The Destroyers of Our Gardens

"Colorful, educational, and visually playful, Les Destructeurs de nos jardins [The Destroyers of Our Gardens] was first released in France in March 1916, and months later distributed in the United States under the considerably tamer title, The Caterpillar. Emblematic of Pathé Frères’ robust program of documentary shorts, Les Destructeurs uses macro photography to great effect, granting intimate access to the hidden world of caterpillar feeding habits: in up-close, textural detail, several species of the titular insect crawl and cavort atop mountainous leaf ridges and tree-trunk plant stems." — Kirk McDowell