This is, as the title indicates, a history of how mankind developed different ways to measure time, beginning with sundials, all the way to the most modern methods which was the mid 20th century, when this British animated short was produced.
The sun dial simply kept track of where the sun was in the sky and helped break down the day into measurements. Then, other elements were used to make this more accurate, give us wrist watches, etc. It is stated in the introduction that "this film is a symbolic story of man's progress in time measurement." It's educational more than entertaining but it gets a little too symbolic and begins to drag from the halfway point on, and winds up just plain boring. This was nominated for an Oscar for best one-reel short subject but I don't think you'll be entertained with it.
The sun dial simply kept track of where the sun was in the sky and helped break down the day into measurements. Then, other elements were used to make this more accurate, give us wrist watches, etc. It is stated in the introduction that "this film is a symbolic story of man's progress in time measurement." It's educational more than entertaining but it gets a little too symbolic and begins to drag from the halfway point on, and winds up just plain boring. This was nominated for an Oscar for best one-reel short subject but I don't think you'll be entertained with it.