Movie

The Insect Play

Released: May 29, 1939 (1939)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Genres: Music, Drama

A tramp falls asleep in the woods. He dreams of observing a range of insects that stand in for various human characteristics in terms of their lifestyle and morality: the flighty, vain butterfly, the obsequious, self-serving dung beetle, the ants, whose increasingly mechanized behavior leads to a militaristic society.

Main Cast (Top 10 billed, oldest first)

Edmund Willard as The Tranp
Age at release: 54
Maire O'Neill as Mrs. Beetle / Philanthropist
Age at release: 53
Frank Birch as Mr. Beetle / Commander of the Yellows
Age at release: 49
Leslie French as Mr. Cricket / Second Snail
Age at release: 35
Wilfrid Grantham as The Lepidopterist / First Snail
Age at release: Unknown
Pamela Standish as The Chrysalis
Age at release: Unknown
Charles Peters as Robber Beetle/Journalist
Age at release: Unknown
Rupert Bruce Lockhart as The Ichneumon Fly / Inventor
Age at release: Unknown
Sheila Kay as The Larva
Age at release: Unknown
Wilfred Franks as The Blind Ant Timekeeper
Age at release: Unknown

Show more cast

Geoffrey Wincott as The Parasite
Age at release: Unknown