Told, Can Toons Tell It? Documentary and Animation''. Film History 9:2 (1997) p. 189-199 When it was finished, the film was first screened during a conference at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

's Visual Department. The film's public premiere was on April 28, 1964 at New York's Beekman Theater, along with a collection of Hubley/ U.P.A. shorts (''

Moonbird ''Moonbird'' is a 1959 short animation, animated film by John Hubley and Faith Hubley in which two boys have an adventure in the middle of the night as they sneak out and try to catch a 'Moonbird' and bring it home. The film was animated by Robe ...

'' and ''

Gerald McBoing-Boing ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...

'' among them) which preceded its showing. The critical reception was uniformly positive. Its

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

was a matter of contention among festival curators. At the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

, ''Of Stars and Men'' was placed in the live-action feature category, while at the

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

, it competed in the documentary category and won an award. ''Of Stars and Men'' received a VHS release from

Buena Vista Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the Home video, home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films ...

in July 1990, and had its DVD debut from

Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

nine years later, as part of a compilation of Hubley productions.

References

*Beck, Jerry (2005), pp. 181–2. ''The Animated Movie Guide''. . Chicago Reader Press. Accessed May 23, 2007.

External links

* *

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' ''Independent Spirits'
page
about the Hubleys (includes clip from the film;

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimedia realm, including MP ...

required to watch) *

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

br>reviewHarvard Square Library

of Shapeley's original book. 1959 books 1964 animated films 1964 films 1960s American animated films American animated documentary films Documentary films about outer space Films directed by John Hubley 1960s English-language films American short documentary films {{sci-documentary-film-stub

See also

References

External links