This film is part of Free

Title of error

The Story of Time

… as brought to you by Rolex, with the help of incredible model animation.

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1950 10 mins

Overview

This incredible infomercial, brought to you by Rolex, bagged several global awards. Its subject is nothing less ambitious than the whole history of humankind’s measurement of time: millennia that are here compressed into ten stylish minutes with the help of great model animation.

Dutch director Jan Coolen, like several colleagues at the plucky Signal Film Unit (based in Egham, Surrey), was a protégé of Puppetoon pioneer George Pal. The Story of Time is not only their masterpiece but a distinctive highlight of both post-war British animation and post-war sponsored filmmaking.

Director

Jan Coolen

Genres

Animation & Artists Moving Image

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Subjects

Watch for free

Short Tribute From Blues To You Short Tribute From Blues To You

Amateur film 1989 2 mins Silent Location: Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Model music men - an unusual appreciation of some legendary figures of rock.

Watch for free

Damaged Goods Damaged Goods

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2008 9 mins

A tragic story is played out by porcelain figurines residing in a bric-a-brac shop.

Watch for free

Ersatz Ersatz

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 14 mins Silent

An affectionate stop-motion tribute to Hollywood and cinema going, by an animator at Cosgrove-Hall Productions

Watch for free

Superted Superted

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1975 9 mins

Don’t tell the Spotty man but Superted has a new friend. A stop motion predecessor of the superhero teddy idea

Watch for free

Animated Putty Animated Putty

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1911 4 mins Silent

Long, long before Wallace met Gromit filmmakers performed malleable magic to bring clay to life

Watch for free

South Sea Sweethearts South Sea Sweethearts

Advert 1938 6 mins

Say aloha to a Technicolor cinema ad for Horlicks from the master of the Puppetoon, George Pal

Watch for free

Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 24 mins

Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

Watch for free

Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 30 mins

Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell

Documentary 2024 42 mins

Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels

Short documentary 2024 12 mins

Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.