AllMovie

Pierre Fresnay stars in this well-intentioned biopic as famed French 19th century entomologist Jean Henri Fabre. While his scientific discoveries are often beneficial to mankind, Fabre himself is something of mysoginist, refusing to come out of his self-imposed cocoon even at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III (Pierre Bertin). Ordinarily, a film about a recluse who spend 99% of his time peering through a microscope would be as exciting as watching paint dry, but The Amazing Monsieur Fabre manages to remain thoroughly cinematic, especially when concentrating on close-up scenes of ant colonies at work, war, and play. The somewhat abrupt 78 minute running time suggests that the film was extensively edited before its American release.