''The Hellstrom Chronicle'' is an American film released in 1971 which combines elements of documentary,

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

, horror and apocalyptic prophecy to present a gripping satirical depiction of the struggle for survival between humans and insects. It won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was conceived and produced by David L. Wolper, directed by Walon Green and written by David Seltzer, who earned a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for his screenplay.

Plot

Fictitious scientist Dr. Nils Hellstrom (played by Lawrence Pressman) guides viewers throughout the film. He claims, on the basis of scientific-sounding theories, that insects will ultimately win the fight for survival on Earth because of their adaptability and ability to reproduce rapidly and that the human race will lose this fight largely because of excessive individualism. The film combines short clips from horror and science fiction movies with extraordinary camera sequences of butterflies, locusts, wasps, termites, ants, mayflies, other insects rarely seen before on film and insectivorous plants/insects. Technical advisers Roy Snelling and Charles Hogue were entomologists at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history. This large coll ...

Cast

* Lawrence Pressman - Dr. Nils Hellstrom

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gave the film a 75% score based on reviews from 8 critics. Green later called it "almost yellow-journally but good. We were giving the audience an elbow to the ribs every third line."

Awards

* 1972

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

* 1972 BAFTA Award - Best Documentary Feature

Home video

The film was released on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

January 10, 2012 from Olive Films.DVD Savant Review
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References

External links

''The Hellstrom Chronicle''
at the David L. Wolper Co. *
New York Times review

Review
''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' by

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

Notes
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellstrom Chronicle 1971 films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners American documentary films Documentary films about insects 1971 documentary films Films directed by Walon Green The Wolper Organization films Films scored by Lalo Schifrin 1970s English-language films 1970s American films