Ebb-tide

Go with the flow: the marine life of Millport, Ayrshire, ingeniously filmed.

Go with the flow: to gentle but spellbinding effect this innovative natural history film glimpses marine life astride rising tides at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. Urchins, lugworm, weaver-fish and crabs are the shy-but-elegant stars coaxed onto the screen (with the assistance of Millport’s local research station) for this archetypal edition of Gaumont-British Instructional’s 1930s cinema series Secrets of Life.

Pioneer film-educationalist Mary Field is in the director’s chair and oversees a typical blend of innovative time-lapse micro-cinematography, lyrical background music by regular (and underrated) composer Jack Beaver and a commentary by newsreel announcer EVH Emmet that – as was his wont – is by turns facetious and poetic.