Universe (1960 film)

Universe is a black-and-white short documentary made in 1960 by the National Film Board of Canada. It dramatizes the nightly work of an astronomer at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, a facility that is owned and operated by the University of Toronto, Canada. The film was a nominee at the 33rd Academy Awards in the category of Best Documentary Short Subject in 1961.^[1]

In the film, the astronomer prepares his equipment and then photographs by long exposure one star, using the technology of his era (to check that it works, he sets off a flare!). The short film then presents special effects which show an exploding nebula.

Douglas Rain did the narration for the English version; the French version was titled Notre univers with narration by Gilles Pelletier. Eldon Rathburn composed the musical score.^[2]

Influence on 2001

After this work, co-director Colin Low worked with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey. His work on this short may have influenced Kubrick to begin his project. Kubrick chose Universe narrator Douglas Rain as the voice of the HAL 9000 computer and also hired Wally Gentleman, who did optical effects for the NFB documentary, to work on 2001.^[3][4]

Release

NASA alone ordered over 300 prints of the film. By 1976, the NFB had sold over 3100 copies of the film, and it was one of the most widely distributed educational films ever made.^[4]

Awards

Over a dozen awards, including Best Animated Film at BAFTA.

References

External links

• Watch Universe at the NFB website
• Universe at the Internet Movie Database