Our Mr. Sun is a one-hour American 1956

1956 in film

The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...

 television film in Technicolor

Technicolor

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 written, produced, and directed by Frank Capra

Frank Capra

Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...

. It is a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 that explains how the Sun works and how it also plays a huge part in human life

Human life

Human life may refer to*in medicine or statistics, the human lifespan*in sociology, the everyday personal life*in philosophy**the conditio humana**discussion of the meaning of life*in jurisprudence, a value protected by human rights...

. It was first televised by CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 in 1956.

The film starred Frank Baxter

Frank C. Baxter

Francis Condie Baxter was an American TV personality and educator. He was a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Baxter hosted Telephone Time in 1957 and 1958 when ABC picked up the program and ended the tenure of John Nesbitt...

 as "Dr. Research", and Eddie Albert

Eddie Albert

Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

 as "the writer", the other recurring character in the The Bell Laboratory Science Series

The Bell Laboratory Science Series

The Bell Laboratory Science Series was a series of educational television specials made for Bell Labs by Frank Capra, Walt Disney, and others. Each special explored a single subject in detail. The host of seven of the eight films was Dr. Research, played by Frank C. Baxter...

. Marvin Miller

Marvin Miller (actor)

Marvin Elliott Miller was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor...

 voiced the animated sun. Sterling Holloway

Sterling Holloway

Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...

, who was uncredited, voiced an animated version of chlorophyll

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...

. The film marked the last project of Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...

, who played the voice of Father Time

Father Time

Father Time is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, somewhat worse for wear, dressed in a robe, carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device...

. It was first shown on television two years after Barrymore's death.

Our Mr. Sun, and a companion film Hemo the Magnificent

Hemo the Magnificent

Hemo the Magnificent is a one-hour Technicolor made-for-television educational film, released in 1957 by Bell Laboratories and directed by Frank Capra, and first telecast by CBS. It details the workings of the circulatory system...

 (about blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

 circulation), were popular favorites for showing in school science classrooms. The film is currently packaged on DVD with another Frank C. Baxter film The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957).