Our Mr Sun is a 50 minute short that teaches us all about the sun. Eddie Albert plays a writer who is having trouble coming up with a script to give to a scientist played by Frank Baxter (who was an English professor). They aren't sure how to present their material so they conveniently turn to 'the magic screen' and up pops Father Time and Mr. Sun (voiced by Marvin Miller of Robbie the Robot fame).

Over the course of 50 minutes we learn - from Mr Sun, the writer and the Scientist - everything there is to know about the sun; from what the ancient peoples thought to the up-to-the-minute (circa 1957) knowledge that the scientific community knew.

The other short film is The Strange Case of the Cosmic Ray, which focuses on the somewhat complex case of Cosmic Rays by posing all of the details as a mystery.

Mr Frank Baxter is again the Scientist but this time the writer is Richard Carlson. The curtains of the 'magic screen' are pulled back to reveal a Mystery Writers Competition chaired by puppet-characters Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe and Fyodor Dostoevsky who are furiously reading mysteries and trying to decide which one is the best.

The writer pitches the strange case of the cosmic ray. It has all the classic requirements of a mystery; who, what, where, when, why and how. The judges curiosity is aroused and so over the course of 45 minutes we learn all about cosmic rays, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons and the like. All in all it's good fun as well as pretty heady stuff.

If there is any complaint it is a weak one; the films are so chock full of information that it is hard to keep up. As I watched I took notes for the first 20 minutes of Our Mr Sun until I realized that the information was somewhat overwhelming. The only thing I took from it was that there is a whole lot more about the sun than most of us know (or care to know).

The Strange Case of the Cosmic Ray is a little more enjoyable since we can watch the reactions on the faces of the three writers but it too has a surfeit of information. And it seems toward the end that they really are trying to put too much in. Nonetheless, this is about as good an introduction that you can expect on these two scientific subjects.

How does it Look?
The two shorts are presented 1.33:1 and they look okay. The colors are bit muted and fuzzy. The animation is pleasantly humorous in both although their colors too aren't that sharp.

How does it Sound?
Everything is in monoaural and sound just fine. These films aren't geared toward the Dolby Digital format anyway.

Extras: There are no extras. This is it.

Overall: This is a very informative and fun double feature DVD. The two films try to take big scientific studies and cram them into 50 minutes of (mostly) animate fun. To be honest, I'm not so sure that these would hold the attention of kids today. I'm not sure they did in the 1950's either. But there is no doubt that if you follow them closely and take notes they will help the viewer get a good grasp of the sun and cosmic rays and you might enjoy a laugh or two along the way.